In 1921, Gabrielle Chanel was 38 years old, and dazzlingly successful. Nicknamed the ‘Queen of Paris’ by certain journalists, she had managed to establish a new silhouette that instantly gave her international influence. Her Parisian salon in Faubourg Saint-Honoré was a pivotal place, where all the artistic avant-garde of the day rubbed shoulders. This year she met Ernest Beaux...