Coco Chanel's look from Coco Before Chanel

“She likes dresses with no corsets, hats with no feathers… that’s my Coco!” gushes Étienne Balsan, a rich French playboy and lover of Coco Chanel in Coco Before Chanel, the new biopic charting the rags to riches tale of the French fashion pioneer played by Audrey Tautou. And he was right to marvel at her offbeat sense of style, which, during her early years stood her apart from wealthy Parisian society, but would evolve into one of the most successful and celebrated fashion empires ever bringing us such timeless treasures as quilted handbags, oversized pearl necklaces, the little black dress and the iconic fragrance, Chanel No5. Introducing the original haute couture rebel.

With a film based on a fashion designer, the building of their empire and their own quirky dress sense, costume isn’t so much a side attraction as one of the starring players, basking in the spotlight of centre-stage. And so to help bring the period clothes of Chanel’s era to life, director Anna Fontaine turned to Catherine Leterrier, two-time winner of the César Awards, France’s prestigious national film prizes. With 25 years of top experience including work on fashion favourite Prêt-à-Porter, Leterrier wasn’t fazed by the challenge, in contrast she and her wardrobe team were thrilled at the prospect. “My whole team, from lead hand down to trainee, was highly motivated and everyone found it awe inspiring to be making the costumes for Coco Chanel,” she enthuses. “It’s like doing Molière when you are an actor, for us, Chanel is mythical!”

Exploring deeper into this myth, Leterrier’s work began in a manner much “the same as for any other period film” she explains – research. “We did research from real garments – in museums, flea markets, vintage shops or private collections – and research from painting and photos.” Yet despite this great dedication to authentic detail, Coco Before Chanel is a drama not a documentary and so certain subtle liberties are taken. There are tweaks to the timeline, for example the striped mariner’s sweater, which was famously snapped on Coco in the 1930s is brought into the action earlier than biographical facts suggest. Similarly Coco’s creative processes behind certain items, such as the quilt bag, are imagined for dramatic effect.

Where Coco’s actual inspirations are known, such as her preoccupation with black coming as a result of her overwhelming grief at the death of Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel (played by Alessandro Nivola), the undisputed love of her life, they are charted, playing their part in the birth of a fashion philosophy that would change haute couture forever. One that evolved along with the woman behind it.