Coco Chanel’s Paris apartment on 31 Rue Cambon.  No bedroom, just ornate sitting rooms. Coco didn’t live there – she lived in an apartment in The Ritz hotel nearby, simply decorated with just an iron bed. By contrast, in this lavish setting she held meetings and appointments, and watched her own fashion shows sitting on the sweeping cream carpeted staircase where no one could see her peeking. C’est adorable.

Multi-talented? It wasn’t just couture Coco could do. She designed this suede sofa too

Love this tiny birdcage – inspiration for the 1992 Chanel ad featuring Vanessa Paradis

The gold boxes were a gift from the Duke of Westminster;  hand sculpture  made for Coco Chanel by the Italian artist Alberto Giacometti (friends in high places!)

Le Salon, whose chairs have hosted the bottoms of the likes of likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali