Using newly discovered documents, Lisa Chaney's controversial biography of Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel places the designer in her proper context, highlighting her far-reaching connections with modernism and its artists. Coco Chanel was many things to many people. Raised in emotional and financial poverty, she became one of the defining figures of the twentieth century. She was mistress to aristocrats, artists and spies. She broke rules of style and decorum, seducing both men and women, yet in her work expected the highest standards.