LAST UPDATED AT 11:39 ON Wed 22 Apr 2009
Audrey Tautou as Coco Chanel in 'Coco Avant Chanel'. Born in 1883, Gabrielle Chanel was raised by nuns who trained her as a seamstress after her mother died of tuberculosis and her father left home. She gained the nickname Coco during a short-lived period as a singer in the 1900s.
A new French film tells only half the story of designer Coco Chanel
