Three Weeks With Coco Chanel

A new book of Coco Chanel pictures - taken over just three weeks in 1962 by photographer Douglas Kirkland - shows a new side to the formidable and brilliant "Mademoiselle". Kirkland, who spent 21 days with Chanel in her apartment in the Ritz, at the studio preparing for a catwalk show, and on a weekend trip to Versailles, revealed that he built a friendly relationship with the designer - but never saw her remove her signature hat.

"I assumed, like many French people at the time, that she didn't speak English," Kirkland explains in the book. "Then one morning I turned a corner in a narrow hallway at the atelier and found myself face to face with her. She looked straight at me and said 'Salut.' I froze, not knowing how to respond. After a beat, in her low voice, she said in perfect English, 'I just said hello to you.'"

Kirkland - who has photographed stars including Angelina Jolie and Marilyn Monroe - is releasing 100 copies of a deluxe limited edition version of the book, complete with a signed print, priced at $250, while the standard edition will retail at $50.