Coco Chanel

Definitely one of the favourite perfumes for me and my over-40 crowd of friends; we simply call it Coco. It's not something we can rush out and buy, but a quick spray before going out somewhere special means that it really is a special occasion and we need to smell good. It is a strong smell, a lady in the perfume shop told me she can't wash the smell out of her work blouses, but that's no bad thing, surely??

Bizarre to think that Coco Chanel (or her real name, Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel) came from such humble beginnings, being born in 1883 (or 1893 as she allegedly re-invented this year as her birth-year), to an unmarried washer-woman in Saumur in France; her father was a vagrant street peddler who scratched a living with his horse and cart. When she was 12, she was sent to a convent for orphans after her mother died o f TB and it was here that she learned her fine needle skills. When not sewing, she sang cabaret in a place that cavalry officers frequented; here she met a young French ex-cavalry officer and textile heir, Etienne Balsan.

Coco Chanel went on to become a leading fashion designer, famous for her menswear-inpsired fashions, the Chanel suit and her little black dress.

She worked with the Wertheimer brothers, Paul and Pierre in 1924, directors of the Bourgeois Perfume House, to create Parfum Chanel, to launch Chanel no 5.

The Chanel brand is now firmly established as an all-time classic