Chanel famously said: "Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street. Fashion has to do with the ideas, the way we live, what is happening." Do you believe in this idea and was it important for the film?I think fashion is not important. It is the style of somebody - the way someone moves and thinks. To have a personality, you have to forget the clothes. Chanel's instinct and sense of elegance was natural. When you forget the clothes, it is only the style that stays.
Simon Chilvers interviews Anne Fontaine, director of Coco Avant Chanel in The Guardian.