The French couturier Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel had a long-held belief in numerology. In particular, the power of five: it was the number of her Zodiac house (Leo), the only date in a given month she would present her collections, and, of course, the number which adorns bottles of her heady first fragrance, Chanel No. 5.
It was serendipitous, then, that her most enduring handbag was born in 1955, a year with not one five in, but two. With its recognisable quilted exterior and chain strap – added, said Mme Chanel, because she tired of holding bags in her hand and losing them – the 2.55 handbag remains a trophy in Chanel’s glimmering roster of accessories eight decades on, endlessly riffed upon by the designers who have come in the couturier’s wake.
