Gone are the days of respectful 'life-writings' and long gaps between comparative biographical studies. As yet another Coco Chanel exposé arrives, John Walsh asks, are there still any new facts for writers to uncover?

As her styles have endured, so the career of Coco Chanel has become a catwalk where writers and film-makers galore can strut their stuff.

It's difficult dealing with icons, especially when you're domesticating them. Coco & Igor charts the love affair between designer Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel and composer Igor Stravinsky during his spell at her holiday home outside Paris.

It is too fitting that a larger-than-life character such as the Russian impresario Sergey Diaghilev should have been born with so large a head that it killed his mother when she gave birth to him. Too fitting, because it is not true: as Sjeng Scheijen reveals in this myth-busting biography, Diaghilev's mother died of puerperal fever three months after her son's birth. Had she lived, she might not have recognised the sensitive boy who grew up to found the Ballets Russes and hobnob with Picasso, Coco Chanel, Stravinsky and Prokofiev.

I say, Coco, would you mind turning off the cold tap?

Jan Kounen's drama picks up more or less at the point when Coco Before Chanel (with Audrey Tautou) left off – with Coco mourning the death of her lover Boy Capel and hitting her stride as the most celebrated couturière in France.

What are you wearing right now?

My most comfortable jeans, a cashmere V-neck sweater and FitFlops.

I don't agree with any of this but I haven't got any arguments against it

A biopic of 'Mademoiselle' Chanel is set to be one of the movie hits of the summer. John Lichfield reports on an icon who prospered in Nazi-occupied France

Audrey Tautou plays Coco Chanel in a biopic released this month – but the painstakingly-researched costumes are the real stars of the film, discovers Rosamund Witcher

There are "muses" and then there are "faces". The differences between the two are subtle but manifold. A muse is principally a cost-free affair, based on friendship more often than not. A face, on the other hand, is a high-earner, likely to secure many millions for any services required.

A museum must find £450,000 to keep 11 unusual French designer outfits in this country permanently

In the 1850s, the cabinet-maker and temperance worker Thomas Cook began organising "grand circular tours" of Europe that were arguably the first package holidays. The concept of fun in the sun – at an affordable price – caught on and by the 1970s we were abandoning British seaside resorts in favour of sunnier stretches of sand. In 2006, over 16 million people holidayed in Spain each year.

Christophe Soumillon, dismayed not to ride a Classic winner for the Aga Khan at Epsom 24 hours earlier, consoled himself by doing so at Chantilly yesterday when Darsi won the Prix du Jockey-Club. Since its abbreviation to 10 and a half furlongs, it seems specious to maintain that this race is still the French Derby. That description should perhaps be reserved for the Grand Prix de Paris instead, but Soumillon had no such quibbles as he decorated his 25th birthday by blowing a kiss to the stands passing the post.