Coco Chanel

Chanel has an entry in the 1950s section for her famous comeback, but the 1930s are an interesting, slightly awkward chapter in her career. She came into the decade as the most famous designer in the world, the woman who had defined the 1920s with jersey, the little black dress, and a relaxed, sporty elegance. The trouble is that the 1930s wanted something different - longer, more fluid, more romantic, and increasingly witty - and for the first time, she had serious competition.

One of her more surprising moves came in 1931, when Samuel Goldwyn brought her to Hollywood on a lucrative contract to dress his stars. The experiment didn't really work. Her understated clothes looked too simple on screen next to the dramatic glamour that studio designers like Adrian were producing, and she was back in Paris before long - a small but revealing story about how different Hollywood glamour was from Paris chic. She was more successful with jewellery. Her costume jewellery - mixing real and fake stones, strings of faux pearls, and bold, Byzantine-style cuffs - helped make it acceptable, even chic, to wear jewellery that wasn't precious.

Her biggest rival was Elsa Schiaparelli, whose surrealist wit and bold colours seemed to capture the decade's mood better than Chanel's restraint. The two women famously disliked each other. When war was declared in 1939, Chanel closed her couture house, putting her staff out of work - a decision that still attracts criticism, especially alongside her later conduct during the occupation, covered in the 1940s section. She wouldn't show another collection until 1954.