The East Is Red Ocher

Coco Chanel's designs were famously influenced by everything from her Leo zodiac sign (expressed in lion-head buttons and jewelry) to her British paramour, the Duke of Westminster (who reportedly introduced her to tweeds). Her passion for Oriental art is less well known, but that may change with the recent unveiling of Chanel's fall make-up range. Inspired by the designer's Coromandel screens (she owned over 30 of these Chinese-made, lacquered folding screens, a collection considered the best in pre-war Europe), the range includes a gorgeous eye shadow and blush palette. Its intense colors — red ocher, gold and black — match Chanel's screens, as do its laser-cut decorative motifs. Though priced at $60, double the cost of most powder compacts, the limited-edition piece is already a best seller.

Curiously, there is no evidence that Chanel ever actually visited China or even Asia. "I expect the closest she got was something like Venice," says Valerie Steele, director of the museum at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology. One can only speculate what impact a proper Asian sojourn would have had on a designer whose love of Chinese style permeates her label's products to this day.