On Friday the long awaited biopic on Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel arrived in theatres just as Paris Fashion Week prepares to kick off.

French gamine Audrey Tautou portrays the famous fashion icon Coco Chanel in the new movie, Coco Before Chanel (Coco Avant Chanel) and I couldn’t imagine anyone better suited to play such a brilliant part. Who cares that she was dissed by Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld, Tautou is the epitome of French chic.

As the title suggests, the movie focuses on Coco’s early years. After the briefest of stops in a French orphanage, Coco’s twenties introduce her time spent as a cabaret singer where she meets Etienne (Benoit Poelvoorde), an aristocrat with whom she has a romance. For most of the movie, Coco is Etienne’s sulky mistress, resentful of his demands even while riding his horses and making hats for his wealthy friends. The director spends little time on Chanel’s professional accomplishments, so if you’re expecting haute-couture you will not be happy since there is little to be had. Despite some cutting and stitching here and there, Chanel’s celebrity and distinguishable fashion mark is never revealed.

Tautou said of the character she portrays: “Chanel’s presence is still felt, because she symbolized French elegance so deeply. But I don’t know if people know what kind of woman she was. She’s more associated with the brand than as a real woman.”

Fashion isn’t high on the priority list for Audrey who claims, “I am sure it is very enjoyable, but when I think about fashion, I see an image of something superficial.” She goes on to say, “I like clothes but I’m not really a fashionista. I’m not informed by what is in style and what is not. And so I’m not really interested in trends.”

Not a fashionista? After seeing Audrey’s stunning ensembles at the premieres of “Coco Avant Chanel,” I beg to differ.

At the L.A. premiere, Audrey bypassed Chanel and opted for another Parisian fashion label: Lanvin. Tautou wore the perfect LBD: a black Lanvin Fall 2009 dress paired with a black patent belt. Simple, elegant and incredibly chic, she accessorized with a fabulous black hair accessory.

At the Los Angeles after-party, Tautou selected a Chanel silver metallic flowing knit minidress paired with a gold hardware chain belt and matching bangles. The shoes were to-die-for. The black strappy patent stiletto’s had a silver hardware heel with the Chanel logo.

At the New York City premiere, Tautou knocked it out of the park with a Chanel Fall 2009 Couture dress in black and white. The asymmetrical white dress had one black sequined shoulder which wrapped around the back of the dress. The interior of the asymmetrical skirt had a wrap-like affect that also featured the same black sequin detail on the interior of the garment. No matter which way she turned, this showstopper looking stunning at every angle.

“Chanel had a saying that fashion goes but style remains, and I think that is very true. I think style is much more essential in Chanel’s life and career [than in my own],” Tautou said. “It is by her clothes that she managed to express who she was and what a different woman she was, and she managed to find the freedom she was looking for. Her clothes are so much the expression of her spirit and her modernity.”