When Sam Taylor-Wood climbed the famous mirrored staircase of Chanel's headquarters at 31 Rue Cambon Paris one day in 2010, she did not quite know what to expect. Her destination was Coco Chanel's private apartment on the third floor; her mission, to photograph it. Through the door marked "MADEMOISELLE PRIVÉ", Taylor-Wood entered Coco Chanel's secret world - exactly as she left it at her death in 1971. Taylor-Wood depicts Coco's treasures that adorn the rooms: a golden lion, a bejewelled birdcage, leather-bound books, Chinese lacquer screens, crystal chandeliers. Yet unlike standard photos of the apartment with which journalists establish links between Coco's decorative taste and fashion ideas, Taylor-Wood's focus is the mysterious, sometimes eerie presence of the objects themselves. Using only the pale sunlight falling through the windows facing Rue Cambon, Taylor-Wood makes objects emerge from darkness and dissolve into it; animals on lacquer screens seem to hide from our sight. Ultimately we are left with a sense of beautiful emptiness - Coco's touch is everywhere, but everywhere is haunted by her absence.<br><br>With texts by Justine Picardie, acclaimed author of Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life (2010), and Karl Lagerfeld, Third Floor is an original insight into the personal domain of one of fashion's most enduring icons.<br><br>