Enlarge

The 65-year-old French actress and lifelong friend and muse to Yves Saint Laurent is as famous for her sharp Gallic chic and glacial beauty as her acting. Always stylish, her fashion moment came in 1967, when she starred in Belle de Jour as a bored, wealthy housewife who takes up prostitution for kicks. Saint Laurent dressed her for the role, memorably in a black patent trench coat and matching flats, where the vaguely kinky reference jarred with her bourgeois chignon and flats.

Deneuve was the face of Chanel No 5 in the 1970s, and her image was used to represent Marianne, the national symbol of France, from 1985 to 1989.

Today, she still continues to inspire the fashion world: witness her continued support for the French Haute Couture shows, and her recent appearance in a Louis Vuitton advert. Here, we choose the best outfits worn by this celebrity fashion icon. Danielle Radojcin

See more celebrity fashion icon picture galleries on Handbag...

Picture: Catherine Deneuve in Belle de Jour, 1967.