Cocos Islands or Keeling Islands, officially Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands, two separate atolls comprising 27 coral islets (2001 pop. 621), 5.5 sq mi (14.2 sq km), in the Indian Ocean, ...

Chanel, Coco (Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel), 1883–1971, French fashion designer b. Saumur. She established a millinery shop in Deauville in 1909, founded her first house of couture there in 1913, ...

Coconut, fruit of the coco palm (Cocos nucifera), a tree widely distributed through tropical regions. The seed is peculiarly adapted to dispersal by water because the large pod holding the nut...

West Island, island (est. pop. 120), capital of the Cocos Islands, an Australian territory. One of three inhabited islands in the group, its population is mainly Australians of European descen...

Darwin's finches or Galapagos finches, species of small finches, constituting the subfamily Geospizinae of the finch family. This group of thirteen species is confined to the Galápagos Islands...

Bennett, Michael, 1943–87, American dancer and choreographer, b. Buffalo, N.Y. He appeared in West Side Story and Subways Are for Sleeping. During the 1970s, he was one of the most successful ...

Straits Settlements, collective name for certain former British colonies in Southeast Asia. The three British East India Company territories of Pinang, Singapore, and Malacca (see Melaka) were...

Beaton, Sir Cecil Walter Hardy, 1904–80, English scenery and costume designer, photographer, writer, painter, and diarist. After designing his first stage show (1935), Beaton worked on numerou...

Hepburn, Katharine, 1907–2003, American actress, b. Hartford, Conn. She made periodic stage appearances from 1928 on and debuted in the first of her 43 films in 1932; in her early roles she wa...

Fashion, in dress, the prevailing mode affecting modifications in costume. Styles in Asia have been characterized by freedom from change, and ancient Greek and Roman dress preserved the same f...