“There is no elegance without perfume,” said Gabrielle Chanel, creator of the iconic Chanel No. 5, which celebrates its centenary this year, a fragrance of which Marilyn Monroe declared herself unconditional and of which the French actress Marion Cotillard the image today.
When the protagonist of “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” answered a journalist’s question about what she used to sleep on, Marilyn Monroe replied with a mischievous gesture: “A few drops of Chanel No. 5”. From there came the perfume, created by Ernest Beaux in 1921, for more reasons than its composition in the mythical category.
That, and that years later became the first perfume to enter a museum – it is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art in New York (MOMA) – says a lot about the creator’s genius.
Cristina de Catalina, Development Director of the Perfume Academy Foundation, defined Coco Chanel as “a visionary and daring creator who revolutionized her time”, within the cycle of virtual conferences organized by the Perfume Academy on mythical characters in the history of fragrance .
Gabrielle Chanel always said “elegance is not possible without perfume. It is the perfect accessory that you cannot see, that is not forgotten, the most important thing”.
Rocío Capel, director of education at Chanel Iberia, emphasized that the French designer was the first female seamstress to create her own perfume, which she also described as a ‘visionary, who believed that perfume could express her style’ and that she knew she could fashion. interpret. through him, an “unusual” project for that time.
He met the Tsars’ perfumer, Ernest Beaux, in 1920, and eventually picked him up for the French “maison”, the best way to preserve the formula’s exclusivity, as he then continued to do with the other “noses” that have created the company’s aromas such as Henri Robert, Jacques Polge – the one who created the most scents for the home – or the last to join, his son Olivier.
Chanel gave very clear guidelines for the creation of No. 5, so that it was not a prisoner of its time, that it had timeless and abstract notes, that it was not subject to the trend, although it gave ‘enormous’ creative freedom to the perfumer , who at the time was researching aldehydes, facilitators of aroma durability.
“A perfume that until now no one had made”, that was the maxim, confirms Capel, a scent with multiple and contradictory facets, a luxurious and seductive perfume for women.
A different essence, with exceptional raw materials, with, unlike that of the time of a single floral note, a floral bouquet containing more than 80 ingredients presented in a simple bottle, without decorations, almost laboratory and with a waxed pearl thread, “to keep its fragrance from evaporating”.
The name of this centenary perfume contains a mystery. One must – explains Capel – the fact that Ernest Beaux proposed different series to the designers, all with a number, and the one he chose was No. 5, although it is really ‘unknown’ whether it was the one who liked or relied on other factors.
“Five was Gabrielle Chanel’s luck,” said Capel. He told his astrological sign, the fifth of the zodiac, with the five fingers of the hand, with the five points of a star, also with the five goods of happiness, the five senses, the five flavors – although now there are six -.
A superstition that led to his shows, his collection always ran fifth, on the ceiling of one of the rooms in his house where he carried a crystal lamp in which the “C” of the logo, the G of his name and the name were intertwined. number five.
Coincidentally, there have been five reinterpretations of No. 5 so far, and it just so happens that this year, the centenary, 2021, there will be five more.
Coco Chanel has always claimed that with that name she distanced herself from the pompous names of the perfumes of the time, it was also easy to remember, it did not need to be translated and ‘its importance lay in it’.
Despite confidence in its potential, Chanel – an advancement in this regard too – did not hesitate to use publicity to promote it, and she herself was the protagonist of a 1937 campaign in the US magazine Harpper’s Bazaar in the United States. , the place where she first triumphed, with a refined image of a confident woman.
But if a campaign stands out for Rocío Capel, it’s the campaign with Nicole Kidman, directed by Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge), that brings together the three pillars of the company: haute couture design, jewelery and perfume.
“An image of unity, seduction and daring”, in keeping with the spirit of Chanel, for a perfume that “has transcended time and fashion without ceasing to fascinate,” Capel concludes.