“No elegance is possible without perfume,” said Gabrielle Chanel, creator of the iconic Chanel N5, which this year celebrates its centenary, a fragrance of which Marilyn Monroe declared herself unconditional and of which the actress is an image today. French Marion Cotillard.
When the protagonist of “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” answered a journalist’s question about what she used to sleep on, Marilyn Monroe with a mischievous gesture replied, “A few drops of Chanel No. 5.” From here, the perfume, created by Ernest Beaux in 1921, passed into the category of mythical for more reasons than for its composition.
This, and that years later became the first perfume to enter a museum – part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art of New York (MOMA) – says a lot about the genius of its creator.
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 Academy of Perfume about mythical characters from the history of perfume.
Gabrielle Chanel used to say “no elegance is possible without perfume. It is the perfect accessory that is not seen, that is not forgotten, the most important thing”.
Rocío Capel, Director of Training at Chanel Iberia, stressed that the French designer was the first woman seamstress to create her own perfume, which she also described as a “visionary, who believed that perfume could express its style “and who knew how to interpret fashion through him, an” unusual “project for the time.
He met the perfumer of the tsars, Ernest Beaux, in 1920, and ended up hoarding him for the French “maison”, the best way to maintain the exclusivity of the formula, as he later continued to do with the other “noses”. “who have created the aromas of the firm such as Henri Robert, Jacques Polge – the one who has created the most fragrances for the house – or the last to join, his son Olivier.
Chanel gave very clear guidelines for the creation of the Nº5, such that he was not a prisoner of his time, that he had timeless and abstract notes, that he was not subject to the trend, although he gave a “huge” freedom. creative to the perfumer, who at the time was researching with aldehydes, facilitators of the durability of the aroma.
“A perfume that no one would have made until now,” was the maxim, corroborates Capel, an aroma with many facets and contradictions, a luxurious and seductive perfume for women.
A different essence, with exceptional raw materials, with, unlike those of the time of a single floral note, 1 floral bouquet that includes more than 80 ingredients, presented in a bottle, simple, without ornaments, almost laboratory and that it incorporated a lacquered pearl thread around its neck, “to prevent its fragrance from evaporating.”
The name of this centennial perfume holds some mystery. One has to do – explains Capel – with the fact that Ernest Beaux proposed several series to the designers, all with a number, and she decided to go for the Nº5, although it is really “unknown” whether it was the one he liked best or relied on other factors.
“The 5th was Gabrielle Chanel’s luck,” Capel said. He related it to his astrological sign, the fifth of the zodiac, to the five fingers of the hand, to the five tips of a star, also to the five goods of happiness, the five senses, the five flavors — yet that there are now six-.
A superstition that led to his parades, his collection always came out fifth, on the ceiling of one of the rooms in the house where a glass lamp shone in which the “C” of the logo were intertwined. , the G of his name and the number five.
Coincidentally, so far, there have been five reinterpretations of Nº5 and the fact is that this year, that of its centenary, 2021, adds five.
Coco Chanel always argued that with this name it moved away from the pomposity of the names of the perfumes of that time, in addition it was easy to remember, it did not need to be translated and “its importance resided in its interior”.
However, despite relying on its potential, Chanel – an advance in this regard as well – did not hesitate to use advertising to promote it and she herself was the protagonist of a campaign, in 1937, in the magazine American Harpper s Bazaar in the United States, the place where she first triumphed, displaying a sophisticated image of a self-confident woman.
But if a campaign stands out for Rocío Capel is the one starring Nicole Kidman, led by Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge) that brings together the three pillars of the company: haute couture design, jewelry and perfume.
“An image of unity, seduction and audacity,” in the spirit of Chanel, for a perfume that “has transcended time and fashions without ceasing to fascinate,” Capel concludes.