The History of Chanel No. 5

“Coco Chanel was the first to bring together, the woman, the dress, and the perfume”, wrote a reporter in the 1920s. Over a hundred years later, her greatest masterpiece Chanel No.5 continues to be the best selling and most recognized perfume in the world. So much has been written about Coco Chanel and Chanel No.5, yet the story of the fashion designer and the iconic perfume is still shrouded in some mystery.

“A woman must always smell like a woman, and not like a rose.” – Coco Chanel

Born Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, she was abandoned at a young age by her father after her mother’s death and was raised in a Catholic orphanage until the age of 12. From store clerk, to café singer to designer with an establishment on 30 Rue Cambon  Coco Chanel will be remembered for her many paramours, for encouraging women to wear trousers, for allowing her skin to tan in an era when porcelain complexions were prized and most of all she will be remembered for her first perfume, Chanel No.5.

A chance encounter with Russian perfumer Ernest Beaux, who fled Moscow during World War I to join the French Army, led to the creation of Chanel No. 5. After submitting several perfumes for her to smell, all numbered in two series 1-5 and 20-24, she selected the one that bore the number 5. She told Ernest Beaux, ”I present my dress collection on May 5th, the fifth month of the year, so we will leave the name of it No.5, and this number 5 will bring it good luck“. In 1921, history was made and for the first time a fragrance had a number for its name.

“In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different”- Coco Chanel

Coco Chanel demanded much, “it should be a perfume no one else could copy.” Ernest Beaux complied by using ingredients so precious and expensive no one else could afford them including ylang-ylang from Comoros, jasmine from Grasse and Ernest Beaux’s favorite flower Rose de Mai. Although it was not the first use of aldehydes, it was the first-time aldehydes were used in such a large quantity lifting the entire perfume to scintillating new heights. Intoxicating, feminine and floral, the fizzy aldehydes pop like champagne, hovering over the skin like hundreds of gold bubbles before settling into a musky, woody and powdery base.

Mademoiselle Chanel appeared in the first ad for No.5, her first perfume in 1937. Ever since, many celebrities fronted the perfume, including Nicole Kidman, Catherine Deneuve, and Marion Cottillard. But many believe it was the star power of Marilyn Monroe who put Chanel No. 5 on the wrists of millions of women, when she answered a reporter’s question, “What do you wear to bed?”

“Why, Chanel No.5, of course.” – Marilyn Monroe

Timeless, chic and unforgettable; that is Chanel No. 5.

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