The story of Coco Chanel is unique and intriguing. An extraordinary destiny, she lived a thousand lives guided by a great feverish nonconformism. A journey that has caused much ink to flow, which has generated many books and films relating several facets of her unique destiny: her talent as a creator and pioneer, her romantic or dangerous love stories, her determination in business and her conflicts with the Wertheimer family, her attitude during the war. She will launch a perfume in the middle of the Roaring Twenties, of incredible modernity, a manifesto of emancipation and a timeless icon.
The Story of Coco Chanel
Coco Chanel had an extraordinary journey that began as an orphan and led her to become the world-famous couturier who made her one of the richest women in the post-war world.
Chanel’s perfume 5 will be her first perfume and a stroke of genius: it is a myth, a legend and a perfume that is still one of the best sellers all over the world.
The creation of Chanel 5
Its creation is the subject of numerous stories. Since its creation in 1921, Mademoiselle Chanel’s extraordinary brilliance and avant-gardism have been undeniable.
She developed a style that defied the prevailing trends.
In the thought of a flask of whisky from his ex-lover or a bottle from the lab? A square bottle that is sober, simple, and yet opulent.
Was the Place Vendôme in Paris the actual inspiration for the bottle’s design? The flawless white cases with nearly unaltered packing today are accentuated by black corners—a magnificent display!
In 1920, the name Chanel was on everyone’s lips. Elegant women flocked to the boutique on Rue Cambon, after having been to the one in Deauville, to treat themselves to Coco Chanel’s creations, refined, elegant and stamped with the famous double C.
A year later, they discovered Coco Chanel’s first fragrance, initially sold in one size and in a limited series.
Initially, Gabrielle Chanel gave her perfume to her devoted clientele.
Mademoiselle Chanel, with her marketing sense, perfumed the fitting rooms on Rue Cambon. Her customers, who had become addicted to her fragrance, asked her to have some more, she replied that it was a small, unpretentious perfumer who had created this fragrance for her but that she did not know if she could have some more.
Chanel’s 5 was also born from a meeting with a perfumer, Ernest Beaux, whom she met in the circle of many Russian émigrés, notably that of Grand Duke Dimitri (who is said to have killed Rasputin), cousin of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and brother of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, owner of a fashion and perfume house.
Coco Chanel was greatly inspired by the splendour of the Russian aristocracy (jewelry, gems, Russian haute couture). Grand Duke Dimitri would become her lover and give her the idea to launch her own perfume.
Ernest Beaux, of French origin, born in Russia and having always lived in Russia, a chemist by training, was the creator of numerous perfumes for the court of the Tsars of Russia, he made his debut in the Rallet Company.
Several stories confront each other on the creation of the fragrance 5 by Chanel
The official and the unofficial
The official: Samples numbered 1 through 5 and 20 through 24 were shown to Coco Chanel by Ernest Beaux. Coco Chanel will decide sample No. 5. Why is she asked?
“Because I launch my collection on May 5th, the fifth month of the year, my lucky number.”
The number 5 represents for her the quintessence of alchemists.
This number 5 which will become the name of the fragrance, this number will indeed bring her luck and will be one of the most worn perfumes in the world. She wanted in her words “a woman’s perfume with a woman’s scent”.
Gabrielle Chanel recommended to perfume yourself with the perfume extract “where you wish to be kissed”. Your sense of smell will match your sense of smell.
The unofficial one: in Marie Dominique Leliève’s unauthorized biography, she reveals that Ernest Beaux offered Coco Chanel a fragrance that had already been launched under the name Bouquet de Catherine in 1913. It had been a flop at the time but it nevertheless seduced Mademoiselle Chanel.
Marilyn Monroe and the Chanel 5
Interview in 1953
What do you wear to sleep? Pajamas, pajama top, onesie?
She will answer: “I don’t wear anything at night, just a few drops of Chanel 5. Don’t say I was naked, it’s the truth, I’m wearing Chanel 5!”
These short sentences that she pronounced will help propel the sales of Chanel 5 and make it a legendary perfume. Later Catherine Deneuve, Carole Bouquet and even Brad Pitt will be the muses of this fragrance.
The fragrance of Chanel perfume number 5
Coco Chanel fell in love with the fragrance because it was floral but not a heavy and starchy floral, far from the soliflores of the time, on the contrary an abstract and signed floral bouquet. This perfume was launched on May 5, 1921.
Centifolia rose, Grandiflora jasmine from Grasse, orange flower and neroli, Haitian vetiver, Brazilian tonka bean, ylang-ylang, Pallida iris, and vanilla are among the exquisite raw components that make up this fragrance.
It has a clean, abstract, anxious, and airy quality due to the aldehyde notes that accentuate and sublimate these priceless elements. His ingenuity was to play these notes in excess; this is not the first time that these aldehydes have been employed in a perfume. These aldehydes elevate fragrances; for example, lemon unveils strawberry undertones that can make flowers sing. Aldehydes simultaneously conjure images of snow, crisp linen, iron fumes, or soap.
Creation of the Chanel Perfume company
Galeries Lafayette was where Coco Chanel wanted her perfume to debut.
The perfume company was founded on April 4, 1924, with the Wertheimers owning the Bourgeois company, which manufactured the perfume 5 de Chanel, which allowed the deployment and distribution of 5 de Chanel throughout the world. Ernest Beaux was the technical director.
According to the terms of the deal, the Wertheimers held 70% of the shares since they assumed all the risks; Théophile Bader, the director of Galeries Lafayette at the time and a business provider, would receive 20% of the shares, while Coco Chanel would only receive 10%.
From the 1930s, Coco Chanel, under the influence of her lover Paul Iribe, a great Artistic Director, was convinced that the Wertheimers were scamming her. A terrible struggle will oppose them from 1939, and this for several years. They nevertheless negotiate with her and even save her after the war.
During her exile in Switzerland, Coco Chanel uses it as an opportunity to bluff: she relaunches her improved perfume, Super 5 de Chanel, which causes confusion with the original and forces the Wertheimers to agree to a settlement that will make her extremely wealthy.
This lovely perfume company would not have been established without the Wertheimer family. Without Gabrielle Chanel, who embodies this perfume 5 de Chanel, there would have been no international success. It is the Perfume N°5 de Chanel that makes her extremely rich.
Her last stroke of genius: a return to the top of the bill, thanks to her famous tweed suit, which will be sold by the thousands and adopted by celebrities and “first ladies”.
3 bottles of the perfume 5 de Chanel will be offered to American GIs. The Chanel Couture House, for its part, enlightened by the genius of Karl Lagerfeld, has become an empire.
Coco Chanel passed away in her Ritz suite in 1971.
Conclusion on Chanel number 5
In 1959, the number 5 bottle entered the permanent exhibition at the MOMA in New York. The Chanel 5 will be dressed by artists including the famous series in homage to Andy Warhol in 1985. Next year in 2021, the Chanel 5 will celebrate its 100th anniversary of creation.
In the lineage of Chanel’s Parfum 5, considered the leader of floral aldehyde perfumes, many perfumes will be launched:
• Lanvin Arpeggio 1927
• Liu by Guerlain 1929 (the closest olfactory)
• Fleurs de Rocaille Caron 1933
• Hermès Carrosse 1961
• Madame de Rochas 1969
• Paco Rabanne 1969 Grille
• Rive Gauche by Saint Laurent 1971
• First by Van Cleef 1976
• Courrèges in Blue 1983
Bahisht Aroma Perfumes
Discover the Bahisht Aroma brand with its Orange Blossom, Musk and Vanilla Collections. You can try them with the Discovery Boxes (5 Eau de Parfum x 2 ml) and rediscover these raw materials as you have never smelled them before.
Blog Forbes Daily: Join the Blog Forbes and get our best stories, exclusive reports and important analysis of the Lifestyle daily.
