"A women's perfume that smells of a woman". "No scent of rose or lily of the valley". But something "elaborate, which stays on". It was 1920 and on vacation on the French Riviera Coco Chanel described what she wanted to become "her" essence. In front of her, Ernest Beaux, a little man with a "big nose", a chemist by profession, who grew up in St. Petersburg, where his father worked for the tsars. Two absolute perfectionists, who in a few months would have created the iconic perfume par excellence.
Chanel N ° 5, the 'abstract' fragrance launched by mademoiselle Coco
on May 5, 1921, turns 100 and is still one of the best-selling perfumes in the world today
, the only one to have crossed the century without ever losing an inspiration of his allure and indeed always remaining modern, current. For the occasion, two volumes reconstruct its birth and success: "Coco Chanel. Unique and irreplaceable", a biography rich in insights by the journalist Roberta Damiata (ed. Diarkos, pp. 104 - 18.00 euro) and "Chanel N ° 5 . The perfume of the century ", with photographs and illustrations, to be released on 5 May in four international editions (Italian, English, French and German) signed by Chiara Pasqualetti Johnson (ed. White Star, pp.64 - 14.90).
A bottle delivered to the myth by the words of Marilyn Monroe
, when in an interview in 1952 he candidly replied: "What am I wearing in bed? What questions, Chanel No. 5, of course". But which in reality was much more right from the start, an emblem of that new femininity that Coco Chanel has been able to build with strokes of elegance, essential sheath dresses and the use of comfortable fabrics such as jersey, which made women free. Even her essence had to be like this:
without frills, nor sweetish inclinations
(as was instead in vogue in fragrances and in the idea of a woman of those years), but strong-willed, independent, not at all fragile.
The first to suggest the idea of a perfume, Damiata reconstructs, may have been Misia Sert, queen of Parisian salons, to whom Gabrielle owed a lot and to whom she was very attached. But it was in the summer of 1920, when the Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich introduced her to Beaux, one of the first chemists to use synthetic aldehydes and perfumes, that the project could be realized.
Coco wants something absolutely different, dazzling. The starting inspiration seems to be "the smell of the skin of the hands of his mother, a washerwoman from Provence". The chemist worked for her making two sets of samples numbered one to five and twenty and twenty-four. In the perfume there is a
floral bouquet
that reveals the notes
of May rose and Grasse jasmine,
amplified by aldehydes. A 30ml bottle of Chanel N.5 contains: 1000 Grasse Jasmine flowers and 12 Grasse May Roses.
This too was a small revolution, because up until that moment only perfumes with a single essence had been launched. It was also among the first perfumes to use aldehydes (additives without odor, but capable of enhancing others, key to the uniqueness of its unmistakable aroma). Mademoiselle's choice fell on bottle number five, coincidentally her lucky number. And riding fate and superstition, he decided to launch it on the 5th of the fifth month of the year during his new collection, simply calling it
Chanel N ° 5: the first perfume in history to bear the name of its creator.
Chanel's olfactory pyramid N ° 5:
Fiorita-Aldehyde Family Olfactory
Notes
Head Aldehydes, Bergamot, Lemon, Neroli
Heart Jasmine, Rose, Lily of the Valley, Iris
Fondo Vetiver, Sandalwood, Vanilla, Amber
A marketing genius even before marketing existed, he immediately managed to make it an object of desire. He studied an almost minimalist glass or crystal bottle (like his idea of elegance done much more than taking away than adding), geometric and rational (like the artistic currents of the time). The cap resembles the shape of Place Vendôme in Paris.
And he didn't put it up for sale. It was a gift for the wealthiest clients. "Almost a personal gift that raised one to a privileged position", writes Damiata.
Result, even before making their debut in the boutique at 31 rue Cambon, the most chic ladies of Parisian high society vied for it. And with that bottle, the need for a brand also came:the famous double C that from that moment made everything that Cocò signed iconic.
The rest is history, from the birth in 1924 of the new Societé des parfums Chanel to photos of American soldiers lining up for hours in Paris to bring home at least one bottle of European elegance and luxury. And then the serigraphs by Andy Warhol, Ads: Chanel, inspired by the perfume advertisements. But above all the many beautiful divas who, photographed or directed by great masters from Ridley Scott to Baz Luhrmann, have lent their faces to that unique and timeless fragrance over a century. From Coco herself portrayed on Harper's Bazaar to Nicole Kidman and Catherine Deneuve and then over the years Marion Cotillard, Carole Bouquet, Audrey Tautou, Lily-Rose Depp. And, primacy in the primates, there is also a man, Brad Pitt.