FRAGMENTS OF A DISCOURSE ON OLFACTION
It is a lover of N°5 who speaks and says…
The facts speak for themselves.
1921: Gabrielle Chanel is surrounded by perfume samples. There is one, the fifth… In its wake, an idea starts to take shape.
An idea… but what does it smell like?
Perfumer Ernest Beaux tells her. He says there is rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, and a few other notes. That is all well and good, except that N°5 performs a sort of magic trick. It evokes nothing that can be picked out.
At once, she thinks: what it truly smells like – only women can teach us.
And so, Gabrielle Chanel gives a few friends some very simple bottles containing this mysterious elixir. She says to them, ‘You’ll tell me’.
‘Tell me how people react’.
And reactions there are. Everyone asks, ‘What is your perfume?’ Everyone is intrigued, captivated, caught. Everyone is in love. What does it smell like? No one can say.
Gabrielle Chanel hears this and smiles. She was right from the start: this N°5 is not just a mystery perfume whose name will soon be revealed. It is as indecipherable and elusive as love and women.
It is said: ‘It is the first abstract perfume’. But it remains to be uttered that this abstraction is something women want, quite concretely, on their skin.
It is said: ‘There are aldehydes’. No one knows what that means, and that is perfect. Jasmine, the heart note, is completely transformed by them.
It is said: ‘It smells like possibility’, ‘It smells like an encounter’, ‘It smells like elegance’. All of it is true.
It is said: ‘It smells clean’. That too is true.
It is said: ‘It smells of fine clothes’, clothes that Gabrielle Chanel would one day perfume before her haute couture shows.
It is said: ‘It smells of beauty’ and, at the same time, ‘it smells of modernity’.
N°5 is the first perfume that smells like whatever each person wants. Those who love rose will find it in there. Those who love jasmine, likewise. Those who love ideas, those evaporations of the mind, will find them there too.
N°5 is universal – it is the essence of the times.
Times, in this respect, that walk down the runway
A star looking for a stylish way out of an indiscreet question? N°5.
Catherine Deneuve likes to be swift in her speech? N°5.
Whenever a woman truly has something to say, in any situation: N°5.
This is what they call ‘charisma’.
Styles of dress come and go, but N°5 outlives them all.
It plays a dizzying role in women’s lives.
The first abstract perfume takes shape like no other.
2026: The perfumer creator says, ‘The originality of N°5 grows with each passing year’.
What if we proved it? What if we packaged N°5 Eau de Toilette in its original bottle – the absolute essence of simplicity?
As one returns to a blank page.
As one returns to the flasks Chanel loved.
And once again, we would see the reactions.
And reactions there are.
‘What does it smell like?’ Again. Again and again.
The spirit of the times replies:
‘It smells of freedom’, the freedom to be whoever one wants to be.
‘It smells universal’. Because an idea has no borders.
‘It smells of the essence of an allure’. Because, now more than ever, beauty is something one creates.
‘It smells of self-confidence’. Because it makes us stand tall.
‘It smells of dance’. Because we’re going out tonight.
‘It smells of connection.’ That bond, a treasure to be cherished, a century after the birth of N°5.
It smells, once again, of perpetual transformation.
Today, who is charismatic and multifaceted enough to be the new face of N°5? Margot Robbie.
A woman who always looks as though she always has something up her sleeve.
A natural woman – effortless and bright.
A woman that seems so close to us, that we dare to ask her:
‘What is your perfume?’ Even if it is self-evident. Even if we already have the answer…
« N°5 Eau de Toilette is a modern, abstract floral composition distinguished by its subtly woody facet. The fragrance asserts itself through its elegance and complexity. »
Olivier Polge CHANEL In-House Perfumer-Creator
A warm and vibrant interpretation of the original fragrance launched by Gabrielle Chanel in 1921, N°5 Eau de Toilette opens with a floral bouquet of rose, jasmine, and ylang-ylang, enhanced by aldehydes, while sandalwood and vetiver lend depth and texture to the scent.
N°5 EAU DE TOILETTE
Creation date: 1924
Perfumer: Ernest Beaux
OLFACTORY SIGNATURE
Aldehydes, rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang.
OLFACTORY IMPRESSION
Abstract floral with woody facets.
BOTTLE
Square, softly contoured bottle with a cylindrical cap.
No label, minimalist. N°5 screen-printed in black.
N°5 EAU DE TOILETTE NEW EDITION Vaporisateur 75 ml CHF 175.-
N°5 EAU DE TOILETTE NEW EDITION Vaporisateur 150 ml CHF 240.-
LoL, Sandra
Photos: © CHANEL @chanel.beauty #N5 #N5IsTheAnswer #CHANELFragrance
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With my lovely colleagues Zoe and Elena.
The nose behind Contre-Jour: Annick Ménardo
