Today, Chanel is celebrating 100 years of the perfume Chanel No.5, with the launch of a very cool and quirky limited-edition collection – Factory No.5.
Probably the most famous fragrance on the planet, if perfumes were classic works of art, Chanel No.5 would be the Mona Lisa. While not the first “fashion house” scent, it was probably the first that really shook the world.
Similar to what she did with fashion, Chanel stripped back all the external frills and fripperies associated with perfumery, resulting in a streamlined square bottle, an intriguing numerical name and above all, a “fiercely feminine” bouquet – and one of the first to experiment with synthetic notes, making it highly addictive and worlds away from the many “natural” perfumes women were wearing