{"id":26758,"date":"2022-08-29T09:26:08","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T05:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/me\/?post_type=articles&p=26758"},"modified":"2022-08-29T09:26:08","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T05:26:08","slug":"beauty-icons-chanel-no-5","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/me\/articles\/beauty-icons-chanel-no-5\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Beauty Icons: CHANEL N\u00b05 Is The Scent Of The Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Words by Emily Algar<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Chanel N\u00b05<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now in its 101st year, the history of Chanel N\u00b05 is one that\u2019s rich in detail, romance and meaning. It all started in 1921 when Gabrielle \u2018Coco\u2019 Chanel \u2013 a progressive force in female fashion \u2013 met with perfumer and chemist Ernest Beaux. Her brief was forthright: create a revolutionary, liberated, inimitable fragrance for women. Beaux exhausted every raw material at his disposal to come up with 10 contenders. Gabrielle settled on the fifth one, and the scent of the house of Chanel, N\u00b05 Parfum, was decided.<\/p>\n

Unlike other perfumes at the time, Chanel N\u00b05 was more than a single note. Instead, it pioneered a modern approach, pairing sumptuous florals (rose, jasmine, ylang ylang) with synthetic aldehydes. Rich and decadent, it resonated with its intended audience, and quickly became both a signature and symbol of empowerment for the women who wore it.<\/p>\n

Some three years later in 1924, Beaux created the very first variation: N\u00b05 Eau de Toilette. It remained true to the spirit of the original but with the addition of vetiver and sandalwood \u2013 lighter, crisper and softer in its trail. It wasn\u2019t until 1985 that Beaux\u2019s successor, Jacques Polge, produced N\u00b05 Eau de Parfum. An homage to the original, N\u00b05 Eau de Parfum observed modern fragrance trends and access to raw materials, while retaining the heady note composition and striking amber colour. Now, the Eau de Parfum is arguably one of the most widely worn iterations of the fragrance.<\/p>\n

For 23 years things remained static until Polge dreamt up Eau Premi\u00e8re. Airy and luminous, Premi\u00e8re married the iconic floral-aldehydic redolence with white musk, citrus accords and a touch of vanilla \u2013 in essence it was softer, sweeter and felt lighter on the skin.<\/p>\n

Following Jacques departure from the house, his own son Oliver Polge took over as master perfumer in 2015, and with him came L\u2019Eau: a fresh eau de toilette bursting with lemon, mandarin and orange. Interestingly L\u2019eau utilised the exact same notes as the original fragrance but played with proportions, proving that when it comes to perfumery, quantity means just as much as quality.<\/p>\n

Of course, such an eminent fragrance also comes with a certain level of star quality. The house of Chanel is no stranger to Hollywood endorsement, but N\u00b05\u2019s rolodex of ad campaigns is the stuff of marketing legend. The first face was actually Gabrielle herself, followed by powerful women like Ali MacGraw, Lauren Hutton, Catherine Deneuve, Carole Bouquet and Nicole Kidman. In 2012, Brad Pitt famously fronted a campaign, while iconic supermodel Gisele Bunchden lent her face from 2014. In 2021 for the scents\u2019 100th birthday, muse and friend of the house Marion Cotillard assumed the coveted position, starring in both a campaign shot by Steven Meisel, and interstellar short film directed by Johan Renck.<\/p>\n

But perhaps the scent\u2019s most notable piece of press was one that wasn\u2019t scripted. In 1952, Marilyn Monroe famously told Marie Claire that she wore \u201cfive drops of Chanel N\u00b05\u201d and \u201cnothing else\u201d to bed. A piece of press so good, a cultural phenomenon was constructed around it.<\/p>\n

Since its inception, N\u00b05 has been a lynchpin at the intersection of high fashion, fine fragrance and popular culture. It\u2019s been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and reimagined as a series of screen prints by Andy Warhol. The exact formulation is even a famously guarded house secret, asserting N\u00b05 as both a symbol of timelessness, modernity and fantasy all at once. Here\u2019s to 100 more years of the world\u2019s most significant smell.<\/p>\n

1921: Ernest Beaux creates Chanel N\u00b05, as commission by Gabrielle Chanel<\/p>\n

1924: Beaux releases the first variation, N\u00b05 Eau de Toilette<\/p>\n

1952: Marilyn Monroe tells Marie Claire she wears \u201cfive drops of Chanel N\u00b05 and nothing else\u201d to bed<\/p>\n

1985: N\u00b05 Eau de Parfum by Jacques Polge is launched<\/p>\n

2008: Polge creates N\u00b05 Eau Premi\u00e8re<\/p>\n

2016: Oliver Polge, Jacques son, develops N\u00b05 L\u2019Eau<\/p>\n

2021: N\u00b05 celebrates its 100th Birthday and social engagement<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31739,"featured_media":2818,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[47,35,4254],"yoast_head":"\nBeauty Icons: CHANEL N\u00b05 Is The Scent Of The Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Beauty is an industry that thrives on trends. In this series, we dig deeper into six beauty icons. Here, Chanel N\u00b05 is the star of the show.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/me\/articles\/beauty-icons-chanel-no-5\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"6 Beauty Icons: CHANEL N\u00b05 Is The Scent Of The Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Beauty is an industry that thrives on trends. 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