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- Created in 1921, Chanel N°5 is the best-known perfume in the world. The new episode of Inside Chanel looks back over 100 years of celebrity.
- Whether it be Marilyn Monroe turning it into a myth by confessing she only wore a few drops in bed, or Andy Warhol screen printing it as a pop art icon, over time N°5 has acquired the status of a global cultural phenomenon.
- We celebrate this iconic perfume with Chanel by looking back at its iconic faces and sharing visuals from the Inside Chanel film with you.
From the start, N°5 threw habits and conventions to the wind. At the beginning of the 1920s, Gabrielle Chanel had already changed people’s views on fashion by suggesting a new allure.
Her first perfume is consistent with her pioneering designs, simple yet well thought through.
Revolutionary in its composition, N°5 is also the first perfume imagined by a woman for women.
Why the number 5, though?
Mademoiselle is said to have chosen N°5 because it was the scent in the fifth sample, the one she preferred. Coincidentally, there have also been five faces of the iconic perfume, with Marion Cotillard as the most recent.
READ MORE:WATCH | Marion Cotillard covers Lorde's 'Team' in new romantic Chanel N°5 film by Chernobyl director
Whether it be Marilyn Monroe turning it into a myth by confessing she only wore a few drops in bed, or Andy Warhol screen printing it as a pop art icon, over time N°5 has acquired the status of a global cultural phenomenon.
As the first perfume to be advertised on TV, it has inspired some of the greatest image masters - Helmut Newton, Irving Penn, Ridley Scott, Jean-Paul Goude or Baz Luhrmann to name a few - and become a visual symbol that has never lost touch with the contemporary creative scene.
Images supplied by Chanel
Because the world’s most popular perfume of all time needs adequate representation, it has chosen muses who - throughout the world - embody elegance and seduction without undermining their own personality.
Catherine Deneuve, Carole Bouquet, Nicole Kidman or currently Marion Cotillard are among these ambassadresses who - by their spirit and modernity - lift N°5 into the eternal feminine pantheon for posterity.
READ MORE: It turns out deodorant and perfume aren't lockdown's least used items - here are 5 must-have scents
See 3 of the perfume's icons:
Marilyn Monroe
Image supplied by Chanel
Actress Marilyn Monroe gets ready to go see the play "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" playfully applying her make up and Chanel No. 5 Perfume on March 24, 1955 at the Ambassador Hotel in New York City, New York. (Photo by Ed Feingersh/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Carole Bouquet
Carole Bouquet dédicace le parfum N°5 de Chanel au 'Printemps' en décembre 1994, Paris, France. (Photo by ARNAL/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
Marion Cotillard
Image supplied by Chanel
Invest in your own bottle:
Eau De Parfum Spray, R1990 for 100ml at Woolworths
Now watch the film:
All information and images supplied by the Chanel Press Room
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