The Eternal Code of N°5

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

« 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.

Chanel