The N°5 fragrance first saw the light of day in 1921. It was the first fragrance created by Gabrielle Chanel. A symbolic number that inspired a generation of creators and marked a turning point in the industry.
Gabrielle Chanel intended to liberate femininity from its olfactory constraints, just as she used her creations to free minds and establish a new style. At that time, most fragrances on the market limited women to the scent of a single flower, such as lily of the valley, violet, or jasmine. Breaking away from the traditions of her era, the abstract olfactory trail of N°5 reflects Gabrielle Chanel’s personality.
With N°5, perfumer Ernest Beaux crafted a groundbreaking composition, blending the finest natural ingredients with synthetic molecules—aldehydes—and other original elements in unprecedented proportions to elevate the fragrance’s notes. N°5 defies comparison with other fragrances and follows no rules. It was the turning point that ushered in the modern era of perfumery and changed its history. N°5 is a pioneering fragrance.
From one perfumer to another…
The three perfumers who succeeded Ernest Beaux inherited a shared duty: to protect the maison’s iconic fragrance. The secret formula of N°5 was passed down to Henri Robert, Jacques Polge, and now Olivier Polge. “Preserving N°5 requires my constant attention,” says Olivier Polge, Chanel’s in-house perfumer-creator since 2015. His responsibility is to oversee the sourcing of the raw materials that compose the iconic fragrance and ensure that their quality is maintained. His year revolves around the harvest calendar of the ingredients used to create N°5, most notably jasmine and May rose from Grasse. From harvesting to extraction methods, Olivier Polge oversees each step of the process in partnership with Chanel’s Fragrance Creation and Development Laboratory.
… and the art of reinvention
Since its creation in 1921, N°5 has been to Chanel what grammar is to language, setting the style for all the maison’s other fragrances. A manifesto that declares the absolute freedom of the creator and the creation, the driving force, and the soul of the house. N°5 is an inexhaustible source of inspiration. Parfum is the most precious of the interpretations and represented a break from the single-note fragrances that prevailed at the time: the intense floral bouquet contains a special blend of May rose and Grasse jasmine. The formula, also characterized by the unprecedented use of aldehydes, catapulted perfumery into the modern era. Three years later, Ernest Beaux created the first variation of N°5. More woody than the original fragrance, the Eau de Toilette is distinguished by the dry and lively nuances of vetiver, balanced by the deep aroma of sandalwood. Attuned to the evolution of industry trends, Jacques Polge created a third interpretation of N°5. The Eau de Parfum offered a new concentration, a luxurious and opulent floral-aldehyde bouquet with a note of vanilla for an oriental signature.
The fourth version of N°5, airy and luminous, was launched in 2008. To reinterpret the signature of the original fragrance, Jacques Polge used white musks, omnipresent in fragrances of the 2000s, along with aldehydes developed by Chanel from citrus essences. “The olfactory trace of Eau Première reveals another texture, closer to the skin,” notes Polge, who, eight years later, signed N°5 L’Eau, a fresh and floral Eau de Toilette. N°5 L’Eau is perhaps the most distinct variation, yet the notes used by Olivier Polge are the same, illustrating the idea that in perfumery, everything is a matter of proportion.
