Eau Essentielle

Over the decades, we have witnessed the olfactory history of a fragrance. For Chanel, No 5 is a timeless reference, which is universally understood. We look at Chanel’s new, reinvented fragrance, inspired by the most famous perfume in the world.

Olivier Polge, perfumeur at the house of Chanel has just created the new fragrance, No 5 L’Eau. While this fragrance is largely inspired by the iconic No 5, Polge chose to give it a new, fresher identity by infusing it with citrus notes of orange, mandarin and lemon. The floral notes of rose, jasmine and ylang-ylang are rendered lighter. At the base, there are discreet vanilla notes, along with wood, vetiver, cedar and musk. Chanel No 5 L’Eau is the contemporary reinterpretation of an iconic fragrance.

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THROUGH THE YEARS

When Coco Chanel launched her new perfume in 1921, she wanted to showcase a truly feminine perfume with the most beautiful and luxurious ingredients. Ernest Beaux created the first No 5. Its originality lies in the fact that its floral and citrus notes coexist so effortlessly. As for the luxurious ingredients, there was English rose and jasmine from Grasse. Its originality lies also in its name, a simple number, the lucky number of the designer. No 5 was first launched as an eau de parfum and then as an eau de toilette in 1924, also created by Ernest Beaux. In 1986, Jacques Polge created an eau de parfum topped off with vanilla notes. In 2008, he released a more powdery version of this.

Since Chanel’s early days, perfumers have played an important part in the house’s history. Ernest Beaux passed on the baton to Henri Robert in 1952. Jacques Polge took over in 1978 and his son Olivier joined the house in 2013. After a remarkable run at IIF, where he designed a bunch of compositions like Spicebomb by Viktor & Rolf, Repetto, Kenzo Power and Dior Homme, Olivier Polge debuted at Chanel with Misia in the Exclusifs collection.

GEOMETRIC SHAPES

Simple and elegant, the No 5 bottle is absolutely timeless: in fact, its refined, geometric shape has seen almost no modification over the decades.

The black and white version is present in the design collection at Moma in New York. For No 5 L’Eau, the classic bottle has been revisited, with a white and silver band around the neck. The embossed shape of the bottle is also seen on the box.

Lily-Rose Depp has been chosen as the face of this brand, symbolising freshness. The fact that she is the daughter of Vanessa Paradis, who also has a long history with the brand, only adds to the charm.

From the October 2016 issue of L’Officiel India.