“I used to be amazed by the volumes,” says Olivier Polge, Chanel’s head perfumer, of the luxurious model’s perfume exhibition Le Grand Numéro de Chanel on the Grand Palais Éphémère, an occasions area in Paris. Certainly, the show is grand. Upon getting into, company are ushered right into a circus-like tent with a bar, dancers, and stay music. Organized in a round configuration are larger-than-life renditions of Chanel’s high perfume and perfume assortment bottles: Chanel No. 5, Les Exclusifs, Bleu, Coco Mademoiselle, and Chance. Behind these shows are rooms designed to the essence and inspiration of those scents — for Bleu, it is a metropolis; for Mademoiselle, it is all pink with chandeliers and cellphone cubicles to name a crush maybe; and for Likelihood, it is on line casino themed.
“Historical past is model,” Polge says, referring to the model. “All these references [in the exhibitions] are components of our model.” He continues: “You see very clearly all of the experiences Gabrielle Chanel had grew to become inspiration [for our scents]. That is why our historical past is so vital.”
That historical past is on view in each room. Like a stay, olfactory museum, guests are taken by the creation of the aromas with writeups and other people in white lab coats exhibiting how among the fragrances are bottled and packaged and providing viewers the possibility to odor the perfumes. Whereas Polge could not choose a favourite, he did name out the Chanel No. 5 exhibit, for the corporate’s most well-known and iconic scent.
A hundred years old, it was created in 1921 by Ernest Beaux, who was tasked by Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel to create one thing new for the instances. She wished for “a lady’s fragrance, with a lady’s scent.” One thing artificial, complicated, and summary, in accordance with the model. One of many first trend designers to make a perfume, she needed one thing to accompany the brand new kinds she was creating and considered perfume as an adjunct that added to an individual’s general look. She chosen the fifth pattern introduced to her, which is why it is known as, fairly merely, No. 5.
On this area, the biggest, not solely do you be taught concerning the historical past of its fabrication, however you additionally get to odor the uncooked supplies which might be used to make the scent, corresponding to Rose de Mai. In Could yearly, the petals from this bloom are harvested and became an absolute that types the premise of Chanel No. 5. You additionally get to view the archive of ads and art work, corresponding to items by Andy Warhol.
For Les Exclusifs, the model’s extra creative fragrances, Polge explains that “they’re the expression of sure singularities of Gabrielle Chanel.” He says Coromandel, for instance, is an expression of the wooden panels that enhance Gabrielle’s condo, and thus an expression of her model. “If you see the decor of her condo, you see that this is smart in her model,” Polge says. Different scents on this assortment — some created by Gabrielle, others created by those that adopted her, together with Polge — embrace Misia, Cuir de Russe, and Le Lion and all communicate to a selected inspiration or time not solely from Gabrielle’s life but additionally the model’s general historical past.
When Polge creates for Les Exclusifs, he says, he transforms the uncooked supplies to precise one thing extra summary — one thing of which means, once more, to the historical past of Chanel. “I consider every Exclusif as a chapter in a guide,” Polge says, which is how he makes all of it make sense on this planet of Chanel. Misia, which Polge created, for instance, was primarily based on Misia Sert, a lady who was instrumental in introducing Gabrielle to society in Paris and was carefully linked to the performing and visible arts. “I considered these performing arts,” Polge says. “The lipstick, the blush . . . that is how I put it collectively.”
On the finish of our dialog, Polge asks me if I’ve smelled the Exclusif 31 Rue Cambon. I say no, and he encourages me to. So on my manner out of the exhibit, I cease by the Les Exclusifs room once more and ask to odor it. The “lab technician” there tells me that is the center of the model, as 31 Rue Cambon was Chanel’s flagship retailer. The notes of iris, black pepper, and vetiver all lead again to the “epicenter” of Gabrielle Chanel — the place her historical past and legacy began.
Le Grand Numéro de Chanel is open on the Grand Palais Éphémère in Paris till Jan. 9, 2023.
Picture Supply: Chanel
