"I always launch my collection on the 5th day of the 5th month, so the number 5 seems to bring me luck therefore, I will name it Nş 5." Coco Chanel to Ernest Beaux
The most important connection stemming from her love affair with Dimitri Pavlovich came in 1920. The Grand Duke introduced her to a chemist named Ernest Beaux who had once been the perfumer to the Czar. Upon her request, Beaux worked hard to find a new fragrance that would be appealing to Chanel, something that would be as unique as her clothing. According to biographer Janet Wallach, "He had mixed together more than eighty florals, combined them with an expensive jasmine note and, for the first time ever, intensified the natural potion with the use of synthetic chemicals." The first run of 100 bottles was given as Christmas gifts to her friends and supporters, and the bottle design itself was modeled after a man's toiletry flacon from Boy Capel's travel set. Encouraged by the overwhelming response to her fragrance, a greater run was issued. True to Chanel's style, she developed a new bottle that broke from the traditional flowery and feminine perfumes, going with a simple rectangular bottle with metal rectangular stopper, a design that now sits in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. As her final touch, she gave it a simple, androgynous name rumored to be the number from the vial of the potential scents she liked the best, again divorcing herself from tradition, and she became the first to attach her name directly to a product: "Chanel No. 5" was launched. Of all the collections she ever created, this one product torpedoed her to immortality. She sprayed it throughout her ateliers, her sales girls all wore the scent, and she gave it to her most prominent friends as gifts, solidifying its elite status. A bottle of "parfum" was more affordable than Chanel's clothes, and it could be worn by a greater array of women. By 1925 her perfume was being distributed around the world, thanks to the backing of entrepreneur Pierre Wertheimer, and 5 years later it would be the best selling fragrance in the world. Fame was not enough Chanel wanted the riches too. When she took the Wertheimers on as partners to distribute the fragrance, the Wertheimers received 70 percent of the stock, a mutual friend received 20 percent as a finders fee for connecting the designer and entrepreneur, and Chanel agreed to 10 percent stock and retained the title as president. In 1934 she hired a lawyer to sue her partners for greater control of the company, frustrated that her namesake fragrance was making so much money, and very little of it came to her. Instead, she was unseated as president of the company. To add insult to injury, the Wertheimers opened a new factory in the United States and used the secret formula to continue manufacturing and distributing the scent while war raged in Europe. With her atelier closed in Paris, she could still sell the perfume to the German soldiers who sent it home to their loved ones, but she was restricted to selling no more than 20 bottles per day. And when France was liberated from German occupation, she found herself giving bottles of the fragrance to the American GIs who queued patiently to receive the free gifts to take home to wives and girlfriends. With her spirit and bank account nearly broken, she renegotiated her contract with the Wertheimers who agreed to pay her a lump sum of $400,000 plus a monthly stipend, all her living expenses and 2 percent of the gross sales in exchange for her remaining shares in the perfume company. She had become wealthy once more, and at age 64 could afford to retire.
This color coordinated collection of fashion fabrics was first featured in our Vogue Fabrics By Mail Early Spring 2011 catalog of swatches. Subscribe to receive home delivery of these catalogs every other month.
The most important connection stemming from her love affair with Dimitri Pavlovich came in 1920. The Grand Duke introduced her to a chemist named Ernest Beaux who had once been the perfumer to the Czar. Upon her request, Beaux worked hard to find a new fragrance that would be appealing to Chanel, something that would be as unique as her clothing. According to biographer Janet Wallach, "He had mixed together more than eighty florals, combined them with an expensive jasmine note and, for the first time ever, intensified the natural potion with the use of synthetic chemicals." The first run of 100 bottles was given as Christmas gifts to her friends and supporters, and the bottle design itself was modeled after a man's toiletry flacon from Boy Capel's travel set. Encouraged by the overwhelming response to her fragrance, a greater run was issued. True to Chanel's style, she developed a new bottle that broke from the traditional flowery and feminine perfumes, going with a simple rectangular bottle with metal rectangular stopper, a design that now sits in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. As her final touch, she gave it a simple, androgynous name rumored to be the number from the vial of the potential scents she liked the best, again divorcing herself from tradition, and she became the first to attach her name directly to a product: "Chanel No. 5" was launched. Of all the collections she ever created, this one product torpedoed her to immortality. She sprayed it throughout her ateliers, her sales girls all wore the scent, and she gave it to her most prominent friends as gifts, solidifying its elite status. A bottle of "parfum" was more affordable than Chanel's clothes, and it could be worn by a greater array of women. By 1925 her perfume was being distributed around the world, thanks to the backing of entrepreneur Pierre Wertheimer, and 5 years later it would be the best selling fragrance in the world. Fame was not enough Chanel wanted the riches too. When she took the Wertheimers on as partners to distribute the fragrance, the Wertheimers received 70 percent of the stock, a mutual friend received 20 percent as a finders fee for connecting the designer and entrepreneur, and Chanel agreed to 10 percent stock and retained the title as president. In 1934 she hired a lawyer to sue her partners for greater control of the company, frustrated that her namesake fragrance was making so much money, and very little of it came to her. Instead, she was unseated as president of the company. To add insult to injury, the Wertheimers opened a new factory in the United States and used the secret formula to continue manufacturing and distributing the scent while war raged in Europe. With her atelier closed in Paris, she could still sell the perfume to the German soldiers who sent it home to their loved ones, but she was restricted to selling no more than 20 bottles per day. And when France was liberated from German occupation, she found herself giving bottles of the fragrance to the American GIs who queued patiently to receive the free gifts to take home to wives and girlfriends. With her spirit and bank account nearly broken, she renegotiated her contract with the Wertheimers who agreed to pay her a lump sum of $400,000 plus a monthly stipend, all her living expenses and 2 percent of the gross sales in exchange for her remaining shares in the perfume company. She had become wealthy once more, and at age 64 could afford to retire.
This color coordinated collection of fashion fabrics was first featured in our Vogue Fabrics By Mail Early Spring 2011 catalog of swatches. Subscribe to receive home delivery of these catalogs every other month.
