No. 5 Through The Years

In 1921, Coco Chanel was introduced to former Russian-court perfumer Ernest Beaux by her then-lover Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich; She set him the task of concocting a scent that reflected her own personality, something “abstract” and unique, and that did not smell like any particular flower—mono-floral scents (the fashion at the time). Beaux had been experimenting with synthetic fragrance molecules called aldehydes. An icon was born: Combined with an accord of florals including ylang-ylang, May rose, and jasmine (which Coco bade him to be extravagantly heavy-handed with; it was then the costliest perfume oil in the world), they created a legend.
Madam herself, 1937.

Lauren Hutton, 1968.

Ms Hutton was photographed by Richard Avedon for a No. 5 ad, remembers, “Dick had spent a lot of time with Coco in Paris, and he told me all about her apartment and about how she had been this adventurous young girl who had always done everything her own way. She took him to Grasse, where the perfume is made, and showed him the mountains of pink rose heads that go into the perfume. He said the scent was so strong he swooned: It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.” Ms Hutton is in many ways a quintessential No. 5 woman; a trailblazing, unconventional beauty, an inveterate world traveler—that was the tale that sealed the deal. “No. 5 was my favorite perfume. To me, it smells expensive and feminine and also reassuring.”Cheryl Tiegs, 1969.Ali MacGraw, 1971.Catherine Deneuve, 1976.Carole Bouquet, 1987. Estella Warren, 2001.

Nicole Kidman, 2004.