historically linked to prostitution, 19
legacy, xiii, 209
“lifted” by aldehydes, 64
marketing of, 81, 123–25, 147–50
natural vs. synthetic materials in, 41
personal style as factor in, 93
processing of florals for use in, 143–45
scent salons for merchandising, 123–25
social distinctions defined by, 18, 43, 44, 46
as souvenir of Paris, 29, 34, 111, 139–40, 149, 157, 159, 162–64, 216–17
structure of, 78
studied by Coco, 38–39, 40–45, 104, 143
world’s oldest, 19
on World War II black market, 138, 146
see also fragrance; scent; specific perfumes
perfumer, task and skills of, 39, 210
phenylethyl alcohol, 44
Piaf, Édith, 155
Picasso, Pablo, 45
plant resins, as head notes, 78
Poiret, Paul, 127
signature scent launched by, 25–27, 30, 122, 123
Polanski, Roman, 198
Polge, Jacques, 64, 202, 203, 210
prostitution, perfumes linked to, 19
Proust, Marcel, 18
Quelques Fleurs (perfume), 45, 55, 67, 70–71
quinolines, 42
Rallet No. 1 (perfume), 52, 55–56
as basis for Chanel No. 5, 70–72, 96–97, 105–6, 118, 173, 174
bottle design for, 105–6
Mademoiselle Chanel No. 1 based on, 172–74
re-release of, 117
Rallet No. 3 (perfume), 117
Rallet No. 33 (perfume), 117
Rallet O-De-Kolon No. 1 Vesovoi, see Rallet No. 1
Rasputin, Grigori, 49–50, 55
red label Chanel, see Mademoiselle Chanel perfumes
Remembrance of Things Past (Proust), 18
Renoir, Pierre-Auguste, 31
Repulsion, 198
respectability, divide between demimonde and, 18, 33–34
Reve d’Or (perfume), aldehydes first used in, 67
Ricci, Nina, 43
Ritz Hotel, Paris, 35, 138, 140, 155, 157, 184, 186
Roaring Twenties, xiv-xvi
Chanel No. 5 captures spirit of, 3, 67, 118
fashion and style of, 22, 45–46
see also les années folles
Robert, Henri, 210
Robert, Joseph, 97
Roger et Gallet, 114
rose
in Chanel No. 5, 60, 61, 66, 71, 76, 79, 124
rose (cont.)
from Grasse, 43, 44, 143
as respectable scent, 43, 44
as scent at Russian court, 52
smuggled during WWII, 206
Rose (Chanel perfume), 109
Roubert, Vincent, 117–18, 173–74
Rubenstein, Helena, 147
Russian Revolution of 1917, 51
Ruth, Babe, xv
Saint Laurent, Yves, 40
Saks Fifth Avenue, 116, 171
sandalwood:
in Chanel No. 5, 62
in oriental perfumes, 40
as sexual scent, 76–77
Scandal (perfume), 182
scents:
chemical architecture of, 78
language of, 39–40, 78
memories linked to, 52, 90–91, 102, 210
reminiscent of human odors, 21, 60, 77–78, 79–80
sexuality revealed through, 18–22
see also fragrance; perfumes
scent salons, 123–25
Schellenberg, Walter Friedrich, 159, 176
Schiaparelli, Elsa, 137
Scott, Ridley, 199
Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, Grand Duke, 49, 51
Sert, Misia, 30–31, 32, 35, 57, 102–3, 127
Seventeen, 199
Shalimar (perfume), 84, 114, 115
as oriental reference perfume, 40
scent consistency over time of, 209
Sheldrake, Christopher, 206–7, 209
soldiers, U.S., French perfume as
souvenir for, 29, 34, 157, 159, 162–64, 168
soliflores, 43–44
Stamelman, Richard, 45
State Porcelain Factory, 54
Stein, Gertrude, 120
storax, 79
Stravinsky, Igor, 107, 127
Style Moderne, see art deco
styrax, 79
Sulka, house of, 102
Summers, Steven, 168
suntans, made fashionable by Coco, 48
Switzerland:
Coco living in, 161, 162, 167
perfume production in, 168, 170, 173
symbolism, of numbers at Aubazine, 8–10, 61
synthetics:
first used in Fougére Royale, 41
in floral perfumes, 45
in leather perfumes, 42
mid-century generation of, 195
musk, 208–9
in oriental perfumes, 40
perfume industry changed by, 39, 40, 41, 44–45, 54–55, 144–45, 208–9
wariness about use of, 63
see also aldehydes
Talbot, J. Suzanne, 122
Tautou, Audrey, 201
Tender Is the Night (Fitzgerald), 109
31 rue Cambon (perfume), 202
Thomas, Dana, 193–94, 200
Thomas, H. Gregory, floral materials acquired by, 141–46, 206
Time, 128–29
Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri, 31
Truman, Bess, 157, 162, 181
Truman, Harry S, 157, 162, 181
tuberose, as erotic scent, 18, 44, 76, 79
Turin, Luca, 84
28 La Pausa (perfume), 202
United States:
Coco’s visit to, 128–30, 171
Depression-era luxury market in, 119–20
marketing of Chanel No. 5 in, 99–100, 111–13, 138, 141, 147–50, 199
perfume market in, 29, 30, 100, 111–12, 120, 124, 197
perfume production in, 141, 145–46, 147, 166–67, 171
during Roaring Twenties, xiv-xv
Valéry, Paul, 46
van Ameringen, Arnold, 141
vanilla, in oriental perfumes, 40, 115
vanillin, 40, 115
Verdi, Giuseppe, 10
Victoria, Queen of England, 49
violet fragrances, as respectable scent, 44
Violetta di Parma (perfume), 44
Vionnet, Madeleine, 122
von Boineburg, Hans, 158
von Dincklage, Hans Günther, Coco’s relationship with, 158–62, 167, 182
Warhol, Andy, xvi, xvii, 186, 193, 199
Warren, Estella, 200–201
Watson, Lyall, 78
Weriguine, Constantin, 65
Wertheimer, Alain, 197, 200
Wertheimer, Jacques, 141, 194–95, 197
Wertheimer, Paul, 104, 123, 135
Coco’s initial agreement with, 92–97
death of, 184
move to New York of, 140
shares sold to Amiot by, 151–54
see also Les Parfums Chanel
Wertheimer, Pierre, 104, 123, 135, 175
Coco’s business relationship with, 153, 183–85
Coco’s expenses paid by, 184
Coco’s initial agreement with, 92–97
Coco’s renegotiated agreement with, 176–77, 183–85, 195
death of, 194
move to New York of, 140
shares sold to Amiot by, 151–54
see also Les Parfums Chanel
Westminster, Hugh Grosvenor, Duke of, 128
white camellia:
as Coco’s personal symbol, 10
popularity of, 10
White Russians, in exile, 48–49, 51–53, 56, 88
women, number five as symbolic of, 9–10
Woolf, Virginia, 24
World War I, 27, 28–29, 50–51, 54, 55, 70, 113
Beaux service during, 56
perfume as souvenir afte
r, 29, 34
World War II:
black market during, 138, 146
Chanel No. 5 as soldiers ‘souvenir during, 139–40, 157, 164
Chanel No. 5 production during, 140–46, 166–67, 171
Chanel No. 5 sales during, 138–40, 146–47, 158, 176
collaborators sought and charged after, 157–62
floral material supplies during, 196
shop at rue Cambon during, 137–38
shortages during, 138, 141–46, 156
Wyndham, Diana Lister, 34, 35, 43
XXIII (perfume), 114
Yardley, perfume house of, 147
ylang-ylang:
in Chanel No. 5, 62
as erotic scent, 44
Yusopov, Felix, 49–50
Zelle, Margaretha Geertruida (Mata Hari), 13, 14, 16
Zizanie (perfume), 187
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Never, I believe, have I written anything that depended so much on the kindness of friends and on the generosity of so many new acquaintances.
Among those friends, thanks to Noelle Baker, Bill Hare, Roberta Maguire, Jeff Cox, Mark Lussier, Paul Youngquist, Christine Renaudin, Graham Lawler, Michael Gamer, Elise Bruhl, Michael Eberle-Sinatra, Tim Fulford, Paula Torgeson, Noelle Oxenhandler, Adrian Blevins, Nate Rudy, Lydia Moland, Axel Witte, the late Susanne Kröck, Matt and Erica Mazzeo, Dave Suchoff, Carleen Mandolfo, Lisa Arellano, Anindyo Roy, Liz Vella, Hannah Holmes, Shari Broder, Bruce Redford, Dennis Crowley, Mark Lee, Joyce Hackett, Jeremy and Paula Lowe, Michael Buss, Anna-Lisa Cox, Abby and Jon Hardy, Jérémie Fant, Jeffery McLain, Sam Hoyt Lindgren, Don Lindgren, Victor Hartmann, and Elizabeth Morse. Richard Wendorf offered perceptive advice on the manuscript at a crucial juncture. Jim Wendorf and Barbara Fiorino were guardian angels in New York, and my thanks to Mark Anderson for assistance with last-minute research in Berlin. Hillary Rockwell Cahn and Charles Cahn steered me in the right direction at the outset. My mother, Charlene Mazzeo, was once again my last and best reader, and my thanks to Pierre Guyomard and Simon Pittaway of La Maison de Léontine in Aubazine for putting me up, showing me around, and–along with so many others in the village that night–helping me haul a rental car out of a snowy ditch in the middle of a French blizzard.
I am also grateful to Chanel for having given me invaluable assistance in the research for this book, although Chanel was clear with me in indicating that it could not confirm many of the facts that are set forth herein. I have relied throughout this book on the many–and occasionally contradictory–published sources on the life of Coco Chanel and on the Chanel No. 5 legend. Also in the world of perfume, Christophe de Villeplee and Nicholas Mirzayantz welcomed me at International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF), and I am grateful to Subha Patel and Ron Winnegrad of IFF and to Virginia Bonofiglio at the Fashion Institute of Technology for everything they shared. Linda Gerlach also shared her experience creating Love, the Key to Life, and, at the Osmothèque de Versailles, Jean Kerléo and Yves Tanguy offered freely time and expertise. Marie-Christine Grasse introduced me to the Museum of Perfume in Grasse. Thanks, too, to Philip Kraft at Givaudan; Walter Zvonchenko at the Library of Congress; and Bradley Hart at the University of Cambridge for his research assistance in the Churchill Archive Centre and in the National Archives in London. At Aubazine, Michèle Millas and Jean-Louis Sol were superb guides to Coco Chanel’s childhood home. Thanks to odor artist and researcher Sissel Tolaas for olfactory conversations and other pleasant diversions and to Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez for taking the time to speak in Boston. Memoirist and former model Ann Montgomery Brower generously recollected her days at the house of Chanel in the 1950s.
Last–but certainly not least–at HarperCollins, Matt Inman was, as always, the kind of editor most authors only ever dream about, and I could not have written this book without him. A warm thanks goes, as well, to my agent, Stacey Glick, for the fine art of making everything possible. Finally, I am grateful to my colleagues in the English Department at Colby College and to Dean of Faculty Edward Yeterian, particularly, for the gift of time and for their patience as I completed this book.
About the Author
TILAR J. MAZZEO is a cultural historian, biographer, and passionate student of wine, luxury, and French culture. She divides her time among the California wine country in Sonoma County, New York City, and Maine, where she is an associate professor of English at Colby College. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Widow Clicquot, as well as many other books, articles, essays, and reviews on history, women, and travel.
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ALSO BY TILAR J. MAZZEO
THE WIDOW CLICQUOT
PLAGIARISM AND LITERARY PROPERTY
IN THE ROMANTIC PERIOD
BACK-LANE WINERIES OF SONOMA
BACK-LANE WINERIES Of NAPA
Perfume, it’s the most important thing. As Paul Valéry said it:
“A badly perfumed woman doesn’t have a future.”
—Coco Chanel, interview with Jacques Chazot, produced as “Dim Dam Dom,” director Guy Job, 1969
The most mysterious, the most human thing is smell.
That means that your physique corresponds to the other’s.
—Coco Chanel, quoted in Claude Baillén, Chanel Solitaire(New York: Quadrangle, 1974), 146
Copyright
THE SECRET OF CHANEL NO. 5. Copyright © 2010 by Tilar J. Mazzeo.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © OCTOBER 2010 ISBN: 978-0-062-02077-2
FIRST EDITION
Frontispiece illustration of Marilyn Monroe with Chanel No. 5 © Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images. Photograph on page 163 by Serge Lido. Courtesy of Chanel.
* * *
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mazzeo, Tilar J.
The secret of Chanel No. 5 : the intimate history of the world’s most famous perfume / Tilar J. Mazzeo.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
Summary: “From Tilar Mazzeo, the author of the bestselling The Widow Clicquot, a captivating new book that shares her journey to discover the secret behind the creation, iconic status, and extraordinary success of Chanel No. 5, the world’s most famous perfume”–Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-0-06-179101-7 (hardback)
1. Chanel No. 5 perfume. 2. Parfums Chanel (Firm) 3. Perfumes industry–France–History–20th century. 4. Chanel, Coco, 1883–1971. I. Title.
HD9999.P3934C436 2010
338.7’6685540944—dc22
2010015284
* * *
10 11 12 13 14 OV/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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1 “Chanel No. 5 rated ‘most seductive scent’ in poll of women”: Sherryl Connelly, “Chanel No. 5 perfume rated ‘most seductive scent’ in poll of women,” New York Daily News, December 2, 2009, www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/shopping_guide/2009/12/02/2009–12–02_chanel_no_5_perfume_is_tops_with_women.html.
2 “Marilyn Monroe never had trouble attracting men”: “The Secret to Bagging Your Dream Man? Why, Chanel No. 5, Of Course … One in Ten Were Wearing Seductive Fragrance When They ‘Met the One,’ “ Daily Mail, December 1, 2009, www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article–1232047/The-secret-bagging-dream-man-Why-Chanel-No5-course–One-wearingseductive-fragrance-met-one.html#ixzz0fQVxXLLB.
3 “it appear[ed] her colourful love life may have been down to a simple choice”: “The Secret to Bagging Your Dream Man?” Daily Mail, December 1, 2009.
4 the starlet famously quipped that all she wore to bed at night were a few drops of Chanel No. 5: Paul Kremmel, ed., Marilyn Monroe and the Camera (London: Schirmer Art Books, 1989), 15; “Something for the Boys,” Time, Monday, August 11, 1952. Other versions of the quote say “A drop of Chanel No. 5.”
5 “for getting beyond it to boyfriend status”: “The Secret to Bagging Your Dream Man,” Daily Mail, December 1, 2009.
6 One in ten claimed they met Mr. Right while wearing the iconic perfume: Ibid.
7 according to the French government, a bottle of the world’s most famous perfume sells: “News From France,” Ambassade de France aux États Unis 6, no. 12 (December 6, 2006), http://ambafrance-us.org/IMG/pdf/nff/News FromFrance%2006_12.pdf; other sources claim that sales are closer to one bottle of the fragrance every fifty-five seconds, e.g., “Chanel No. 5 Most Iconic Perfume,” The Telegraph, November 27, 2008, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3530343/Chanel-No.-5-most-iconic-perfume.html.
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