Paton Jackson

Chanel 5 and other perfumes naming

Have you ever thought about the names of the perfumes? Why each of them has its specific own name? Is it a spontaneous decision to name a perfume “JOY”, “Shalimar” or “CHANEL N’ 5” ? Why N’ 5 and not N’ 6 , N’ 7 or N’ 8?

“Perfume”, says Sophia Grosjman, IFF’s star perfumer, “is a promise in a bottle”.

We want to believe. We crave to be prettier, richer, sexier and happier than we are. Perfume speaks more to our vulnerabilities than to our strengths. Consider the labels on the fragrances we buy: Pleasures, Beautiful, Delicious, Sexy. As Charles Revson said: “We sell hope”. And we buy. But, behind almost every significant perfume there is a story. Take for example “Shalimar”. According to a legend, Raymond Guerlain and his wife were on their trip to USA by sea. His wife wore “Shalimar” and all of the passengers were astonished by this innovative, oriental vanilla scented perfume. When the couple landed USA, all the high society fell in love with “Shalimar” which became favorite still today. The perfume got its name from a legend about an Indian emperor who had a garden named “Shalimar”.

“My dresses fit very well my clients…I want a perfume addressed to a modern woman that will fit her as my clothes do. It must have a character. And it must be an expensive one”. Ernest Beaux, the creator of “CHANEL N’ 5” introduced Coco Chanel (Gabrielle) ten bottles, and separated them in two groups. One group was numbered in numbers from 1 to 5, the second group was numbered 20 to 24. Mademoiselle Chanel chose bottle N’ 5. When Beaux asked her why she had chosen that specific bottle, she answered: “ I am going to exhibit my collection on May the 5th, c’est-a-dire, the 5th day of the 5th month. So let’s take a bottle with this number. Hope this number will bring success to perfume”.

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