After more than three decades of research, this account reaches an unauthorized book.
Chanel No. 5 is the most famous perfume in the world, the only pajamas of actress Marilyn Monroe, the engine of wealth of designer Gabrielle Chanel and an almost fetishistic object that in 2021 will turn 100 years old, surrounded by a perfume of success but also controversial.
His story fascinated the French writer Marie-Dominique Lelièvre, author of books such as “Saint-Laurent, bad boy” or “Chanel & Co: Las amigas de Coco”, which now publishes in Spanish “El Nº 5 de Chanel, biography no. authorised “.
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The book came to light after almost 30 years of investigation that led Lelièvre through all the characteristics of the brand and its designer, as one of the curiosities of this perfume is that it represents in itself the history of the Chanel empire.
Marie-Dominique Lelièvre dedicated herself to writing this interesting story in a book. EDH / EFE photography
Its creation dates back to an alliance in 1921 between the French-Russian perfumer Ernest Beaux and the tailor, and its name is the main topic of debate between historians and fans.
The version in which she was christened with the number of the show that Chanel liked the most or the account she gave about the reasons why five were her lucky number are some of the rumors denied by Lelièvre’s investigation.
In this case, perfume lovers, based on a large proportion of roses and jasmine, will have to assume that there are multiple possibilities in terms of choosing the name, because the reality remains a mystery.
It smells clean
“Something very special, that doesn’t stain, that smells really good, if not, it’s over, it’s chaos,” were the instructions Chanel gave Beaux, probably unaware that the sample he had chosen it was actually a missing perfume. from Imperial Russia, Rallet No. 1, created by the perfumer Romanov shortly before the outbreak of the Revolution.
This perfume is a classic in the fashion world. EDH / AFP photography
The French, an orphan with a miserable childhood, almost illiterate, and with beauty and cunning as their only weapons, managed to create an empire out of nothing, but in the 1920s, when sewing was the only thing that really mattered to her, she had no he could imagine that this perfume would be a universal success and that it would enrich it.
The money came much later because in 1924 he allied with the brothers Pierre and Paul Wertheimer and Théophile Bader, one of the founders of the Galeries Lafayette, to create the company Les Parfums de Chanel.
Convinced that registering a trademark in her name was already an honor, she settled for 10% of the capital, while Wertheimers earned 70% and Bader received the remaining 20%.
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His little whim, in a small laboratory bottle, quickly became the first best seller in history, especially in the United States.
When Chanel realized her mistake, it was too late and she felt torn. Her maneuvers to regain more rights to her creation began in the 1930s and reached its peak during the Nazi occupation (1940-1944), with which she, like many other members of the French elite, was content.
The dark years of the occupation
Chanel anti-Semitic, Chanel collaborator, Chan spy, Chanel lover high German military with a bloody resume … There are many denunciations of the dark past of the designer in those years and there are many who try to justify it.
Lelièvre confesses that he had to stop his research when he found in the national archives a letter, signed by the designer himself, where, when he tried to recover his trademark from Wertheimers, Jews betrayed him.
A little later, the author confesses to EFE, “without understanding or justifying it”, she knew how to accept the gray areas of her heroine, who maintained throughout her life, as other testimonies report, an obvious anti-Semitism .
Coco Chanel has always been involved in controversy. EDH / AFP photography
“I would have liked to show that it was not true, so as not to affect the aura of my character, but unfortunately it is,” admitted Lelièvre, who believes that, despite all this, this dark phase makes the general interest for designer to be even bigger.
In parallel, she attracts a dedicated friend, who has always maintained a generous attitude towards working women, with whom she felt identified.
Probably due to the intervention of a senior official of the French administration, Chanel left the past behind and legally recovered a higher percentage of profits.
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At the age of 70, she reopened her brand and revolutionized fashion again by creating her famous “tweed” suit, another emblem of the house.
Today, the company is far from the quality and craftsmanship offered by its designer and Lelièvre wonders if this perfume is not yet the only luxury item left in Chanel.
Would the creator rebel against the business that her company has become, like most of her opponents?
“No, Chanel was a saleswoman, she had a very clear practical sense, and unlike me, who is a dreamer, she would most likely have adapted to this new world,” the writer assumed.