Launch of the first CHANEL perfume: N°5. This ″women’s perfume which smells like a woman,″ revolutionary due to its composition, name and presentation, was born out of Gabrielle Chanel’s partnership with perfumer Ernest Beaux.
First known representation of CHANEL N°5 perfume by famous sketch artist of the era, Sem, 1921.
Sem lithography
Ernest Beaux creates CHANEL N°22. Its name is a reference to the perfume’s year of creation, 1922. It was inspired by the same revolutionary spirit that characterized N°5. The powdery floral fragrance is a seductive scent carried by tuberose.
© CHANEL
The ″Société des Parfums CHANEL″ company is created in 1924 to produce and sell perfumes and cosmetics. Ernest Beaux then became the House's first in-house perfume designer. The first collections of powders and lipsticks were created in the same year.
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Gabrielle Chanel creates Gardénia with Ernest Beaux. A white flower like the camellia, Chanel’s iconic flower with a scent that cannot be extracted, the Gardénia has a more distinctive olfactory signature. Reproduced in 1983, it has formed part of Les Exclusifs collection since 2007.
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Ernest Beaux creates Cuir de Russie. This new leather oriental fragrance evokes the saddlery of the equestrian world. Its trail and name are a reference to birch tar, which was used by Russian soldiers to waterproof their boots.
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Launch of the first CHANEL beauty products, a complete range of 15 skincare products, a reflection of Mademoiselle Chanel’s innovative vision.
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In September 1928, Gabrielle Chanel purchases land in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, between Menton and Monaco. There she builds her villa, La Pausa. In this Provençal house, Gabrielle Chanel hosts numerous friends including the Duke of Westminster, Jean Cocteau, Pierre Reverdy, the Hugo family and even Gala and Salvador Dalí.
Gabrielle Chanel in the staircase of her La Pausa villa in Roquebrune in the south of France, 1938.
© Photo Roger Schall - Schall Collection
Bois des Îles, created by Ernest Beaux, is one of the first woody oriental fragrances in the history of women's perfumes. With accords of ylang-ylang and sandalwood, its name is a reference to the 1920s and this era’s characteristic penchant for exoticism and travel.
© CHANEL
