As The Independent wrote as fun fact on their website, “by the time you’re reading this sentence, five bottles of Chanel no 5 will be sold in the world”. Also, and that’s just my feeling, Gisele Bundchen’s new video ad for this particular fragrance will gain another five thousands views on YouTube. (Which is not completely impossible, since it had 1 milion views in first 24 hours after releasing.)
What is it about Chanel no 5 that the world gets so crazy every time there’s a new campaign for it or a minimal change in the bottle shape? The mixture of the ingredients has been created a century ago, and quite frankly, it smells like it’s very, very old. Really not up to date. So what’s the secret here? Well, it’s just legendary. When Ernest Beaux presented 10 scents to Coco Chanel in 1920, she picked the fifth one and decided that this will be the name of the perfume. Minimalistic and mysterious – seems like two words that perfectly describe Mademoiselle’s style. Is that why it was such a gat succes among Paris elite of the Belle Epoque? Chanel no 5 reflected on everything that Maison Chanel represented at the time.
Another exciting thing about Chanel no 5 is that it was the first syntetic perfume in the world. Created from over 80 ingredients, all of them aldehydes, the most detectable are jasmine, rose, iris, ylang ylang, vanilla, ambra and sandalwood oil. The bottle design is supposedly the replica of Boy Capel’s favourite whisky bottle that Coco adored. It seems so simple, but once you get a closer look at the details it becomes a thoroughly thought-through project. And after all, it’s no surprise – Coco Chanel did not do anything ad hoc. Everything had to have a piece of her soul.
And if you’re missing Baz Lhurmann ever since The Great Gatsby got off the silver screen, Karl Lagerfeld has something especially for you – the new video campaign directed by him. If you’re familiar with the previous Chanel video ads, you know it’s not Lhurmann’s first collaboration with Chanel – the widely commented and beloved ad “Love Story” with Nicole Kidman is his work as well. With the new story-telling concept, we meet The New Chanel Woman – active and sporty, but chic (vide surfing board with Chanel logo…), beautiful, caring about her child, working as a model, living in a glass house on the beach… To be completely honest, if this was a video of any other director than Baz Lhurmann, I would probably puke with rainbow. I mean, come on, isn’t that just a little bit too much? I will forgive this little ode to perfection as Lhurmann is known for his theartical approach to the art of film. And of course the visual experiences are priceless – the frames are amazing and sublime, every single item on the screen has it’s place and matches it’s surroundings. So to sum it all up – it’s definitely worth the three minutes of your time. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out here:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8asRWe5XNw8]
