“I like the idea of mystery. I love elusive people. I dislike very much familiarity…. But what I really love is intimacy.” Catherine Deneuve makes this confession in an ad for Chanel No. 5, a fragrance named not for a flower or a romantic moment but for a designer and a number. “[Gabrielle Chanel] said this sentence I like very much. She was looking for an artificial perfume,” says Olivier Polge, the current perfumer for the house. “It calls for a much more creative mindset.” The simple, unadorned bottle and neutral name also allow for all sorts of interpretations, elusiveness and intimacy among them.
Polge operates under two powerful legacies: that of Gabrielle Chanel and that of Jacques Polge, his father, who was Chanel’s perfumer for 37 years. And while you might assume they would weigh heavily on his shoulders, “it’s the exact contrary,” he says. “There are so many brands that are looking for a history, and luckily we have one.” Where Matthieu Blazy draws from the Chanel codes—quilted leather, pearls, bouclé wool, a boxy jacket, two-toned shoes, and interlocking C’s—the Chanel fragrances have their own references. “I always look for a certain type of complexity that brings a more mysterious side to the perfume, all the way down to even the raw materials. [The Chanel] perfumes have a strong identity, and that helps in this connection with the new scents.”