Traditionally, and prior to the launch of CHANEL N°5, "respectable" women wore perfumes that smelled like singular flowers, while courtesans and other racy ladies stuck to more brazen smells such as musk or jasmine to attract men.

The formula for CHANEL N°5 was compounded by French-Russian chemist and perfumer Ernest Beaux. It features a dizzying blend of over 80 ingredients, including ylang-ylang, neroli, jasmine, musk, rose, sandalwood and vanilla – along with liberal doses of aldehydes, the characteristic odour of which is often described as clean, metallic or even slightly soapy. Chanel’s hybridisation of the traditional fragrance distinction questioned the notion of perfume to indicate social standing, helping to demonstrate the "paradox" that women could be simultaneously "sexy" and "pure”.

Also, the perfume's strong percentage of aldehydes allowed the fragrance to linger on the wearer's skin for an extended period of time, making it more suitable for "modern" women with busy lives.

The fragrance was named CHANEL N°5 because it was the fifth sample presented to Chanel by Beaux. She also had long believed in the luck and simplicity of the number 5.

The design of its bottle has also been an important part of the product's branding. Chanel envisioned a design that would be an antidote for the over-elaborate, precious fussiness of the crystal fragrance bottles then in fashion popularised by Lalique and Baccarat. Her bottle would be "pure transparency … an invisible bottle". She was shooting for something very simple – even clinical.

The original bottle with rounded shoulders was modified in 1924 with square, faceted corners, its only significant design change. The octagonal stopper, which became a brand signature, was introduced when the bottle shape was changed. It is said to have been inspired by the shape of Place Vendôme, which is very near the location of the original Chanel boutique on Rue Cambon.

The bottle, over the decades, has itself become an identifiable cultural artifact, so much so that Andy Warhol chose to commemorate its iconic status in the mid-1980s with his pop art, silk-screened, Ads: Chanel.

Even before the wartime decision was made by the Wertheimers, Chanel’s justifiably-aggrieved investors [Ed: That’s a whole other story.] to sell and distribute the fragrance through the commissaries on US Army bases – essentially positioning it as authorised luxury good – CHANEL N°5 had been a best seller.

It gained even more popularity when Marilyn Monroe famously declared in a 1952 interview with Georges Belmont, then the editor of Marie Claire, that she wore nothing to bed other than a few drops of CHANEL N°5. That accidental tagline turned out to be marketing gold.

All of this, coupled with a string of celebrity endorsements and clever collaborations over the years involving the likes of Catherine Deneuve, Ridley Scott, Nicole Kidman, Baz Luhrmann, Audrey Tautou … and even Brad Pitt, has keep the fragrance iconic and the brand hot.

Check out the official Inside CHANEL tribute to its iconic fragrance HERE.
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References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanel_No._5
https://fashionista.com/2016/11/chanel-perfume-no-5-history
https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-SEB-57514

Images

1. CHANEL N°5. Credit: chanel.com
2. The perfumer Ernest Beaux (1881–1961)
3. Aldehydes. Credit: chanel.com
4. Video. "CHANEL N°5 - For the first time", Inside CHANEL, 2013
5. Place Vendôme and the octagonal stopper. Credit: chanel.com
6. Gabrielle Chanel in a 1937 Chanel No. 5 campaign originally published in Harper's Bazaar. Photo: François Kollar/Ministère de la Culture Médiathèque du Patrimoine RMN
7. Marilyn Monroe [RR#2: 46] playfully applying her CHANEL N°5 on 24 March 1955 at the Ambassador Hotel in New York City. Photo credit: Ed Feingersh/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
8. Catherine Deneuve by Richard Avedon for CHANEL N°5 advertising campaign, 1972, United States
9. CHANEL N°5 advertising poster, Andy Warhol
10. Video. "CHANEL N°5" film with Nicole Kidman, directed by Baz Luhrmann, 2004