The Fifth Element

As the new face of Chanel N˚5, Marion Cotillard joins the ranks of numerous leading ladies, starting with Coco herself. She talks to Lydia Slater about her passion for activism, her dedication to her craft and the lessons she learnt during lockdown.

- Lydia Slater

Marilyn Monroe wore it in bed; Andy Warhol immortalised it in a series of silk-screen prints; and 100 years after its invention, it remains a bestseller. Chanel NËš5 is, without question, the most famous fragrance in the world. Yet, its creation is as shrouded in myth and mystique as the history of Gabrielle Chanel herself.

The scent became her signature; it was sprayed by an assistant at the entrance of the Rue Cambon building, home to the Maison’s original boutique, to herald her arrival every day and she would scatter it on the glowing embers of her fireplace. Hers was the original “face” of Chanel NËš5: Dressed in a gauzy black gown, leaning on the mantelpiece in her Ritz apartment, she appeared in BAZAAR in a 1937 advertisement. “Her Perfume NËš5 is like the soft music that underlies the playing of a love scene,” ran the accompanying copy. “It kindles the imagination, indelibly fixes the scene in the memories of the players.”

Little wonder that the women subsequently chosen to embody the fragrance have tended to be actresses, including Ali MacGraw, Catherine Deneuve, Carole Bouquet, Nicole Kidman and Audrey Tautou.