Chanel no. 5 - Number 1 in Design

2009-09-08T14:57:12-07:00

The bottle that Contained Coco's Essence

Coco Chanel was not the first couturier to incorporate fragrance into her design house, but was the first to link perfume to fashion in the manner that she did: as a vital accessory to a look.

In turn, her most famous perfume (Chanel no.5) became as iconic as her sleek, elegant collections, a piece of art and fashion within its own right.

Coco was once quoted as saying “A woman must smell like a woman, and not like a rose.” She told her perfumer she wanted a scent that reflected her personality: something “abstract and unique". She stayed away from the froufrou flowery scents and bottle designs that were popular at the time, choosing instead to use a simple, geometric bottle shape, a contrast to the extravagant fragrance within its glass walls. Even the label is not adorned with any imagery or design, not one wispy romantic line, not one strand of flowers.

Chanel No.5’s sleek and simple design is reflective of Coco’s fashion sense, its expensive, rare ingredients also an indicator of her penchant for quality and style. Coco insisted her perfumer use only the finest materials known to the world of perfumery at the time in 1921, and that he did, making it rife with costly jasmine.

The bottle has an almost masculine air, masculinity then associated with luxury, classicism and worldliness, while femininity was associated with sensual images and encapsulated in rounder bottles representing a womanly figure. It is rumoured that Coco based her inspiration for No. 5’s bottle design around an existing bottle she had within an elegant toiletry set.

The bottle has undergone some changes during its long life; its first introduced in 1921 was in a clear, rounded-edged rectangular bottle—- that at first glance, is similar to the one in which it appears today. The stopper was inspired by a bird’s eye view of the Place Vendôme, a square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. The box packaging was created to represent an overcoat, fitting the form just so, and offering protection to the delicate materials beneath.

Over time the No.5 bottle has undergone six notable design changes (the last of which was in 1986) although its basic elements have not changed significantly. The label has gotten larger and the brand’s trademarked intertwined C’s now appear at the front of the collar, instead of on top of the stopper where they originated. The stopper is also now made of glass, and is thicker, as is the glass of the whole bottle.

The infamous bottle has secured its spot in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Though Coco Chanel has passed her legend lives on through her designs-— in fashion, fragrance, and everything she ever touched. Get your own bottle of this classically packaged fragrance at Perfume.com.

Who's Your Daddy?

2009-09-14T16:39:56-07:00

Pierre Dinand: The Father of Modern Bottle Design

As there exists the Father of Psychology, the Forefathers of Nations, and Father Christmas, so too is there the Father of Modern Bottle Design: Mr. Pierre Dinand.

Over the past half-century, Pierre Dinand has designed over half of all of the perfume bottles manufactured throughout the world, including Yves Saint Laurent’s Opium, CK’s Obsession, Calandre by Paco Rabanne, and the recent special edition bottle of Mûre et Musc for L’Artisan, to name a few of the over 500 designs in his portfolio.

Madame Rochas by Rochas was the first fragrance he lent his design talents to, and it hit the shelves in late 1958. It was extraordinary because for the first time ever a stopper was made of plastic and metal, rather than glass; the perfume was a success and its designed deemed revolutionary. Rochas hired Dinand on the spot and after that, work in the profession he fell into by chance “just never stopped.”

Later, in the 1980s, Dinand was playing golf when the ball broke in two. “Inside, there was this weird material; [it] looked like frosted glass but it wasn’t. It had a depth of contrasts no other material could offer,” he said in an interview with Now Smell This. He investigated and identified the material as surlyn, a product of a Delaware-based chemical company, whom he asked for a sample. "They delivered over 100 kilos! The material was perfect.” Dinand first used the surlyn for CK’s Obsession,, and it is now one of the most widely used packaging materials.

It was this type of inspiration and innovation, plus Dinand’s unmatched dedication to the art of packaging, that secured his standing in design. “When I design a bottle for a couturier, I like to fathom his universe, his very own world, in order to understand him better.”

Dinand works out of a light, airy studio space in Paris, where he interviews perfumers to not only understand them, but the perfumes themselves, their notes and moods. He says he” lives” with the scent until he is mentally able to capture its silhouette, and then creates “concept pieces” - sculptures, out of clay and acrylic. He stays with his designs through every leg of the process.

Dinand is a renowned sculptor as well as bottle designer, and designed the award for the Fragrance Foundation Awards, a crystal statue of a man and a woman linked by a drop of perfume. After 50 years as master of his design trade, Pierre is now spending more time dedicated to sculpture. His work is displayed at the Oita Kaori-no Mori Perfume Museum in Japan.

“Creativity is less important nowadays, now that marketing studies end up with the exact same recommendations, whatever the company,” he says of today’s bottle designs. I must say that my [most rewarding work] was with Calvin Klein and Robin Burns [of Estee Lauder], because they wanted something new, not following trends but ahead of them.”

Consistently ahead of time and trends himself, Pierre Dinand has shaped the world of bottle design more than any other player in fragrance’s history—- an unexpected fate, but the seemingly most logical course for the naturally talented designer’s life to take. “I was just rocketed to the very center of design and perfume."