The Secret of Chanel No. 5

by Mazzeo, Tilar J.

• ISBN13: 9780061791031
• ISBN10: 0061791032
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-09-06
• Publisher: Perennial

Summary

With its rich golden hue, art decoinspired bottle, and timeless, musky scent, Chanel No. 5 is the world's bestselling perfume. Reverently known among industry insiders as "le monstre"-the monster-it is arguably the most coveted consumer luxury product of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Yet how did this pioneering celebrity fragrance, introduced in the early 1920s, eventually take on a life of its own, becoming a cultural monument celebrated by millions of devoted consumers? The Secret of Chanel No. 5 is Tilar J. Mazzeo's far-ranging and fascinating search beyond the stuff of legend to uncover the full story of No. 5's creation, iconic status, and extraordinary success. Mazzeo goes back through time and deep into the life of Coco Chanel, the brilliant, controversial, and steel-willed businesswoman at the heart of the fragrance. She takes readers to the rose plantations and celebrated jasmine fields where the perfume begins and then to the laboratories and boardrooms where scent and sex are forever intertwined. And she travels to the heart of the Chanel empire: 31 Rue Cambon, Coco Chanel's flagship boutique, where six decades ago American GIs stormed the counters to possess the magical elixir that captured the luxury and romance of Paris for their girls back home. A blend of evocative history and thoughtful research, here is a glittering account of where art and sensuality mingle with dazzling entrepreneurship and desire: Chanel No. 5.

Author Biography

Tilar J. Mazzeo is a cultural historian, biographer, and author of the New York Times bestseller The Widow Clicquot. She lives in northern California, New York City, and Maine, where she teaches English at Colby College.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xiii
Coco Before Chanel No. 5
Aubazine and the Secret Code of Scent	p. 3
The Pretty Perfumer	p. 13
The Scent of Betrayal	p. 23
An Education in the Senses	p. 37
The Prince and the Perfumer	p. 47
The Birth of a Modern Legend	p. 59
Love and War
Launching Chanel No. 5	p. 75
The Scent with a Reputation	p. 83
Marketing Minimalism	p. 99
Chanel No. 5 and the Style Moderne	p. 111
Hollywood and the Great Depression	p. 119
A Broken Partnership	p. 131
In the Shadow of the Ritz	p. 139
Coco at War	p. 151
Coco Plays the Numbers	p. 165
The Life of an Icon
An Icon of the 1950s	p. 181
The Art of Business	p. 193
The End of Modern Perfumery	p. 205
Afterword	p. 213
Acknowledgments	p. 219
Notes	p. 223
Bibliography	p. 261
Index	p. 269
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