The Secret of Chanel No. 5: The Intimate History of the World's Most Famous Perfume

by Tilar J Mazzeo

With its rich golden hue, art deco-inspired bottle, and timeless, musky scent, Chanel Number 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 Number 5" is Tilar J. Mazzeo's far-ranging and fascinating search beyond the stuff of legend to uncover the full story of Number 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 Number 5.

• ISBN10: 0061791032
• ISBN13: 9780061791031
• Publish Date: 5 October 2011 (first published 9 November 2010)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc
• Imprint: HarperPerennial
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[brokentune]

The reason I picked up The Secret of Chanel No. 5: The Intimate History of the World's Most Famous Perfume is that I really enjoyed Mazzeo's book [b:The Hotel on Place Vendome: Life, Death, and Betrayal at the Hotel Ritz in Paris|18089902|The Hotel on Place Vendome Life, Death, and Betrayal at the Hotel Ritz in Paris|Tilar J. Mazzeo|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1375390254s/18089902.jpg|25404343].

One of the stories told in The Hotel on Place Vendome provides an insight into the life of Coco Chanel and a brief glimpse into the history of her famous perfume - both left me interested enough to want to read a little bit more about both subjects - even tho I am not impressed by either Chanel or her perfume.

The Secret of Chanel No. 5 is a very detailed account of how the perfume was created, the people involved in the process, and the myths and legends associated with it - such as it's origins. Somewhat surprisingly, Coco Chanel herself only seems to play a relatively minor role in the story of the perfume which predates the rise of Chanel as a fashion icon.

Unfortunately, there were two aspects that just did not work for me with The Secret of Chanel No. 5:

For one, whilst some of the writing reveals details of Mazzeo's research in an engaging style, she lapses into what seems to be a fictionalised or hypothetical account when describing the motivations of some of the people involved in the story. As this is supposed to be non-fiction, it grates on me when Mazzeo describes what individual people have felt or thought or sensed when it is doubtful that any of this could be corroborated by factual sources. I'm sure Mazzeo has done a lot of research when writing this book. However, when she presents her own interpretations or hypotheses as the thoughts or emotions of the people she writes about, she diminishes the credibility of her work.

The second aspect that did not work for me was the repetitious nature of some of Mazzeo's over-blown descriptions of the subject matter. In essence, some of the descriptions of the perfume read like they could have come straight out of an advertisement. This is in contradiction to the effort of the book, which is to demystify the legendary status that this particular product has achieved over the decades.

However, I must admit that it did make me smile to think about how the book was trying to deconstruct a the brand of Chanel No. 5 but using generic "sales-speak". I'm just not sure that the irony was intended by the author in this case.