Step aside No.5: Chanel's new No.1 collection marks a new era for the brand (2024)

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Meet the modern homage to Gabrielle Chanel’s timelessly chic camellia

By Evie Leatham
Step aside No.5: Chanel's new No.1 collection marks a new era for the brand (1)

Gabrielle Chanel’s beloved camellia is as iconic as the woman herself. Motifs of her favourite flower, which she considered to be a lucky emblem, decorated her apartment and featured in her collections. Today, the white camellia remains synonymous with the fashion house, and is regularly referenced throughout fashion and beauty collections.

The flower – this time a distinctive red camellia – has inspired the launch of No.1 de Chanel, a new collection of nine products, which includes skincare, make-up and a fragrance mist.

The name is a nod to another icon: Chanel No.5, which was launched in 1921 – and a century on, we can safely predict No.1 will be one of the most exciting beauty moments of 2022 (despite it only being January).

Step aside No.5: Chanel's new No.1 collection marks a new era for the brand (2)

As beautiful as the flower is, it’s the camellia’s unique skin regenerative properties that really powers this collection. After a decade of research, Chanel scientists discovered that the red camellia japonica, has a unique molecule that combats ‘senescence’ in the skin, which is when skin cells stop functioning and go on to disrupt surrounding healthy cells, dulling the complexion and contributing to the ageing process.

Harnessing this skin-benefiting innovation, No.1 is the ultimate capsule collection with everything you could need for a fresh-faced glow. From the Red Camellia Revitalizing Serum and Cream to the alchemic Red Camellia Powder-to-Foam Cleanser and Eye Cream, each product works to brighten the complexion and protect it from ageing.

The Revitalizing Foundation infused with skincare benefits is also a must-have, weightlessly hydrating while creating a luminous complexion – it looks barely there and by that I mean that skin appears make-up-free.

Step aside No.5: Chanel's new No.1 collection marks a new era for the brand (3)

Finishing touches are found in the Red Camellia Revitalizing Lip and Cheek Balm – with the perfect dose of pigment to pack a punch – and the L’EauRouge Revitalizing Fragrance Mist, created by master perfumer Olivier Polge with a skincare base of refreshing camellia water.

No.1 de Chanel has been carefully created with sustainability front of mind. Organic inks have been introduced, wrapping and paper leaflets removed and plastic reduced with the use of recycled glass in 80 percent of the collection, while the formulas themselves are made from predominantly natural ingredients. Even the camellia seed shells were used to create the lids of the glass jars to prevent waste. It’s also the brand’s first foray into refillables with smart, petal-etched red refill pots of the Revitalizing Cream.

The collection is a thoroughly modern homage to Gabrielle Chanel’s timelessly chic camellia.

Step aside No.5: Chanel's new No.1 collection marks a new era for the brand (5)

N°1 DE CHANEL REVITALIZING FOUNDATION

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Step aside No.5: Chanel's new No.1 collection marks a new era for the brand (6)

N°1 DE CHANEL L'EAU ROUGE REVITALISING FRAGRANCE MIST

Step aside No.5: Chanel's new No.1 collection marks a new era for the brand (7)

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Step aside No.5: Chanel's new No.1 collection marks a new era for the brand (8)

N°1 DE CHANEL POWDER-TO-FOAM CLEANSER

Step aside No.5: Chanel's new No.1 collection marks a new era for the brand (9)

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Step aside No.5: Chanel's new No.1 collection marks a new era for the brand (2024)

FAQs

What is the significance of the number 5 in Chanel? ›

For Chanel, the number five was especially esteemed as signifying the pure embodiment of a thing, its spirit, its mystic meaning. The paths that led Chanel to the cathedral for daily prayers were laid out in circular patterns repeating the number five.

What does number 5 Chanel smell like? ›

Sharply aldehydic, metallic, floral and powdery all at once. it doesn't take long for this to calm down to the smell of CHANEL No 5 from my memories. It's crisp and floaty, warm, glamorous and the essence of what my memory remembers as fancy.

What is the cat pee in Chanel No. 5? ›

Cat Pee? In 1921 Coco Chanel changed the fragrance world with her ever-popular Chanel No. 5. In need of a musky base note, Coco used scrapings of sexual pheromones from the perianal (read: anal) gland of the Abyssinian civet cat– sexual pheromones that are found in cat pee.

What are the characteristics of Chanel No. 5? ›

Chanel No 5 Parfum was launched in 1921. The nose behind this fragrance is Ernest Beaux. Top notes are Aldehydes, Ylang-Ylang, Neroli, Bergamot and Lemon; middle notes are Iris, Jasmine, Rose, Orris Root and Lily-of-the-Valley; base notes are Civet, Musk, Sandalwood, Amber, Moss, Vanilla, Vetiver and Patchouli.

What makes Chanel No. 5 so iconic? ›

Explaining the significance of No. 5, Polge speaks of Gabrielle Chanel's innovative approach, and how the perfume was the first to use aldehydes, to prolong and lift the scent of the fragrance. “It was new because it was very complex, not built around one raw material.

Why is the number 5 important? ›

The number five symbolizes freedom, curiosity, and change, which can be interpreted as having the desire to have adventures and explore new possibilities. We know from our physiology that we have five senses — sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste — to experience the physical world.

Is Chanel number 5 an old lady perfume? ›

The best known Old Lady Perfume is probably the classic Chanel No. 5, which launched a century ago.

Why is Chanel No. 5 perfume so expensive? ›

Prestige perfumes typically have a higher concentration of oils and use more expensive raw ingredients, she explained, so as demand soars, so can production costs. “Chanel No. 5 is one of the best known examples of this. One of the ingredients is a rare flower,” said O'Neill.

How to wear Chanel No. 5? ›

The original and best way to wear your Chanel No°5 is by spraying onto pulse points like the wrists, behind the knees and in the small of your neck. The warmth of these places will help the fragrance to permeate, enveloping you in a softly scented cloud all day long.

Do people still wear Chanel No 5? ›

5 remains the grande dame of perfume sales to this day, with a bottle sold worldwide every 30 seconds. The simple, rectangular bottle—representing Coco Chanel's "less is more" philosophy—is a classic too, and in 1959 won a place for the scent in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

What age group wears Chanel No 5? ›

5 is for your grandmother. Certain scents typically have certain age associations. But ultimately, what makes a scent “young” or “old” is subjective.

Which celebrities wear Chanel No. 5? ›

Keeping him alive through the years, his greatest muses : Marilyn Monroe, Catherine Deneuve, Carole Bouquet, Nicole Kidman and Marion Cotillard. The status has never yielded N ° 5 museum shelves around the world, although it has been part of MoMA's permanent collections in New York since 1954.

Why is Chanel's most famous perfume called No 5? ›

It is said the number five was her favourite one, and also her luckiest. The story goes that Mademoiselle Gabrielle Coco Chanel (Coco was her nickname) chose No. 5 because it was the fifth scent sample and the one she preferred. And with it, Mademoiselle and Ernest Beaux struck gold.

Is Chanel No. 5 an old lady scent? ›

The best known Old Lady Perfume is probably the classic Chanel No. 5, which launched a century ago.

What was Chanel's lucky number? ›

Five was Chanel's lucky number, so when the house's parfumier Ernest Beaux presented her with 10 samples for their first fragrance together, she picked number five, and named it after her favorite numeral.

Why was Chanel #5 introduced on May 5? ›

Supposedly, when Chanel was offered multiple prototypes for the debut scent, she picked the fifth vial. It was then only fitting that Chanel should release the new perfume on the fifth day of the fifth month of the year. And so it was, on this day in 1921, the first bottles of Chanel No. 5 were released to the public.

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