Chanel

There are many perks of being a student of ISIPCA. Not only do you get to study about the world of perfumes and cosmetics and live in France, the hub of this industry, but you also get a chance to be completely immersed in this world through company visits. My class recently went on one of these visits and that too to none other than Chanel - the most luxurious of all brands.

So, there we were. The 19 girls and 1 boy of my class dressed to impress and with so much Chanel perfume sprayed on that we stood out in Metro 1 that led us to the company. We were welcomed into Chanel with a gracious spread of croissants, pain au chocolat, muffins, juice, coffee and tea. The breakfast spread was in the lobby which was decorated with bottles of the famous Chanel perfumes like Chanel No. 5, Coco and Chanel No. 19. The walls had quotes, both in English and French, by Gabrielle Chanel herself. My favourite quote – “If you are sad, if you are disappointed in love, put on your make-up, give yourself some beauty care, put on lipstick and attack; men hate weeping women.” 

We were then taken to the conference room where they walked us through the history of the company. Coco Chanel was a completely revolutionary woman for her time and had a deep passion for perfumes. She wanted to break free from the norm and create fragrances that epitomized strong and confident women. She believed in the phrase “Less is more” and put more effort into her perfume rather than the bottles and presentation. In the 20’s, when every other perfume house was coming up with ornate designs and crystal bottles, Chanel had a simple square shaped glass bottle with a stopper. When you see a Chanel bottle today, you associate it with simplicity with elegance and style.

One of Chanel’s biggest successes is of course Chanel No. 5. Launched on the 5^th day of the fifth month and laced with notes of jasmine, rose, neroli (the flower of the bitter orange tree) and aldehydes (the ingredient which gives No. 5 its personality), this perfume instantly became an international hit. It was said to be a perfume that smelled like a woman. Marilyn Monroe stated that she used to always wear a few drops of No. 5 before going to sleep.

Visiting Chanel was like an absolute dream. It was inspirational to see this young woman with a vision create a brand that is now linked to pure luxury. It was nothing but her passion and imagination that led the company to where it is today. And in the end, that’s what you need as a perfumer. Perfumes have always been linked to memories and emotions; your grandfathers scent when you used to sit with him and watch his favourite TV show, the smell of your mother when you hugged her as she was leaving for a party, the smell of your boyfriend/girlfriend’s perfume when you kissed them for the first time. As a perfumer you need the ability to capture human emotions and make them come alive in a fragrance. You need to be able to convert a dream into a scent. It is true that when you sell a perfume, you sell an image, a kind of dream rather than the scent itself. Without passion, imagination and a vision, in this field at least, nothing is possible.