How does one create an exhibition round one thing which is barely skilled by means of the sense of scent? That was the problem that confronted Thomas du Pré de Saint Maur, Head of World Inventive Assets for Chanel Perfume, Magnificence, Watches and Jewellery.
“I believed in regards to the lifetime of Gabrielle Chanel when creating ‘Le Grand Numéro de Chanel’,” says du Pré de Saint Maur. “Gabrielle Chanel turned Coco on stage and he or she just about created the function she would play for the remainder of her life. Even when she launched N°5, it was a efficiency—it outdated the whole lot without delay and took the world abruptly.”
With Gabrielle Chanel’s dramatic life story in thoughts, “Le Grand Numéro de Chanel” (which interprets to “Grand Numbers by Chanel”) was born. Held on the Grand Palais Éphémère from 15 December 2022 to 9 January 2023, it showcased the Home’s largest and most iconic perfume creations: Les Exclusifs de Chanel, Coco Mademoiselle, Bleu de Chanel, Probability and naturally, the long-lasting N°5. The exhibition was an immersive and multi-sensory expertise that mixed stay music, dancing, trend shows, artwork installations and a digital actuality room.
Du Pré de Saint Maur’s private favorite was the room devoted to Chanel’s best-loved perfume. It featured attire worn by N°5’s ambassadors, a gallery of N°5-inspired paintings together with one from Andy Warhol that had by no means been proven to the general public, and an interactive digital actuality expertise the place guests had been transported again to 1921 when Ernest Beaux introduced Chanel with the samples of what would change into the world’s most well-known fragrance.
“The great thing about N°5 is that we had been by no means fearful of rewriting the identical story another way,” shares du Pré de Saint Maur. “N°5 is about connecting with your personal needs, about not bending to societal codes. [Gabrielle Chanel] mentioned one thing extraordinary, {that a} girl who’s effectively dressed is sort of bare. What she meant was, once you put on one thing for the suitable cause, the one factor that individuals see is you, the actual you, not the garments you’re sporting, not what you scent like. We’re right here to provide the instruments so that you can be who you might be, and I feel N°5 is about that story—the story doesn’t change, it’s simply the best way it’s being informed.”
This narrative has typically been informed by means of its muses, an inventory that included Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, Gisele Bundchen, and Audrey Tautou, all of whom shared sure similarities to Chanel. “Essentially the most memorable ladies of N°5 all have a free spirit in a manner that they’re interested in issues, free from societal influences. There isn’t any prejudice. Gabrielle Chanel was a passionate girl and in case you actually give it some thought, she at all times put herself on the market and was able to lose. We’re speaking a couple of girl who was born in 1883. Being 20 years previous in 1903 was a unique recreation—you needed to be fierce, and at the moment, it required a number of vitality and dedication to make issues occur,” observes du Pré de Saint Maur.
The N°5 room was only one out of the 5 social media-friendly rooms at “Le Grand Numéro de Chanel”. Every of the rooms explored a side of Chanel’s life, coupled with the again story of a perfume. The Probability room was designed just like the backstage of a cabaret, full with dressing tables and lightbulb mirrors, impressed by Chanel’s quick stint as a singer within the city of Moulins, the place she adopted the nickname “Coco”. The Coco Mademoiselle room was made to appear to be the management room of a secret base, with panels that displayed a wide range of outfits to swimsuit the totally different personas a girl can assume.
“I wished the general public’s takeaway to be the function a perfume can play, the way it can reveal the singularity of each particular person and affect our imaginative and prescient of magnificence,” says du Pré de Saint Maur. “A perfume is greater than a reputation, a bottle, or a scent; it’s also the whole lot it brings to thoughts after we breathe it in, and all it evokes after we put on it. Many individuals consider that perfume is an adjunct or a final touch, however it’s so way more than that. Perfume has an actual impact on our emotions, confidence, temper, and needs, and that is what we wished everybody to expertise.”
Supply: Her World
