Behind The Design: Chanel No. 5 Bottle & Its Strangely Masculine Roots
Behind The Design is a segment by DesignTAXI where we wind back to the pioneering products and icons that steered the design world forward and transformed consumer perceptions forever.
Image via Ellica / Shutterstock.com
What: Chanel N°5 Bottle
Who designed it: Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel
When: 1921
Image via Savvapanf Photo / Shutterstock.com
Chanel No. 5 is arguably one of the most iconic perfumes in the world.
Created by Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel in 1921, the design of the perfume bottle has become an ultimate symbol of luxurious simplicity. In addition to being a fragrance, it is an olfactory heritage, an idea of femininity, and a masterpiece of chic.
The simple lines and plain white-label of the classic bottle housed the N°5 scent. The original chiseled stopper, which is cut like a diamond, first featured the double CC logo in 1921. It was dropped when the bottle was redesigned throughout the years, before making an appearance once again in the 1970s.
The glass bottle features the luxury brand name and scent number in black sans-serif text against a white label. The bottle has since been modified eight times to fit the aesthetic criteria of the particular era.
This original bottle design has not changed much over the years. The design is so iconic that famed artist Andy Warhol depicted its classic shape in a series of screenprints for the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Chanel No. 5 isn’t just for women, but it is also a masculine statement. The bottle is also a reminder of how the men in her life impacted her to that point.
She was a mistress of textile baron Étienne Balsan in 1909. She loved Britain’s Arthur “Boy” Capel, and by 1920, she was in love with Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich.
The bottle itself was inspired by classic whisky decanters and hip flasks—a symbol denoting that scent and sex will forever be intertwined.
Image via Ellica / Shutterstock.com
Image via Rrrainbow / Shutterstock.com
[via Hashtag Legend, Design*Sponge, Campaign, cover image via Ellica / Shutterstock.com]
Image via Ellica / Shutterstock.com
What: Chanel N°5 Bottle
Who designed it: Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel
When: 1921
Image via Savvapanf Photo / Shutterstock.com
Chanel No. 5 is arguably one of the most iconic perfumes in the world.
Created by Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel in 1921, the design of the perfume bottle has become an ultimate symbol of luxurious simplicity. In addition to being a fragrance, it is an olfactory heritage, an idea of femininity, and a masterpiece of chic.
The simple lines and plain white-label of the classic bottle housed the N°5 scent. The original chiseled stopper, which is cut like a diamond, first featured the double CC logo in 1921. It was dropped when the bottle was redesigned throughout the years, before making an appearance once again in the 1970s.
The glass bottle features the luxury brand name and scent number in black sans-serif text against a white label. The bottle has since been modified eight times to fit the aesthetic criteria of the particular era.
This original bottle design has not changed much over the years. The design is so iconic that famed artist Andy Warhol depicted its classic shape in a series of screenprints for the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Chanel No. 5 isn’t just for women, but it is also a masculine statement. The bottle is also a reminder of how the men in her life impacted her to that point.
She was a mistress of textile baron Étienne Balsan in 1909. She loved Britain’s Arthur “Boy” Capel, and by 1920, she was in love with Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich.
The bottle itself was inspired by classic whisky decanters and hip flasks—a symbol denoting that scent and sex will forever be intertwined.
Image via Ellica / Shutterstock.com
Image via Rrrainbow / Shutterstock.com
[via Hashtag Legend, Design*Sponge, Campaign, cover image via Ellica / Shutterstock.com]
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