The Chanel Factory 5 collection pays homage to its industrial roots

A number synonymous with luxury and old-world glamour, Chanel No.5 always calls to mind an item of ultimate extravagance, a complex scent that represents the essence of femininity, packaged tastefully in an opulent bottle. But did you know that the iconic perfume had a much humbler and industrial beginning?

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When Gabrielle Chanel created No.5 in 1921, she originally put the scent in a lab bottle, before turning it into the luxury icon that we now know. Even its name didn’t stem from an epiphany she had – it was literally the fifth sample that her master perfumer Ernest Beaux presented her with.

It was this idea of turning functionality into luxury that gave Thomas du Pre de Saint Maur, Chanel’s head of global creative resources fragrance and beauty, the idea for Chanel Factory 5, a 17-piece limited edition capsule collection inspired by everyday objects, all sprinkled with formulations of No.5’s scent.

“When you have to celebrate something like No.5, it’s kind of the celebration, you know?” he says. “That besides being 100 years old, No. 5 still has that capacity to reinvent itself and be revolutionary. I wanted to do something that’s young, bold, and captures the daring spirit of No.5.”

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Taking inspiration from the perfume’s origin story, du Pre de Saint Maur wanted to reconnect with the scent’s original packaging and create a collection that paid homage to its industrial roots. Think oil canisters, paint pots and tubes, burettes and even detergent doypacks – the last things you would associate with luxury, or even Chanel, for that matter.

“The most challenging thing about No.5 is No.5 itself,” he says. “It’s so perfect in terms of design that you have to think and do something that has some interest to it.

“Sometimes No.5 can be a bit intimidating, and people would use it only for very special occasions because they treasure it so much. But I do believe that in your daily life, you need a relationship with luxury. So by creating products that are a bit more easy to use in your daily environment, we wanted to make No.5 feel more approachable.”

And he’s not wrong. While we’re used to seeing No.5 in a glass bottle so chic that many end up repurposing it as a decorative piece, with Chanel Factory 5, du Pre de Saint Maur has stripped off its sometimes intimidating veneer, and replaced it with a sleek and simple design in a minimal colour palette of black and white.

“This period that we live in, your everyday life becomes the new luxury because we pretty much don’t have these extraordinary moments anymore. You don’t have parties, so your home becomes your red carpet,” he says.

A NO.5 STATE OF MIND

At Chanel, it’s Thomas du Pre de Saint Maur’s job to craft visuals for the French maison. The man is responsible for some of the house’s most iconic imagery, placing screen sirens such as Marion Cotillard and Nicole
Kidman with directors like Moulin Rouge’s Baz Luhrmann to create fantastical films for its fragrance campaigns.

But for Factory 5, there is no muse. He’s chosen instead to buck tradition and go for a purely product-driven campaign. “This time the muse is the product itself. We live in a world that is so saturated by images, I didn’t want to come up with a new campaign, a new face so soon.”

Over a video call, du Pre de Saint Maur gestures to the campaign behind him – blown-up posters resembling Warholian artworks rather than brand campaigns. In fact, he took inspiration from the Pop Art movement for the capsule, as well as Factory 5’s name.

“Pop Art pretty much questions the value of things, and whether a disposable product can become a source of art,” he explains. “We wanted
to do something similar and take packaging that originally had no value,
and turn them into luxury products.”

What does he want people to take away from the collection? First, “the energy, the joy, and the coolness of the collection”, and next, the fact that No.5 “dared to reinvent itself”. In fact, time and time again in our conversation, du Pre de Saint Maur stresses the importance of being unexpected and audacious, an ethos that he says speaks for both No.5 and himself.

“The moment you’re scared of change, you start to get old in your mind. If you are curious about the world and are willing to experience things, then you’ll always be young. I want No.5 to always remain bold, and a daring vision of luxury that allows it to be reinvented all the time.”

The Chanel Factory 5 collection is available from July 15, 2021 at Chanel Fragrance & Beauty boutiques, and Chanel's e-concierge.