The limited-edition fragrance that’s trending this week …
WHAT Chanel No5 L’Eau Drop eau de toilette has just landed. N°5 L’Eau is perfumer Olivier Polge’s 2016 take on the most famous perfume in the world. It’s a lighter, more floral version of the original N°5, with a focus on the rose and white flower elements, topped with citrus. And the Drop is a limited-edition new bottle that collectors will rush for – it’s the same shape as the Chanel N°5 hand creams, in their egg-shaped neat minimalist oval packaging; they look like smooth eggs that fit perfectly in your palm.
WHY This glass oval is a modern twist on the most iconic perfume bottle of all time. It’s an object of great purity and fun and expresses the elegant brightness of the scent itself. While it’s clearly designed to appeal to a younger audience, it has a broad appeal – the Drop bottle is not just a collectable, but it makes the perfume more portable, so it is great for summer travelling.
WHO The bottle design is down to the huge creativity of one of Chanel’s secret weapons, Sylvie Legastelois, head of packaging and design creation. She has worked for the brand for decades, joining in 1984 to work alongside Karl Lagerfeld, and she is a fascinating creative force behind the brand. In fact, even Chanel’s classic perfume bottles, including N°5, are regularly reinvented, tweaked and modernised, but in such a subtle way you notice only subliminally. “We’re constantly updating,” Legastelois told me when I met her back in 2017 for the launch of Chanel’s Gabrielle perfume, in its elegant amber bottle. “We don’t stop. Mademoiselle Chanel was always ahead and so we always want to surprise, and come up with unexpected things. I always look to see something new, things that are not obvious at first. You have to be a little bit curious.”
Legastelois and her team have created everything from the click-open lipsticks to the more recent 31 Le Rouge glass-encased refillable lipsticks, which avoid any use of plastic. She is a creative genius, working quietly behind the scenes of Chanel, always aiming to respect the precious archive and heritage, while innovating and creating new modern classics.
WHERE Chanel N°5 L’Eau Drop eau de toilette, €144 for 50ml, at counters nationwide. www.brownthomas.com.
