With its rich golden hue, Art Deco-inspired bottle, and timeless, musky scent, Chanel Number 5 is the bestselling perfume in the world. Reverently known among industry insiders as le monstre - the monster - it is arguably the most coveted consumer luxury product of the 20th and 21st centuries. Yet how did this pioneering celebrity fragrance, introduced in the late 1920s, eventually take on a life of its own, becoming a cultural monument celebrated by millions of devoted consumers? "The Secret of Chanel Number 5" is Tilar J. Mazzeo's far-ranging and fascinating search to uncover the full story of Number 5's creation, iconic status, and extraordinary success. And she reveals how some of the things we think we know about this celebrated fragrance are the stuff of legend. Mazzeo goes back through time and deep into the life of Coco Chanel, its brilliant and deeply flawed creator. She takes readers to the rose plantations and celebrated jasmine fields where the perfume begins, and on to the laboratories and boardrooms where scent and sex are forever intertwined. And she takes us to the heart of the Chanel empire: 31 Rue Cambon, Coco Chanel's flagship boutique, where six decades ago American G.I.s stormed the counters to possess the magical elixir that captured the luxury and romance of Paris for their girls back home. A blend of evocative history and thoughtful research, here is a glittering account of the place where art and sensuality meet dazzling entrepreneurship and desire: Chanel Number 5.
The Secret of Chanel No. 5
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"[Mazzeo] explores interconnections between designer and perfume, teasing out the relationship with delicacy."--New York Times Book Review
About the Author
Tilar J. Mazzeo is a cultural historian and biographer and a passionate student of wine, luxury, and French culture. She divides her time among the California wine country in Sonoma County, New York City, and Maine, where she is an associate professor of English at Colby College. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Widow Clicquot, as well as many other books, articles, essays, and reviews on history, women, and travel.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Although the topic is interesting and the book gives some sort of superficial insight into a world which is fascinating, the writing style almost killed it for me. Rarely have I read a book where the author (although it'd be probably more accurate to call him a 'gatherer of facts and anecdotes') repeated the same facts over and over and over and over - it was truly maddening at times. This book is in dire need of a good edit, but I bet that if all the repeatitions were removed, the book would be hardly half the size, so probably too short to justify the price.
Other flaws included the sloppy research (No! 'Bonheur' does NOT mean 'Good luck' in French! Surely that would have been easy enough to check!), the far-fetched extrapolations and over-interpretations and the annoying and pointless hindsights. I wouldn't recommend.
Other flaws included the sloppy research (No! 'Bonheur' does NOT mean 'Good luck' in French! Surely that would have been easy enough to check!), the far-fetched extrapolations and over-interpretations and the annoying and pointless hindsights. I wouldn't recommend.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Although I had of course seen Chanel no. 5, I have never bought it and had not really connected with the fact that there was a person called 'Coco' Chanel, with a background and life about as interesting as that of the product that gives the book its title. Well, the book makes a pretty good fist of combining the two in an interesting and well-written read. I have heard it said that the best known brand names are at least 50 years old - often nearer 100: Ford, Coca Cola, Kit Kat, IBM, Hoover, Marks & Spencer, John Lewis etc. - though maybe the march of technology has added Apple more recently. Similarly, when I peer into marketing text-books they seem more focussed on presentation, advertising, pricing etc., than good old product research and design: I always think that the term "marketing" encompasses more than packaging, selling and advertising - just as Tony Blair should have remembered than foreign policy involves more than the arts of spin (though the best thought out policy requires spin too: cf. Winston Churchill). Maybe this is rather a long preamble on a book about a perfume and its creator, but when my last Sunday papers arrived before Christmas 2011, they came wrapped in a whole-sheet advertising flier for ---- yes you've guessed it, Chanel Number 5. The book brings together the marketing history with that of an unusual and driven person.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Bella
Format:Hardcover
This book is fascinating. Fascinating is the right word. It not only tells us more about Coco Chanel herself which from a social history perspective is interesting, it also tells us a lot about marketing - or the lack of marketing. It is also a history of perfume, how perfumes are formulated and how a slight adjustment creates a new smell. Fascinating on so many levels this book is on my Christmas gift list.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very interesting
A very interesting read. Have bought it at as a present for a friend who is a wine buff. I certainly learnt a lot about champagne and it's origins
Published 5 months ago by mrs kf holbrook
5.0 out of 5 stars
The amazing world of perfumers
What a book! The amazing background to Chanel No 5 with sex, politics, mysticism and intrigue. But also a deep commitment to the perfume that she, Gabrielle Chanel had created in... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Foxtara
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent reading!
This book gave me a complete and fresh idea of Chanel No. 5 history, from the time of its creation until it became a huge success. Read more
Published on 14 Mar 2011 by tsofa
5.0 out of 5 stars
vineyards
Absolutely loved this book - Champagne is the subject and is certainly my taste! You learn a lot from this as well as a great story.
Published on 6 Jan 2010 by jacqueline s.
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