The spirit of a decade
After the war, Paris danced, silhouettes loosened and fashion designers took hold of perfume. Gabrielle Chanel launched N°5 in 1921, composed by Ernest Beaux: an abstract floral aldehyde presented in a strikingly plain apothecary-style bottle. N°22 followed in 1922, brighter still, and Chanel continued with Cuir de Russie in 1924. At Guerlain, Shalimar was presented in 1925, the year of the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts, and became the model of the vanilla amber. In 1927, Jeanne Lanvin dedicated Arpège to her daughter, a floral aldehyde in a black ball bottle bearing a design by Paul Iribe. These launches durably established the idea that a perfume extends the world of a fashion house, a business model that still dominates prestige perfumery a century later.
