Chance

A round bottle, visuals as clear and romantic as could be wished, Chance readily distinguishes itself from Chanel's great classics to offer a voluptuous and modern perfume without abandoning the magnificent chypre emblematic of the house.

Chance, an original perfume that departs from Chanel's “classic” codes

A chance presented itself, I took it, said Coco Chanel speaking of her dazzling debut in fashion in the 1920s. The famous designer, historic and emblematic inspiration for the Chanel house she created, was enough to guide the creators of Chance, released in 2003, toward the path of glory.

Thus Chanel's communication for this lovely original fragrance Chance was naturally oriented toward romantic and fanciful imagery while retaining the house's major asset, namely elegance! The first advertisement dedicated to Chance therefore offers this delicate blend of chic and glamour through Ella Fitzgerald's jazz music and Jean-Paul Goude's velvety visuals, venturing into the fantastical and dreamlike story of a woman, Anne Vyalitsyna, who lets herself be guided by the lines of chance to meet a handsome stranger in Venice.

In order to complete this strong communication built around the innovative concept of Chance, the various flankers of the perfume that followed would fall in the same line, a blend of the dreamlike and the elegant, echoing the bond between Chanel and Chance, whose names are moreover nearly anagrams of one another...

A Chance to wear an elegant and sparkling perfume in the image of Coco Chanel?

Chance is, without a shadow of a doubt, the vibrant tribute of the house of Chanel to its emblematic creator Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel. In the image of this great lady of haute couture, Chance carries elegance and refinement as well as a touch of lively, spirited originality and impertinence. Thus the bottle of Chance appears as a roulette wheel (the wheel of fortune?), rounded and full, conceived, as always, as a work of art, by Jacques Helleu. If the break with the house's traditional square shape (born with N°5) is evident, luxury still appears in important details such as the silver ring that holds Chance's cap.

As for the perfume and its delicately rosy juice, glimpsed through perfectly orchestrated plays of transparency, it can boast the same contrasts between modern, even unprecedented, liveliness and classic, traditional Chanel accords.

The top notes of bergamot and lemon, delicately spiced with pink pepper, offer a lively, fresh and surprising opening. Then the hearts of hyacinth, jasmine and rose remind us just how much Chanel loves to use luxurious and refined raw materials to send powerful bouquets of flowers to the women the designer, like the house, cherishes. However, the pairing of these floral notes is surprising, here too, through its marriage with the exotic, sweet and wholly unprecedented fragrance of pineapple. Finally, the deep sillage of this beautiful wave of chance anchors itself in chypre notes of patchouli and vetiver and, a small novelty, light and airy white musks, all while offering a few powdery breezes of delicate iris and gourmand vanilla.

Between Chanel and Chance, it is a long story... It would seem, then, that this story, carried into the new millennium, is a success, as much as Chance carries and brings happiness to the women won over by original and unprecedented effluvia, exalted by velvety chypres, true icons of the house. If Chanel loves to remind us of its incredible past and its legends, the skillful blend of audacity and history that Chance presents is thoroughly worthy of the house's great emblematic perfumes.