Gardénia

In 1925, Gabrielle Chanel asked Ernest Beaux, the creator of N°5, to evoke her favorite flower, the white camellia, in a perfume. The house recalls that this flower, whose perfect form makes one forget its lack of scent, appeared on her creations: a hat, a buttonhole or a jewel.

A gardenia for a camellia

Since the camellia has no scent, the perfume borrows its name from another white flower. Elena Vosnaki (Perfume Shrine) explains that the gardenia was chosen for its visual resemblance to the camellia; Gardénia was never conceived as a soliflore, she stresses, but as a floral fantasy.

According to her, the original version circulated into the 1950s, before fading behind N°19 and Cristalle. Chanel brought it back around 1990 in the circuit of its rue Cambon boutiques, alongside Cuir de Russie and Bois des Îles.

Les Exclusifs

In 2007, Jacques Polge, Chanel’s perfumer, launched Les Exclusifs de Chanel, ten fragrances including four creations by Ernest Beaux that he restored: N°22, Cuir de Russie, Gardénia and Bois des Îles. Gardénia was reworked there to meet current regulations.

The house now offers it as an eau de parfum in 75 and 200 ml, as a scented body oil and, in the Les Extraits de Chanel collection, as an extrait presented in a case, as a purse spray and as an extrait-in-oil.