When Angel (Indya Moore) goes to a perfume shop inside the Trump Tower for a job opportunity, a factice bottle of Chanel No. 5 can be seen in the background. When the perfume counter is shown, some bottles of Yves Saint Laurent Mon Paris are shown. It’s a historically inaccurate choice, because this perfume (created by of Olivier Cresp, Harry Fremont and Dora Baghriche) was launched in 2016, thirty-one … Continue reading Pose S01E01 (Pilot)
Before leaving the Hawthorne School, Cordelia Goode (Sarah Paulson) and Myrtle Snow (Frances Conroy) comment on the smell in the air. Myrtle can’t bear it: she states that Bourbon Street in New Orleans smells like Chanel No. 5 in comparison. Continue reading American Horror Story S08E04 (Could It Be… Satan?)
The opening scene of the film sees the actress Gloria Grahame is in her dressing room at the Dukes Theatre in Lancaster, UK, unpacking her toiletries and getting ready to perform in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams [1]. She takes out a can of L’Oreal Elnett hairspray. The perfume sitting on the dressing table is Chanel No. 5. [1] The film is based on the … Continue reading Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool (2017)
Belles Filles is a photoshoot by Guy Bourdin released in 1977. Some distinctive elements of the French photographer’s style are present in the picture above – the dreamy atmosphere, satin clothes, high heels – along with a beautiful set of famous perfumes. The first of the perfumes on the washbasin is Chanel No. 5, originally created by Ernest Beaux in 1921. Next is Revillon Detchema, … Continue reading Belles Filles, 1977
There’s a bottle of Estee Lauder Youth Dew perfume on the dresser in Johnny Vohden’s bedroom. The warm spicy fragrance, created in 1953 by Josephine Catapano, was the first released by the American cosmetic brand. The Youth Dew iconic ribbed bottle with the golden ribbon can be seen when Johnny takes his Vietnam War tags from his wife’s jewellery box. A refillable atomiser of Chanel … Continue reading Rolling Thunder (1977)
There are toiletries and perfume bottles on the protagonist’s dressing table. Some of them are generic vanity bottles, but we can give a name to others. The tall ribbed bottle with gold cap, for example, is the Guerlain natural spray cologne bottle, used for different fragrances from 1964 to 1977. The black bottle with gold accent, on the other hand, is by Chanel. Let me … Continue reading Material Girl (1985)
Dorrie (Charlotte Rampling) appreciates Sandy’s aftershave. Like a madeleine, that scent brings back memories from her childhood. Sandy (Woody Allen) gets the reference to À la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust and jokingly comments he’s wearing Proustian Rush by Chanel. The reason why the French maison has never produced a perfume with such an evocative name is beyond me. A real Chanel perfume appears … Continue reading Stardust Memories (1980)
