Before leaving Shy Baldwin’s wedding party, Susie (Alex Borstein) wants to get a gift bag but Miriam (Rachel Brosnahan) doesn’t agree because she thinks gift bags are “tacky”. She changes her mind when she realises the bags contain Chanel No. 5.
Susie ends up leaving with many gift bags!
What I find strange is that the only perfume bottle seen on the gift bag table is not Chanel No. 5 but Coco (see the black paper strip around the bottle neck). I would be curious to know why the prop masters didn’t use the perfume mentioned in the conversation but opted for a fragrance launched in 1984, decades after the time in which the tv show is set.
The bottle sitting on the vanity of Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman) is Chanel No. 5, one of her favourite perfumes, along with Murray & Lanman Florida Water and Evyan White Shoulders.
From a first, quick glimpse at Limi’s dressing table in E03, the only perfume that stands out is J’Adore, the 1999 Calice Becker creation for Dior, but there’s more.
Thankfully in E09 we get it! On the left side of Limi’s table there’s a Lalique Clairfontaine bottle with the beautiful lily-of-the-valley stopper.
J’Adore makes another appearance, along with Chanel No. 5.
The lovely apple-shaped bottle of Lolita Lempicka can be seen on Limi’s table, too. This is not a surprising choice, because this fruity gourmand fragrance, created by Annick Menardo and launched in 1997, suits the photographer’s personality.
The purple balloon bottle next to Lolita Lempicka is Lanvin Éclat d’Arpège, created by Karine Dubreuil and launched in 2002.
After much toiling and suffering, the big break arrives for Elektra (Dominique Jackson), who finally gets to live the dream of a lifetime – living in luxury. The perfumes on her elegant dressing table reinforce the idea.
Maybe a bit predictable, but a glossy black refillable atomiser of Chanel No. 5 never fails to impress.
The second fragrance, in the small black bottle, is much less mainstream. It’s the original version of Shiseido Zen eau de cologne, created by Josephine Catapano and first launched in 1964. The bottle, beautifully decorated by gold flowers, has an elegant shape, characteristic of Shiseido bottles from the 1960s/1990s.
When Mame (Rosalind Russell) and Patrick (Jan Handzlik) first visit Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside (Mame’s soon-to-be husband) and his family in Georgia, drama ensues: they organise a fox hunt, but Mame has never ridden a horse before. Patrick explains horses can “smell fear.” Mame comments she hopes the horse “likes Chanel No. 5”, thus letting us know the perfume she’s wearing.
The Woman (Tilda Swinton) is applying mascara in front of a round mirror. The bathroom she’s in is tiled in different colours and is full of beauty products and toiletries.
Starting from the left red-tiled niche, I’ve identified:
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 years after 1987, when the show is set.
I wonder why the prop masters didn’t select the original Paris, the hugely popular YSL fragrance by Sophia Grojsman launched in 1983.
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 Bourbon Street in New Orleans smells like Chanel No. 5 in comparison.
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 last years of the American actress’ life. It’s true she performed at the Dukes in 1980, but she had the leading role in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, not in the Williams play as seen in the film.
A growing archive of beauty products and perfumes in movies and tv shows