"There's a new game
We like to play you see
A game with added reality
It's a LAW. It's a LAW. It's a LAW"
It's a LAW. It's a LAW. It's a LAW"
D.M.
Let's face it, Chanel is the most secret company in Europe. Unlike Dior and L'Oréal, Chanel is private, based in Switzerland since WWII. You know No5, but nobody knows how much money Chanel makes, how big is the company. What's behind the secret veil of the perfume, except an EU allergy issue?
Unlike other companies, Chanel controls everything and collaborates little with the fragrance industry. The mystery is good for the press, but is a thunder for the EU doctors. Those numbers, revealed in Bruxelles, are frightening for the future of 31 rue Cambon, for the COUTURE.
If your perfume provokes one allergy at one million consumers and you produce only 1000 small bottles a year, there is little chance to be considered "a threat for health". But when you produce and sell a bottle every 30 seconds, and several millions / month, numbers are different.
You wouldn't think of Chanel business as you think about UNILEVER (Gabrielle loved the soaps) because that's what fashion does - the perfect illusion of luxury.
Because CHANEL has a PR army and controls everything, you know nothing about the side effects of the perfume, about the people who complain, either for the change of the formula, which occurred several times in the past 30 years, or for the allergies. Everything is perfect for the press. The Chanel policy against any kind of accusation has been carefully analyzed by WWD several years ago.
But EU is not the press and the negotiations with Bruxelles are based on numbers and not on the symbols "we represent the french Patrimoine, but we are a Swiss company".
If a consumer writes to Chanel or Dior press asking about the perfume reformulation he receives the same clever answer you've read in the past 5 years until perfumers started to speak. But EU is not a consumer, it is the authority which allows or not the future production of Chanel perfumes in Europe. The numbers are black and white.
Roja DOVE said for Daily Mail:
"As an industry, we are very responsible. We would never want to use ingredients that were scientifically proven to be a major problem, but I do believe consumers should have freedom of choice. There are scents around that people have loved for centuries, so is it right to do away with them entirely? I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions."
And he is right. Chanel has a huge responsibility for European consumers, not as a cultural symbol, but as a major producer of cosmetic goods. What used to be luxury a long time ago is mainstream today because market is ruled by numbers - the numbers of bottles sold.
Compare the amazing edition of "Voilette de Madame" (Guerlain) with less than 1000 bottles to the millions sold every month by CHANEL, only for No 5. In EUROPE everybody speaking Latin knows the difference between LUX and luxury sold to Asian tourists.
French patrimoine are the small brands, those who preserve a certain idea about art, culture and quality, and not the perfume sold at every corner. That's why everybody in Paris is calling it "The MONSTER", something strange for a beautiful perfume.
This is why, nobody in Paris really wants to save CHANEL No5 from death because the notion of luxury is a metaphor, not something real compared to the craftsmanship of Chanel Haute Couture. The perfume is bottled in a modern factory. It is the modern equivalent of soviet SVOBODA No7 while the gigantic shows are the equivalent of a military parade for comrade Stalin (whose women used the original Chanel perfume as I presented it in the past).
Uniqueness for a mainstream perfume might work as a metaphor, but not with so many cases of allergies. Consider a simple mathematical operation risk factor x number of bottles sold.
Another delicate subject is .... taxes and Chanel has a long "dark" history with French fiscal inspectors. For instance, there is an episode which took place several years ago when Karl Lagerfeld, whose fiscal residence is in a very special place, left Paris in a hurry like Marie Antoinette. Now, Swiss banks started to cooperate with Paris and Bruxelles. Because Chanel has a dark "nazi" past, the subject of a book who reached the Parisian bookstores this spring, you can image the feelings behind the curtains.
The "war" is boxed in a black and white with a number.
CHANEL No5 is a very complex equation which started with the gigantic shows inside Le Grand Palais.
When CHANEL has so much money it has to demonstrate that a perfume found almost in every EU family is "healthy". The formula of the perfume has to be open and shown. We are not speaking about a small company preserving a family secret necessary to its survival, but about a major producer which affects the lives of every consumer in Europe. The money should be devoted to perfume and cosmetic research and not megalomaniac shows and advertising. When CHANEL would reconsider its budgets, the true No5 will be produced again in Europe.
The numbers are not good for 31 rue Cambon right now. The company has few solid arguments to show to the General Inspector and little support from the council of an industry who knows how to reproduce the supreme scent of No5 with better ingredients. The industry knows how a dream is manufactured for the public, how a myth is constructed, step by step.
Chanel No5 case cannot be compared with LIU (Guerlain, another floral aldehydic jasmine perfume). They express a similar idea, share many problematic ingredients, but do not affect the consumer the same way. The production numbers of Guerlain, the true French heritage, cannot be compared with a perfume sold everywhere and advertised with money better suited for research and quality.
Chanel produced No5 Eau Première, the amazing flanker of the perfume. The moment this beautiful creation will replace No5 like Dior did, there will be no more question of authenticity. Could you celebrate the 100 years of something which was not approved by Gabrielle?
Coco had a very clear idea about fashion, luxury, elegance and that's why she never did prêt-à-porter. Today, Chanel affects everybody. The logo was put everywhere. It became so obvious and disturbing that even Karl Lagerfeld removed it last October when he presented the new silhouette without classic symbols of the house. Fashion doesn't make real victims, but No5, according to EU reports, does.
Those with a profound desire to protect the French perfumes should first ask for numbers from the highly secret CHANEL company. Those with a profound respect for the past should ask CHANEL why the perfume sold today as number 5 is NOT the original 1921 formula ... and who is the real author of 19.
Don't you find completely ridiculous that a perfume enters a museum on November 20 as a work of art, it is not the original creation and its composition is "secret" for art critics?
The complex issue about Chanel No5, IFRA and Bruxelles is not about the big WOLF (a theme in No5 advertising). It's about a new relation with consumers, authorities, creators, history, where everything has to be rethought and based on a new ideal, a new vision about the role of the PERFUME in the future life of every human whether is EU or any other place on the Globe.
Never forget that PERFUME is about Money - here you have what the big groups did in January 2012 when Paris forced them to pay 40 Millions EUR because they made a secret agreement on prices (article in French).
Since I posses the original manuscript formulae of Ernest Beaux which I remake anytime for myself, I should care little about the future of a company. But the case of CHANEL affects everybody. I hope the IDEAS I exposed since the start of this scandal will serve you as a base for further reflection about the perfume in the future of EU. It is the start of a New Dawn based on other principles.
Never forget that PERFUME is about Money - here you have what the big groups did in January 2012 when Paris forced them to pay 40 Millions EUR because they made a secret agreement on prices (article in French).
Since I posses the original manuscript formulae of Ernest Beaux which I remake anytime for myself, I should care little about the future of a company. But the case of CHANEL affects everybody. I hope the IDEAS I exposed since the start of this scandal will serve you as a base for further reflection about the perfume in the future of EU. It is the start of a New Dawn based on other principles.
Did you enjoy my article? Sign up for updates about new fragrances, reviews of artistic perfumes and exceptional vintage masterpieces. I would be very happy if you would consider joining 1000 Fragrances, throughRSS feed,GoogleFriend connect, Facebook (more personal), or any other way that appeals to you.
Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
