Style Edit: Chanel No 5 celebrates more than a century of elegance, from the 1921 perfume through 1932’s Bijoux de Diamants high jewellery, to 2021’s Collection No 5 inspired by the iconic fragrance

Just over a century ago, the world’s most iconic fragrance was born. The year was 1921, and Chanel No 5 was “a woman’s perfume, with the scent of a woman”, according to Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel. It was also the first perfume the legendary French couturier released. Five was her lucky number.

Just over a decade later, Coco Chanel launched her first and only high jewellery collection. The year was 1932, and Bijoux de Diamants was born out of the designer’s desire to, as she put it, “cover women in constellations”. Chanel’s choice of gemstone could be considered radical in the midst of the Great Depression. “If I have chosen diamonds, it is because they represent the greatest value in the smallest volume,” she explained, highlighting the emphasis she placed on considerations of practicality as well as aesthetics.

Today, the necklace is part of Chanel’s legendary Patrimoine archive – a collection of historical and contemporary watches and fine jewellery pieces housed at 18 Place Vendôme in Paris.

Traditions continue to be preserved as well in the perfume bottles themselves. Each No 5 bottle is sealed with a baudruche: a delicate natural film secured with two strands of black pearl cotton thread and a wax stamp bearing the Chanel double-C logo. Besides being beautiful, the seal protects the fragrance by ensuring the bottle is watertight.