Business of beauty: Chanel N°5 Factory Collection [updated]
[UPDATED: THE COLLECTION HAS NOW LANDED AT SELFRIDGES…]
If I could do a career switch, I would love to be a Chanel beauty-packaging designer. Every product I’ve ever interacted with, from the lipstick bullets to the Les Beiges bronzer compact has been the ultimate personal luxury experience. (Also, the products are the best of the best.)
Just launched is the Chanel N°5 Factory Collection*, a limited edition line that takes that idea to its logical conclusion. Chanel has taken its 100-year-old flagship product – Chanel N°5 – and turned it into a brand in itself. The Chanel N°5 Factory Collection is a capsule of 17 limited edition products, all scented with the smell of Chanel N°5. Genius.
The real genius part is the packaging. Functional-looking tubes of body cream*, individually wrapped bath tablets*, gouache-style body lotion tubes* and a body oil bottle that looks like it belongs in the garage (top). The collection is designed to mimic utilitarian products, giving Chanel N°5 a witty, youthful accessibility. (more…)
“It was completely non-establishment in the sense that the normal news, fashion media, major music entities, had no part in it at all. It was a time when the culture was being made by the kids that were living it. I think that was what was one of the most special things about it, that it was a self-generated, sort of self-owned culture.” 