Scentennial: Chanel No. 5

image courtesy By Fabrizio Sciami - Flickr: sniffing njb through you, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33486756
A806db31 seeable

Taught by Jessica Murphy

Jessica Murphy is an art historian and educator who works in visitor engagement at the Brooklyn Museum. She’s also a freelance writer and she happens to be obsessed with perfume, so she’s been contributing fragrance reviews to the leading perfume blog Now Smell This since 2007 and teaching at the Brainery and other venues since 2015. She’s always looking for new ways to connect her passions for art, fragrance, history, and popular culture. Jessica blogs at Perfume Professor.

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Chanel No. 5 was initially released in 1921 and went on to become the most famous fragrance of the twentieth century (and beyond). How did this perfume become so iconic? What else makes it so important? And did Marilyn Monroe really wear it to bed? In this "show and smell" presentation we'll cover the history of Chanel No. 5, including its creation, its original cultural context, and its complex legacy. 

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