Elaborate sights, sounds—and one iconic smell—combine at the corner of Tenth Avenue and 14th Street in a new immersive exhibit, “No5 IN A NEW LIGHT,” dedicated to Chanel’s classic scent. Appropriately housed in Manhattan’s meatpacking district, where fashion meets art in the windows of decadent design houses, the 10-day exhibit opens to the public Thursday, May 7th, 2015, from noon to 8:00pm each day.
Visitors to the exhibit will follow the journey of No5, from inception to iconic status, in an expansive walk-thru space which delights the five senses!
Dazzling ceiling-high projections encapsulate visitors in a whirl of blushing rose petals before guiding them to two resplendent reflecting pools and an organ whose keys are played by interrupting individual beams of light.
A sense of history is imbued on the exhibit as a visual projection of Chanel’s timeline is captured in Inside Chanel, a short film which plays on loop and tells the story of the perfume. Legend has it Chanel No5 got its name after Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel chose the fifth vial in a series that was presented to her as her new scent, almost 94 years ago to the day.
Almost as ubiquitous as the perfume itself, homage is paid to the beveled bottle which houses No5, as flashing lights and swirling flower petals compete to see who best converges into a fantastical recreation of the cultural artifact.
Visitors are then asked to re-imagine No5 in their own way by adorning photographic postcards which sport the empty bottle; though many come close to the original design.
More than just a retrospective, the exhibit is an introduction to N°5 Eau Première, a limited edition, “modern and airy update of the original,” intended to transform the heady classic fragrance into a lighter, fresher everyday scent.
