The Secret of Chanel No. 5: The Intimate History of the World's Most Famous Perfume Paperback – September 6, 2011

the first time I tried Chanel No. 5 I was 14 years old, and stole a drop from my mother's perfume - did not like it, smelled old to me. 30 years later I red a book about Coco Chanel and how she created Chanel No. 5 (Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life by Justine Picardie). this made me "retry" Chanel No. 5 in a perfumery shop, and I fell in love - the first thought that came to my mind was "clean". I bought it, and use it not only on special occasions, I put it one on days that I know will be tough, or just want to feel good.This experience got me into search about the Perfume and thus this book. I got the information that I wanted: history of the product, legends around the product and how it made it is way in the world. In addition I learned a lot about history of the world of perfumes and how are perfumes made. It also got me to check on Chanel No. 19 - and I am a happy owner of another perfume.Recommend it to any one who wants to know more about Chanel No. 5 and the world of perfumes.

The period of the "Silver Arrows" in Mercedes Benz racing history, in my view, marked the golden age of motor racing. These were the days when the tires were skinny and the drivers were fat, which is the reverse of today's formula 1. This book beautifully captures this era. The illustrations in particular are beautifully done and the text, although limited in scope, is accurate. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in historic formula 1 racing; and those who love the Mercedes marque, as I do, it is a real must-have.

This book explains the history of Chanel No. 5, arguably the world's most well-known perfume (it is said that a bottle is sold somewhere in the world every 30 seconds!). The author seems to have done her research well. She examines how this perfume became so incredibly popular, despite the fact that the actual formula for Chanel No. 5 is not exactly a secret. It has been offered by other perfume manufacturers under different names, but without anything like the same success. Clearly it's not just the scent itself that made it such a hit. Nor was it simply good marketing, since it really didn't have any to speak of for many years.It begins with Coco Chanel, and tells how events in her life came together in such a way that Chanel No. 5 was created. It then goes into how she ended up selling the rights to her fragrance, the effects of World War II on production, the falling out between Chanel and the new owners, and her subsequent attempts to regain control of the perfume that she gave her name to. The author has done a good job of showing all the different events and circumstances that occurred at the right place and time, which all contributed towards making Chanel No. 5 the icon that it is today. She stays with the story of the perfume alone, and doesn't veer off into any other aspects of Chanel's fashion empire, which is as it should be since their paths separated fairly early on.While some of the writing seems to become rather redundant, especially towards the end, the book is still worth reading just because it is an interesting story, and the author writes well.

This book tells the story of the perfume and its creator, a historical narration from its inception to the 21st century. It lays out the variables that set Chanel No. 5 apart from other perfumes. If you are an avid fan of any (or many) of the Chanel perfumes, this is a must-read.

I really wanted to love this book. I did learn about the stories behind Chanel No. 5 (and I say stories because much of this book remains speculative), my main issue with 'The Secret of Chanel No. 5' is with the writing style.Mazzeo has a tendency to repeat phrases. For example, between pages 12 and 15, she makes reference to the idea that Coco Chanel had "not yet thought of" becoming a fashion or fragrance designer no less than seven times over the course of three pages. While I get the reason for emphasizing these ideas, the technique is clumsy.This repetition of phrases extends to repetition of whole ideas, paragraphs, sections of chapters. Each and every chapter was written as if the reader hadn't read any of the previous chapters. So much of this already-slight book was spent summarizing, re-summarizing and re-re-summarizing. It's the literary equivalent of the air in your bag of chips. I'm all for ensuring that a reader is oriented to the material, however, Mazzeo could have done it more sparingly.Continuing on a theme, the author is unable to resist this tendency to re-summarize even after the book-proper ends. The tacked on afterword re-summarizes the entire book and offers no new insights. I wish she'd just let the writing stand (and end) as it was.All in all, while the subject matter was interesting, the story might have been better suited (in depth and edited-length) to a Vanity Fair-style feature.

I have purchased this book four times. Once for myself and the other three were gifts. It is a great book. I have many about Coco Chanel and I think this is one of the best ones out there. Will continue to give it as gifts to people that are interested in Chanel.

This book was nothing but fluff--fluff, fluff, fluff. Every now and then, almost as an afterthought, the author does deign to mention Chanel No. 5, but the narrative is primarily filler. I reads like something from a Freshman creative writing class. The Wikipedia article on Coco Chanel is infinitely more informative and spares the reader the torture (and time) of having to plod through endless nothing. Ms Mazzeo must have been paid by the word, not information or ideas. Really dreadful book. I only hope that her book on the Place Vendome, which I bought at the same time, is a lot better.