Overnight, CHANEL released its latest short film for N°5, starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi.
'See You At 5' directed by Luca Guadagnino of Challengers fame, is the first piece of cinema that accompanies Robbie's announcement as the face of N°5; a storied perfume first introduced by Gabrielle Chanel and Ernest Beaux in 1921.
"I think what Gabrielle Chanel was doing over 100 years ago is easy to take for granted," Robbie exclusively tells RUSSH. "But at the time it was pretty radical. I mean, even the design of the bottle at the time was completely different to what everyone else was doing. All the other perfume bottles were very ornate. And all the fragrances were a particular type of flower. But Gabrielle Chanel said, 'I want to make a perfume that smells like a woman'. I think that was a pretty radical message to be putting out there."
See You at 5 tells the story of a meeting missed with fellow Australian golden boy Elordi (the pair are set to co-star in an adaptation of Wuthering Heights next year). But the theme is more so a story of the N°5 woman: smart, interesting, interested, progressive. It's reflective of Chanel's boundary-breaking approach to perfume, and how its retained this relevancy for over 100 years. "I think the fact that a woman was doing all this at the time speaks volumes," Robbie adds. "Gabrielle Chanel was one of the first women to redefine what was considered feminine. So, when people say she’s a trailblazer, it’s true."
The backstory of N°5 is just as interesting. In the 20s, female fragrance was typically focused on a singular flower such as a rose, or jasmine. But Chanel wanted something richer and complex. She wanted a scent that 'smelled like a woman'. Beaux created a series of options, and Chanel choose the fifth. It was spicy and warm, rich in aldehydes that gave it a skin-like quality. Five was always a significant number in Coco's world. It was lucky. Not only did she choose the fifth sample, but launched the emblematic fragrance on the fifth day of the fifth month; even to this day, the house of CHANEL continues to show its haute couture collections on the fifth.
Robbie's lucky number isn't the same, but it's close... "My lucky number is two, because I’m born on the second. It has been throughout my life… I love that Gabrielle Chanel was really into numerology and astrology. I only found out after working with the brand. It was something more whimsical that I hadn’t really factored when thinking about Gabrielle Chanel, the icon, the businesswoman, this fashion powerhouse. And then when you look through the design, in the clothes and the jewellery, you see, her star sign, a lion, a Leo, and number five pops up everywhere, I really, really love that."
Robbie's talent and creative spirit lend themselves perfectly to the legacy of the N°5 women who have come before her: Jean Shrimpton, Nicole Kidman, Catherine Deneuve and Marion Cotillard. Together with Elordi and Guadagnino, See You at 5 perfectly encapsulates the freedom, lightness and magic that is N°5.
Watch the entire short film below:
View this post on Instagram
