RIGHT UNDER HIS NOSE!
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He will only say so if pressed. Although why
he should be so hesitant is unclear. "Well on my passport it says that I
am a perfumer", says Jacques Polge, the top man at Chanel. Part of the
truth - but certainly not the whole truth and nothing but the truth. "Its
just that to most people it sounds a little odd if I give a more accurate
description of my job", he confides. "And what might that accurate
description be, Mr. Polge?", his interviewer insists, evidently eager to
hear him articulate the magic words. "Well", Polge replies a little
uneasily, "I am a nose".
He is far too modest that Mr. Polge. For not
only is he a nose, he is undoubtedly the leading nose in the world. Based in
his elegant fourth floor offices in Paris’s smart Avenue Charles de Gaulle, and
just a stone throw from the Arc de Triomphe, Polge’s brief is daunting indeed:
entrusted by Chanel to interpret the aromatic heritage and spirit of the late Mademoiselle
herself, his constant challenge to adapt and create new perfumes for the
contemporary world.
Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel was perhaps the most
influential couturier of the twentieth century, her glamorous designs helping
to liberate women from the plumed and corseted extravagance of Belle Epoch
costume. Freeing women from ostentatious displays of wealth, she instituted a
classically elegant modern style that persists to this day. All the more
ironic, therefore, that the most successful of her ventures was the launching
of the apparently eternal fragrance No. 5, introduced with much fanfare back in
the early 1920s. A classical heart, introduced by a rush of dizzying
sensuality, and surrounded with a multitude of light floral notes, No. 5 was
dazzling, upsetting each and every conventional aromatic notion of the day.
Almost immediately the reputation of No. 5 spread overseas to become one of the
great mythical symbols of our time. After the liberation of Paris, G.I.’s who
wanted to take a bottle of the celebrated perfume back home could be seen
waiting patiently to enter 31 rue Cambon, forming queues over 500 meters long.
Nor has its popularity waned - even to the slightest degree - with a whole
generation of younger women rediscovering Marilyn Monroe’s definition of
voluptuousness - to sleep in nothing more than a few drops of No. 5. And
therefore surely something of a difficult act for Mr. Polge to follow,
n’est ce pas?
"Most definitely", he admits. And
all the more so because he never had the opportunity of meeting Coco Chanel,
the self-proclaimed Queen of Haute Couture, whose reign endured for almost six
decades. "Of course it is a handicap having to create perfumes without
her. But I try to overcome this by having my own private dialogue with her. And
I think that goes for all of us employed here at Chanel, in perfumery and
fashion alike."
So how does Mr. Polge go about creating a new
fragrance? Well, its all in the mind, he insists. That is to say a perfume is
established in his thoughts and imagination, only setting out to produce the
formula for what has already been ‘smelled’ somewhere deep down in his psyche.
This creative process can take place at work, whilst in his lab (aptly situated
in the Avenue des Parfums) or, just as likely, whilst bellowing out Maurice
Chevalier songs under the shower. Whereupon he declares the French equivalent
of ‘by George I’ve got it’. He must have been working in the lab or showering a
lot, of late, for during the course of the last few years he has come up with
best selling brand names such as Coco - a homage to Mademoiselle, of course -
Égoïste, Christalle and Allure, the fresh and sophisticated abstract-floral
scent which Chanel is confident will blaze a trail well into the next century.
"Please forgive me if this sounds rather
rude - but your nose looks quite ordinary to me."
"It is", Polge retorts with a
smile. "A nose is made, not born. I haven’t got a ‘better’ nose than you.
Its just that I have had a certain training; I am used to working with my nose
as a matter of course, and as such I am able to put order into what I smell.
Its like becoming proficient at the piano - there are certain muscles that have
to be exercised regularly. Its the same thing when it comes to perfumes - you
need to train and work your nose."
Do not even think of interrupting Polge at
this point, for he is in full flow. Anxious to explain the universal appeal of
perfumes, he is moving onto interesting terrain. Its time for sex, philosophy
and religion - subjects which are traditionally taboo for the Anglo-Saxons -
but without mention of which no day would be complete for any self-respecting
Frenchman.
"Perfume’, he asserts, "is an
internal dimension of femininity. Nor is it a coincidence that some 98% of
perfumes sold today are from the famous marques of couturiers. If
companies such as Chanel became interested in perfume - and we were the first -
then of course its related to commercial reasons. But it is also to do with
deeper reasons, which are telling us that perfumes are to do with an invisible
prolongation of the work being carried out by the couturier. In other words the
couturier acts on the outside - and the continuation of what he does is his
perfume. Plus olfaction is most definitely the most ‘wild’ of our senses -
smell being directly linked to primitive instincts such as sex. People often
ask me what makes a beautiful perfume. To which I reply its the perfume which
the woman you love is wearing."
"I am afraid that we noses are a breed
on the way to extinction", he explains a little sorrowfully. "Its
just in the old days each marque used to employ its own nose.
What tends to happen now is that very few companies actually make their own
perfumes - they buy in or have it made for them. To me the future doesn’t seem
very rosy."
Despite Polge’s pessimism about the future,
however, he has been unable to deter his 23 year old son Olivier from wanting
to follow in his father’s (how should one put it?) - footsteps.
"I tried to talk him out of it",
Polge confesses. "But then I thought about it and concluded that I didn’t
have the right to do any such thing. I can’t say that I will be able to make a
great nose out of him. That’s impossible. But of course I hope that one day he
too will become the nose of Chanel. Because for someone passionate about
perfumes, there really is no better position in the world."
A sentiment with which the great, late
Mademoiselle Chanel would no doubt concur wholeheartedly.
The main Web site of freelance writer Jeremy
Josephs is at www.jeremyjosephs.com Please check there if you might be interested in
engaging him as a writer.
Many of his articles are available online.
Please check the sitemap
for a complete list.