Scissors, Wax Seals, and the CC Inside the Cap: The Design Rituals Behind CHANEL Fragrances
From the transparent bottle of N°5 in 1921 to the unboxing ritual of Les Extraits collection and the CC logo hidden inside the cap, CHANEL has turned the act of wearing perfume into a complete choreography. Design and Identity Director Sylvie Legastelois and perfumer Olivier Polge discuss how these details have been preserved to this day.
Before opening a bottle of Les Extraits de CHANEL, you first have to cut a thread. Beneath the cut thread lies a wax seal, and beneath that, a thin membrane called baudruche. CHANEL has kept this process for over a century, even including a small pair of scissors in a leather sheath inside the box—giving the gesture both a tool to work with and a certain ritual weight.
CHANEL Design and Identity Director Sylvie Legastelois describes it as "an intimate moment that allows you to slow down and rediscover the perfume in your hands." She notes that some people today might find the process time-consuming—but that's precisely the pace this collection was designed to preserve.
The Les Extraits collection currently includes 11 fragrances, starting with the original released as L'Extrait N°5. None of them come in spray form—instead, a glass wand is used to apply the scent behind the ears, on the chest, or on the inner wrist, letting body heat gradually awaken the fragrance. Perfumer Olivier Polge explains: "No one sprays Les Extraits directly, because it's too precious. Just a few drops are enough for the scent to unfold and leave its trace."
Starting From the Transparent Glass Bottle of 1921
This sense of ritual traces back to the original form of N°5 in 1921: a transparent glass bottle with clean lines and almost no ornamentation. That shape has remained unchanged ever since, with only subtle adjustments made to the cap, label, and proportions over time. The nineteen fragrances of Les Exclusifs de CHANEL continue this same visual language—white labels, minimalist bottles—stripping away visual elements to their essentials so that each scent can speak for itself.
Open the cap of a Les Exclusifs bottle, and inside you'll find two interlocking C's engraved into the surface. This detail originally solved a technical problem—a magnet needed a fixed position so that the CC logo on the outside of the cap would always face the correct direction. Inspired by Gabrielle Chanel's belief that "the inside should be as beautiful as the outside," Legastelois refused to leave this mechanical structure exposed, and instead engraved the CC logo directly into that spot.
The packaging of Les Extraits de CHANEL follows the same logic. Its octagonal shape echoes the form of the N°5 cap, and also evokes Place Vendôme in Paris. Once the bottle is removed, the interior lining can be taken out, allowing the box to continue its life as a jewelry case—extending the lifespan of the design itself.
From At-Home Ritual to the Freedom of Movement
While the classic Les Extraits invites you to take your time at home, the newly launched Les Extraits Purse Spray brings this ritual into a different rhythm of life. The design revives a concept from the 1950s, originally used for N°5's travel spray: the same outer case can be fitted with different Les Extraits fragrance refills—N°5 today, 1957 tomorrow, Coromandel tonight—switching to match your mood and schedule.
The square bottle carries forward the design DNA of N°5, bearing a resemblance to the 31 Le Rouge lipstick line: lightweight, refillable, and easy to slip into a bag. A fragrance once reserved for private spaces can now travel with its wearer into a taxi, into the office, or on a date—echoing Gabrielle Chanel's words: "The most rare luxury is the freedom of movement."
Even the Sound Is by Design
The crisp sound of the box opening, the softer click of the magnetic closure, the satisfying "snap" as the Les Exclusifs cap magnetically returns to place—these subtle sounds are, in CHANEL's eyes, just as much a part of the experience. From material choices to the mechanics of the magnet to the tactile feel of closing the cap, the design team considers sound, touch, and sight all at once.
Speaking to media at the CHANEL Grand Parfumeur event held in Shanghai in July 2026, Sylvie Legastelois shared that the most luxurious thing CHANEL gives her and her team is time—enough to spend years refining every minute detail, so that the design itself can move people the way the fragrance does.
The shape of the bottle defines the visual impression, the material shapes the tactile sensation, the sound marks every gesture, and the way it's opened and used forms an entire ritual. Beneath all these layers of design, the fragrance remains at the very center—precisely the minimalist logic CHANEL established a century ago.
