“What do you wear to bed?” Coco and Norma Jeane both made good use of their passions, their strengths, and the atmosphere of their times. One made her mark on an entire century with a single scent, the other, with her flamboyant candor.
The utterance is so legendary and yet, until now, no one knew anything more about Marilyn Monroe’s aforementioned bed. The second episode in the series “Chanel Inside”, dedicated to the history of the famous Cambon pamphlet, also shed some light on this mystery. It’s a thought-provoking video of 2 minutes and 30 seconds in length that immerses us completely in the universe of this little-explored affair. The recording of an interview given to Georges Belmont for the French edition of Marie Claire in 1960 is now finally available to the public. In the extract, sincerity, sensuality, and the modesty of a woman all shine through. This piece of history, like her secret relationship with Ted Kennedy, was almost erased from the books completely.
Not wanting to explicitly state her values, and in doing so admitting that she faced the night in her birthday suit, Marilyn issued an easy response in five syllables: “Chanel Number 5”. And so, one legend gave birth to another. The world over was moved by the image of the star, peacefully dreaming while giving off a sweet scent that would waste no time in enjoying a wide circulation shortly afterwards. Two legends overlap and “because it’s the truth!”, a simple indiscreet question turned into a secret whispered from woman to woman, leaving men in a commotion.
By filling in the blanks of the N°5 story with sound bites and images from their archives, Chanel is bringing the saints in its hagiography back to life. The double-C brand has definitively inserted itself into the universal history of humanity, without so much as a scratch to show for it.
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