French luxury brand Chanel is well-known for its fashion heritage, but its celebrated scents are also a whole world unto themselve. Which is why they are  inviting us on a festive—and immersive—olfactive odyssey with Le Grand Numéro de Chanel exhibition at Le Grand Palais Éphémère in Paris. It’s the perfect occasion to discover—or rediscover—Chanel’s captivating fragrance portfolio.

We had the chance to visit the sensorial exhibition just before it opened its doors to the public on December 15th, to discover its five large rooms, which each embodying the unique personalities of the pillars of Chanel’s perfume world: N°5, of course, but also Coco Mademoiselle, Chance, the Les Exclusifs collection (an assortment of Chanel’s fine perfumes) and the men’s fragrance Bleu. Each room is filled with archives including significant pieces of clothing and accessories, advertising campaigns and  old perfume bottles, as well as activities related to each particular fragrance,  like spinning a wheel of fortune in the Chance room or getting a perfume diagnosis in the Les Exclusifs one.

The team behind this exhibit worked on creating a specific way to transmit the scents of each fragrance to visitors which allows them to smell the different iterations of these mythical fragrances without the scents saturating the air. “I was consulted a lot during the process,” says Olivier Polge, the nose of the French house who was on hand at the opening. “Beyond the visual beauty [of the show], I wanted there to be contact with the fragrances. I am very happy that there’s a moment where a drop of N°5 is put on the skin, and that other perfumes can be smelled via ceramics or electric diffusers.”.

The exhibition Le Grand Numéro de Chanel runs at Le Grand Palais Éphémère in Paris until January 9th, 2022. Admission is free, but you have to book your visit in advance online.

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