Coco Chanel wanted “a woman’s fragrance that smells like woman.� When perfume designer Ernest Beaux presented her with his fifth composition, the choice seemed simple and obvious. Her perfume would be called N°5. It is an aldehydic floral that is a bouquet of abstract flowers with an indefinable femininity. It starts with notes of ylang-ylang and neroli, then unfolds with Grasse jasmine and May rose. Sandalwood and vanilla round out the fabled composition with unforgettable woody notes. The first Chanel N°5 perfume was captured in a simple rectangular bottle with the top which resembled Place Vendome in Paris. In 1959, the packaging secured a place for N°5 in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.