Schiaparelli, Chanel and Fire at the Circus Ball

It can be difficult to say what a perfume smells like. It can change from on paper to when it’s worn, how much you spray, your hormones, your diet, the weather; many things can affect the way a perfume smells.

But there is another factor, one that is more objective, the concentration of the juice – which can vary in formula as well as strength. Take the case of No5. It's reviewed three times in The Guide: for the Eau de Parfum, for the Eau de Toilette, and again for the Parfum. The reason being each version is made to a different formula.

This was not just a whim of Ernest Beaux. For many years it was common for high end perfumes to be offered in different versions. They came as variations on a theme: heavier, lighter, night and day versions.

This kind of thing can also be seen in classical music, with 'variations on a theme' of works by - Paganini, Rossini, Haydn, Chopin, Schumann, Glinka and Thomas Tallis.

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In her book Le No5 de Chanel, Marie-Dominique Lelièvre recounts an incident that is said to have taken place at a fancy dress ball at Versailles.

Among the guests were Coco Chanel, sporting a dress that looked like a fern, and her deadly rival Schiaparelli, who was dressed as an ant.

Piqued by the fact that Schiaparelli was with Salvador Dali, who was hogging all the limelight, Chanel went over to 'La Chapelière' (the hat maker) to find out what she was up to.

The walking fern and the ant moved away from the throng and stood apart chatting. By then, the ball was in full swing, and Schiaparelli didn't notice an antenna of her costume was inside the chandelier sitting above her head. When Chanel passed comment on Schiaparelli’s latest design -a hat in the shape of a lobster- the ant became quite animated, causing it to dislodge a candle - which spillled molten wax down the antenna, from where it splattered onto her shoulder. When she looked round to see who’d burnt her with a cigarette, the antenna touched a candle and cought fire, and -fizzing and sparking- it began to put up a plume of black smoke. Schiaparelli shrieked ! and tried to wrestle her head from the headpiece, which was tied under the chin with a black satin strap. The ensuing commotion just made the fire worse and then everyone saw the inferno. Laughter and cries of alarm could be heard above the band – which was hammering out the Charleston with gusto.

Fortunately, a smart young waiter was on hand, who armed himself with a soda syphon and put out the blaze with well aimed jets of water.

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And what does all this have to do with perfume ?

Jean Carles.

Like No5, Schiaparelli’s Shocking was made in three different versions, all composed by Carles, who -as well as being a master perfumer- was a practical joker and stage magician who would amaze his students with card tricks in off moments.

But, even though he made the perfume Schiaparelli was wearing that night, he wasn’t invited to the bash - and so he couldn’t relish the drama of the fire at the circus ball.

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Jean Carles, Schiaparelli, Coco Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent, with a jet of soda water just visible at the top right of the photo.

(Just kidding…)