Chanel No5 Retrospective II: Sem Makes Fun of Coco Chanel {Perfume Images}

Here is a caricature of Coco Chanel by Sem (Georges Goursat) dating from 1923 which makes fun of the great couturière. He turns her first name into a dirge, in reference to the origins of her nickname: Coco stuck with Gabrielle Chanel after a song she used to perform in a cabaret in her youth.

In 1923, two years only after the official launch of the No5 by Chanel, the perfume bottle shaped after the Place Vendôme in Paris is showcased already hinting at its future iconic career....

Je le déclare sans vergogne
Il n'y a rien de moins coco
Qu'une toilette de Coco
Parfumée à l'eau de Coco...
De Coco...de Cocologne

Marquise de la Flaconnerie*

I say it shamelessly
There is nothing less coco
Than an array by Coco
Scented with the eau de Coco...
De Coco...de Cocologne

Marquess of Bottlebsbury

*There is a double play on word here as "connerie" in slang means bullshit or something crassly stupid.

Photo credit: Kunst für Alle


You can take a look at a previous post on commercials for Chanel No5 from the 1970s