Part 1 of a history of the most popular and controversial perfume in the world Chanel No 5. Gabriel (Coco) Chanel commissioned the perfumer/chemist Ernest Beaux to create something that smelt like being freshly washed. The use of the aldehydes that give No 5 its distinctive smell was not new but No 5 was the first perfume to popularise this new smell, breaking away from the trend of perfumes trying to smell like ‘natural’ substances.