The Perfume Bottle That Was Almost a Medicine Vial

Chanel No. 5's bottle looks like nothing — a plain rectangle of glass in a world of jeweled, sculpted flacons. That was the whole point. In 1921, perfume bottles looked like tiny palaces. Coco Chanel, who grew up in a convent orphanage and hated fuss, asked for the opposite: a bottle inspired by a gentleman's toiletry kit — some say a whiskey decanter, others a hospital vial. The scandalously plain bottle became the most recognizable silhouette in perfume history. Sometimes the secret to being unforgettable is refusing to decorate.