Smell of success: How Chanel No 5 gained a sprinkling of stardust

As the fragrance turns 100, Chanel's perfumer-in-chief Olivier Polge describes what it takes to create and curate a classic brand

Through the floor-to-ceiling windows of his seventh-floor office at Chanel's chic Parisian HQ, Olivier Polge can look out over the French capital. From here, in the western suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine, much of the city's iconic skyline is in full view: the Eiffel Tower, mansard roofs, and the greenery of Bois de Boulogne; the Sacre-Cur atop Montmartre opposite.

It's a vista that has captivated some of Europe's most celebrated visual minds, but from here Polge takes inspiration for another of his senses. He is, after all, the fashion house's nose, Chanel's perfumer-in-chief: the steward of its iconic scents past, and the man charged with creating their fragrances of the future.