Thomas du Pré de Saint Maur is giving Chanel N°5 a Californian makeover

It’s London Fashion Week and, as usual, our fickle weather is flirting with both sunshine and clouds. I’m sitting in a meeting room at our office in Kentish Town, northwest London, chatting with Thomas du Pré de Saint Maur over Zoom. The Parisian has a job title that’s as hefty as his name — he’s the head of global creative resources for fragrance, beauty, watches and jewellery at Chanel. Still, he greets me with a warm smile, his eyes twinkling with the kind of mischief you’d expect from someone who spends a fair bit of time playing with perfume. Du Pré de Saint Maur is here today to tell me about Chanel’s new N°5 campaign, See You at 5. I tell him that I think it’s the house’s coolest and most contemporary yet. He wholeheartedly agrees.

Du Pré de Saint Maur’s excitement is palpable as he describes the film, and it’s clear why. See You at 5 is directed by none other than Luca Guadagnino, and stars the crème de la crème of young Hollywood: Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. Set against the sun- drenched backdrop of California’s Big Sur, it’s an ode to missed connections and self-assured femininity that’s doing its bit to rewrite how we do perfume adverts. “N°5 isn’t about fame,” du Pré de Saint Maur muses. Really, you can’t imagine the campaign coming from anyone but him. Since joining Chanel back in 2008, he has imbued everything he touches with a distinct sensibility. That is, he’s got an acute understanding of how the invisible nature of scent demands a narrative. “Literature helps me a lot,” he says, leaning into the camera, “because it really calls for my imagination”.

This excerpt was taken from HUNGER Issue 33: Good People. Stay tuned for the full story.