What Perfume Did Marilyn Monroe Wear? The Chanel N°5 Quote, Checked

Marilyn Monroe wore Chanel N°5, and the source is Monroe herself: she said so in LIFE magazine in 1952 and again, on tape, in a 1960 interview. A second perfume has a paper trail too: Floris London holds a 1959 receipt for its Rose Geranium in her married name. This is one of the perfume myths and facts we check, and this one holds up.

What perfume did Marilyn Monroe wear?

Chanel N°5 is the one she named. Chanel's own history page dates the first statement to a specific issue: "Life Magazine dedicated its feature story to Marilyn Monroe on April 7th 1952. It was in this issue that the actress' declaration of love for N°5 perfume was first recorded."

Eight years later she said it again. Agence France-Presse reported in November 2013 on "an interview given to Marie Claire journalist Georges Belmont in 1960", in which Monroe retells the story of being asked what she wore to bed. AFP's transcription of the tape:

You know, they ask you questions. [...] So I said Chanel No. 5! Because it's the truth.

Marilyn Monroe, 1960 interview with Georges Belmont, as quoted by AFP

That last sentence is the important one. A quip to a magazine could be a joke. Repeating it years later and adding that it was true is as close to a confirmation as a celebrity perfume story gets.

What exactly did she say in 1952?

Here the sources disagree. AFP's 2013 report says Monroe "first confessed to Life Magazine in 1952 to wearing only 'five drops of Chanel No. 5' to bed". Chanel's history page gives the exchange differently: "When asked, 'Marilyn, what do you wear to bed?' Marilyn Monroe answered, 'So I said I only wear Chanel No. 5.'"

Version B reads like the 1960 tape, where she is retelling the story ("So I said..."), so Chanel's page may be blending the two. Version A is the one most often repeated. The two sources do not settle which wording LIFE printed. What all three agree on is the perfume.

How did the 1960 recording come to light?

Chanel found it in 2012 and used it the following year. AFP reported that the recording "was discovered by Chanel last year and will be used in a global campaign rolling out this month", which makes the discovery 2012 and the campaign November 2013. The agency described it as "previously unheard audio".

That order of events matters for the question people often ask next. Monroe's line was not written for an advertisement. It came out of interviews, and the house turned it into a campaign more than fifty years later.

Did Marilyn Monroe wear anything besides Chanel N°5?

One other perfume has a document behind it: Floris Rose Geranium. Floris London's history page states: "A receipt in our collection dated December 1959 shows a purchase of Rose Geranium made for Marilyn Monroe Miller while she stayed at Beverly Hills Hotel, California." Miller was her married name at the time.

Floris's blog post on the subject adds detail: "under the alias Miss Dorothy Blass, she ordered six bottles of Floris Rose Geranium Toilet Water, destined for the Beverly Hills Hotel", and the entry "was later amended to read Marilyn Monroe Miller". The receipt, Floris says, is kept in the museum at its shop at 89 Jermyn Street.

Two cautions. The receipt is in the house's own archive and we have only the house's description of it. And a receipt shows a purchase, not what someone wore every day. Still, it is a dated document, which is more than most celebrity perfume claims can show. The house itself is one of the oldest in the trade; our history of Floris London covers it.

Other names circulate online for Monroe's perfume. We found no primary source for them, so they are not listed here.

What does Chanel N°5 smell like?

An aldehydic floral: bright and soapy on top, flowers in the middle, a warm base. Our catalogue lists aldehydes, ylang-ylang, neroli and bergamot on top of the Eau de Parfum, iris, jasmine, rose and lily-of-the-valley in the heart, and vetiver, sandalwood, vanilla and patchouli in the base. It tags it strong, for every season, and as lasting eight hours or more.

AFP's report notes that N°5 "was created in 1921 by the nose Ernest Beaux". Whether it is also the best-selling perfume ever made is a separate claim, and a weaker one; we went through the evidence in Chanel N°5 and the best-seller claim. The version Monroe knew in the 1950s is not on sale: houses adjust formulas over time, as how perfume is made explains.

Why did one sentence matter so much?

Because it tied a bottle to a moment everyone understands: the end of the day. Before it, N°5 was a famous perfume. After it, N°5 was the thing Marilyn Monroe put on last. The house knows the value of that: its history page gives the 1952 interview its own entry between the events of its own couture house.

It also shows how thin most celebrity perfume stories are by comparison. This one has a named magazine issue, a recorded voice and a news agency's transcription. When you read that a star "wore" a perfume, those are the three things to look for.

Find Your Own in the Fragnatique App

Monroe had one answer ready. Most people own several bottles and reach for whichever is nearest. In the Fragnatique app you can keep your bottles on a digital shelf, see the notes of each, and get a suggestion for the day. If you want to find the one scent you would name without thinking, start with how to find your signature scent or the perfume finder.