Five

 The number 5:

Chanel spent seven years of her life at Aubazine, an abbey founded by Cistercians – a Catholic order which placed great emphasis on numerology. This is where she learned to sew and became aquainted with the mystical nature of the number 5.  Five was symbolic of the pure embodiment of a thing - its spirit and mystical meaning – something essential and beautiful. The Cistercians took their name from the five-petalled flower, Cistus, which grew in the abbey gardens. When selecting her first perfume in 1919, Chanel was presented glass vials of scent.  She selected the fifth vial telling Master perfumer Ernest Beaux that, “I present my dress collections on the fifth of May, the fifth month of the year and so we will let this sample number five keep the name it has already, it will bring good luck.”  She was right.