In this feature, we delve into Margot Robbie's enduring relationship with CHANEL, now starring as the face of their latest N°5 fragrance campaign. A CHANEL ambassador since 2018, Margot has graced the fashion house’s iconic campaigns, from Coco Neige to Gabrielle CHANEL Essence, and most recently, the Rouge Allure Velvet Nuit Blanche lipstick. Her latest role in See You at 5, a short film directed by Luca Guadagnino, perfectly encapsulates the modern, liberated woman CHANEL celebrates. Alongside Jacob Elordi, Margot breathes new life into the timeless allure of N°5, blending elegance and irreverence in this cinematic tribute.
You have been an ambassador of CHANEL since 2018. What does CHANEL represent for you?...
I was so thrilled to be approached by CHANEL to work together. And while I’ve been working with CHANEL for 6 years now*, CHANEL has always been in my life. The Brand is iconic, and I always think of it as being effortless. And timeless — that is always the word I associate with CHANEL. It has this incredible history but is always at the forefront of fashion and culture.
What is your personal relationship with fragrance?
I love fragrance. I always have. I remember being really little and being so excited by the idea that one day I would be a woman and I would be able to wear perfume! Now, I wear it on my neck, I wear it on my wrists, I wear it every day — even when I go to bed at night. It really evokes a mood for me. Which is why I always pick a fragrance for the characters I play. Wearing perfume can set a mood and it also lingers. Someone can walk out of the room and they are still kind of there. I’ve also always found fragrance liberating. The idea that you can portray the version of yourself that you want to portray to the world is actually, in itself, a choice and having that choice is liberating.
What is the personal significance of you being the face of N°5?
I just never thought I’d be in the position I’m in with my career, with my life, to be associated with a brand like CHANEL. And not just CHANEL itself, but to now be the face of N°5. I just never saw this coming, I guess. There’s such an incredible lineage of women who’ve come before me from Catherine Deneuve to Carole Bouquet, from Marion Cotillard to Nicole Kidman... I mean, what incredible company to be in!
How do you feel when you wear N°5?
It’s such a unique, elegant, powerful and innately feminine scent. So, I feel all of those things. But it’s kind of hard to define the smell. It is incredibly rich, it is abstract, it’s not just one thing. And I suppose that gives the feeling of mystery and something a little elusive that is hard to pin down. I love that it encapsulates this idea of femininity, not in a way to box it in but in a way that shows how nuanced it is. It smells different on different people and so when you wear it, you make it your own. I like that idea.
What feminine personality traits do you associate with N°5?
The woman who wears N°5 has a quiet confidence, she has an allure, an innate elegance. She is the master of her own destiny, she’s independent and she knows what she wants. I love the idea of a woman who ‘wants’. I think, as a concept that has, for some reason, been so shut down. But to celebrate that idea of having desires is liberating. I think perfume accesses that idea of, “I do want something and I can find that thing in myself”. I love that perfume not only helps you to access it, but it also amplifies the desires you have.
Could you describe N°5 in 5 words?
Alluring, powerful, independent, enigmatic, abstract.
Could you describe your character in See You At 5? How does she align with the character of N°5?
My character has such a serene quality to her, which is so lovely to play. I feel like she’s also quite powerful and assertive, self-possessed, independent... which really aligns with the perfume. It’s a very feminine kind of woman who has desires. That’s something I really liked about the film — she has desires, and she is acting on them.
Number 5 was obviously significant for Gabrielle Chanel. Do you have a lucky number?
My lucky number is 2 — because I’m born on the second. It has been throughout my life... I love that Gabrielle Chanel was really into numerology and astrology. I only found out after working with the brand. It was something more whimsical that I hadn’t really factored when thinking about Gabrielle Chanel, the icon, the businesswoman, this fashion powerhouse. And then when you look through the design, in the clothes and the jewellery, you see, her star sign, a lion, a Leo, and number 5 pop up everywhere, I really, really love that.
What do you find the most distinctive, the most inspiring about Gabrielle Chanel?
I think what Gabrielle Chanel was doing over 100 years ago is easy to take for granted. But at the time it was pretty radical. I mean, even the design of the bottle at the time was completely different to what everyone else was doing. All the other perfume bottles were very ornate. And all the fragrances were a particular type of flower. But Gabrielle Chanel said, “I want to make a perfume that smells like a woman”. I think that was a pretty radical message to be putting out there. What she was doing was pretty rebellious at the time: changing the silhouette of what women would wear, showing a female body in a different way through her designs. She was giving a different version of femininity, giving a different version of what a woman could smell like or look like that.
But I think more than that, the fact that a woman was doing all this at the time speaks volumes. Gabrielle Chanel was one of the first women to redefine what was considered feminine. So, when people say she’s a trailblazer, it’s true.
Tell us about how your love of N°5 began.
My real connection with N°5 — perhaps because I’m in the film business and have always loved movies so much — began with the campaigns. I loved the Baz Luhrmann collaboration with Nicole Kidman. Just that image of her running down the New York streets with her dress behind her and her jewellery coming off... And I love the Ridley Scott campaigns from the eighties by the pool... I LOVE those campaigns. There has always been such amazing collaborations over the decades with directors and talents coming together to create the new CHANEL N°5 campaign. Everyone’s so excited to see what it is and it always feels so different. So, it was really fun to get to do that with Luca Guadagnino who I’ve wanted to work with for a really long time. We’ve known each other over the years and were hoping to find the thing that we can do together. So, this is really special.
What was it like working with Jacob Elordi on See You At 5?
When CHANEL said, we’re going to go to Jacob Elordi for the campaign, I thought, ‘My God, how amazing.’ And so, it was really fun! Jacob and I are both Queenslanders; we live, probably an hour’s drive apart in Australia. I’ve also worked with Jacob before as I was a producer on Saltburn, but I hadn’t shared the screen with him before and it was really fun. I am really happy he did this!
What does femininity mean to you?
I think it is embracing all the parts of you which means femininity can be anything to anyone. You should make of it what you will. It shouldn’t put you in a box. It should actually be the thing that liberates you to be the version of yourself that you want to be.
*All visuals are copyrighted by CHANEL
