Jo's Scent Notes: Chanel Les Exclusifs Cuir de Russie

If you are lucky enough to be visiting the GABRIELLE CHANEL – FASHION MANIFESTO exhibition at the V&A this autumn, I hope you will pause awhile to enjoy the room dedicated to the fragrances which were created during Chanel’s lifetime, and which are still in the brand’s portfolio today, almost a century later. It’s a fascinating part of the exhibit, not least because of the letter from HM The Queen thanking her friend Boy Browning – Daphne du Maurier’s husband – for a bottle of Chanel No5.

I wrote about these five ‘living history’ fragrances for The Scented Letter, the magazine which I edit for The Perfume Society. (You can sign up for a free digital copy here.) I certainly already knew and loved Chanel No5 and its elegant sibling No22, but three of the fragrances – Gardénia, Bois des Iles and Cuir de Russie – were much less familiar.

For many years, they were only available as very intense parfums, but – oh, joy – they have now been curated within the Chanel Les Exclusifs line-up, as much more wearable eau de parfum. And, smelling them for my research, I fell head over heels for Cuir de Russie, or ‘Russian Leather’.

If that makes it sound masculine, it’s really not – thanks to an amazing floral bouquet of orange blossom, jasmine and ylang ylang. Perfumistas often talk of Chanel’s scent signature being aldehydes, the synthetic perfume notes which give a champagne-like sparkle to a composition (and power No5 and No22 out of the bottle) – but I realised, smelling this quintet of fragrances showcased in the exhibition, that the true signature of Chanel fragrances is ylang ylang: an exotic floral, extracted from a vine that scampers through rainforest trees.

Running like a thread through so many of them – spicy, rich, almost fruity – ylang ylang is referred to as ‘the flower of flowers’, and I think it’s is one of the reasons many of Chanel’s fragrances are so bewitching.

As for ‘Russian leather’, this is actually a fragrance family, which was composed to conjure up the scent of Russian soldier’s boots softened by birch bark. Chanel’s Cuir de Russie wasn’t the only fragrance of that name (and it’s still not the only one today, because as I say, this is a ‘style’ of scent, not a trademarkable name) – but to my nose, this is quite the most beautiful.

There’s a powdery beauty to Chanel Cuir de Russie, when you first spray it, a little like burying your nose in a bouquet from a posh florist. And it’s incredibly sophisticated, from very first spritz; I don’t think I could wear this with a pair of jeans if I tried – it would feel all wrong. It begs for black velvet, organza, a swag of pearls, and to be taken to somewhere with red plush seats.

Later, the more masculine notes emerge – birch and resinous styrax, and with a tobacco-y smokiness trailing throughout. Leathery? You bet. But more in a ‘mummy’s handbag’ way; on my skin, it remains feminine, despite technically being shareable, or ‘gender neutral’.

Sitting within Chanel’s most luxurious Les Exclusifs collection, Cuir de Russie is never going to be an everyday fragrance – and I will be ekeing out this bottle, keeping it in the box to protect the ‘juice’ from sunlight, and away from heat, which is the advice given for extending the life of any perfume. But it can, however, be smelled at any Les Exclusifs de Chanel counter (in their boutiques and in upscale department stores) – and I encourage you to do just that, as part of your olfactory education.

100 years on, it is living fragrance history. Utterly timeless – and completely beautiful.

From £200 for 75ml eau de parfum, at Les Exclusifs de Chanel counters nationwide and at chanel.com