Tag Archives: Cuir de Russie

Chanel – Cuir de Russie

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Chanel – Cuir de Russie

There are those fragrances that carry with them strong emotional associations, either because they were worn by a loved one, or because they were our close companion in the journey of life. My first encounter with Chanel’s Cuir de Russie was not unlike a scene in a movie where the protagonist’s life flashes before their eyes, revealing a series of memories and profound emotions. I was flooded with a thousand images and impressions. The stillness of the air on a cold winter night. The fur collar on my Russian great-grandfather’s coat mingled with the sweet scent of tobacco. The finest leather gloves and the elegance of a scented handkerchief. And yet how could a fragrance unknown to me have this effect?

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Of the four Cuir de Russie fragrances  I have tested, for me, Chanel’s interpretation most closely embodied the romanticism and elegance of the genre and of the individuals who inspired its creation. Chanel’s fragrance embodies the exotic elements which the exiled Russian community brought with them to Paris, and yet it captures all of the refined elegance of their new home. Chanel’s Cuir de Russie personifies the spirit of the Roaring Twenties, where flappers shocked the world with their emancipated fashions, their dancing and smoking.

Chanel’s Cuir is a close contemporary of Lubin’s, and indeed the two share some similarities making it evident that they are variations on a theme. While the Guerlain Cuir de Russie invokes a rustic, revolutionary feel, Chanel’s is starkly different. Chanel’s Cuir de Russie was created in 1924, by master nose Ernest Beaux, himself a Russian exile. Beaux was born in Moscow and  trained in perfumery with the prestigious A. Rallet and Company, creator of perfumes for the courts of Imperial Russia. He eventually settled in Paris in 1919. He was introduced to Coco Chanel by the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia, giving rise to a very successful and prodigious professional alliance.

Chanel’s Cuir starts out with a familiar burst of hesperidic aldehydes, which will be immediately familiar to devotees of Chanel No 5. But where No 5 softens to reveal a floral heart, Cuir de Russie unleashes a series of provocative notes: the sweet and acrid tobacco, an animalic fur note complete with a touch of mothballs, as though an elegant old coat had been taken out of storage in preparation for winter. The heart is an elegant floral composition which also feels like familiar Chanel territory, the finest examples of jasmine, rose and ylang ylang available. The fragrance culminates in the beauty of leather, the softest, most supple leather imaginable, and yet through its smoky darkness, retains a touch of the soft floral heart.

This review is based upon both the vintage parfum and the reformulated version available from the Chanel Les Exclusifs line. Both are phenomenal, with the parfum revealing more of the depth and beauty of the animalic leather notes and the eau de toilette possessing more of the life of aldehydes.

Leather Oriental

Notes: Orange Blossom, Bergamot,  Mandarin, Jasmine, Rose, Ylang-Ylang and Birchwood

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Lubin – Cuir de Russie

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Lubin – Cuir de Russie

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Lubin is one of the oldest perfume houses in continual existence. The company was founded by Pierre Francois Lubin in 1798, when he began creating scented products for members of high society and notoriety alike. Lubin, like Guerlain, was esteemed with recognition from the Imperial Court of the Bonapartes and all the crowned heads of Europe thereafter. The firm was well-known for their perfumes and bottles alike, with flacons designed by Julien Viard and Maurice Depinoix and special, luxury editions from Baccarat. The firm created a strong presence in the United States commencing in the 1830s and were especially well-received in the South where many families traced their origins back to France. The firm remians in existence today and Olivia Giacobetti is the current fragrance designer.

Of the four Cuir de Russie’s reviewed, Lubin’s interpretation of the leather theme is perhaps the most literal. I was fortunate enough to come upon a vintage sample courtesy of a fellow collector. The stopper on the bottle had been stuck for some time, allowing for good preservation of the perfume, which had condensed into an almost syrup-like consistency. After some careful engineering, the bottle finally revealed its beautiful contents.

The perfume’s opening had a medicinal, slightly hesperidic, herbal quality to it, alluding to perhaps some petitgrain and camphor notes. As the initial notes died down, the fragrance had an oily quality to it, reminiscent of fur. Based upon my first impression, I imagined that the perfume was going to be somewhat challening to wear, as it invoked visions of the oily fur of hides being prepared for leather production. Indeed, at first blush, I ascribed this perfume more for intellectual contemplation rather than actual use.

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Here however, the fragrance took a distinct turn. The heavy quality of the opening dissipated, leaving just a hint of spice in its wake. What this revealed was the mildest, most realistic and unadorned leather scent of the three. The Lubin Cuir de Russie has neither the rugged, birch-tar bite of the Guerlain, nor the aldehydic florals of the Chanel. It is purely gorgeous, buttery leather, the kind that would be used to make fine gloves for a woman’s hands. As the fragrance dies down, there is a very slight floral quality to it, as though the lovely kid gloves had retained the slightest hint of scent from the wearer’s perfumed wrist.

Having had the good fortune now to sample various vintage Lubins, the house has a singular style to all of its scents which conveys a subtle refinement that is simply intoxicating. Where Guerlain always strikes me as the House of Passion, and Chanel as the House of Beauty, Lubin’s scents possess a quiet intellectualism that I find very appealing in their subtlety. Lubin’s Cuir de Russie is no exception.

Leather

Notes: Hesperidic Notes, Camphor, Fur, Oil, Leather Notes, Floral Notes,

Guerlain – Cuir de Russie

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Guerlain – Cuir de Russie

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Guerlain’s version on the Cuir de Russie theme is the oldest of the fragrances I will review and as such possesses a character which is completely unlike that of its counterparts. In fact, for my nose, Guerlain’s Cuir de Russie is more reminiscent of the tanning process itself than of the leather byproduct.

Guerlain’s Cuir de Russie was developed by Aime Guerlain in 1875. Having first been introduced to the genre by way of Chanel, the opening of Guerlain’s interpretation was somewhat of a shock. The fragrance opens with a distinctly herbacious note which is both powerful and masculine, a sharp contrast to Chanel’s classic aldehydic opening. This intense green and almost medicinal quality gives rise to the richest, smokiest leather I have ever experienced, making it evident that the fragrance was composed long before any restrictions on birch tar came into effect. The impression is of a much more rustic and prerevolutionary “Russia” than either of its 20th century counterparts, which evoke more of a “Russian in Paris” feel. Not so the Guerlain, which reminds me of the thick, rough leather boots of a cossack warrior atop a charging steed in the cold night air.Cossack-05

While the intensity of smoke and leather is prevalent for several hours, making me questions the scent’s intended gender audience, the fragrance does a complete about-face in the drydown, softening into a gorgeously soft floral bouquet. There is a hint of jasmine overlaying the leather which has now receded into the background, deepened by hints of vanilla and animalic notes.

It is this odd interplay between masculine and feminine elements that reveals the true magic of the House of Guerlain. These disparate fragrance themes could not have been carried out by any other perfumer, and yet Guerlain flawlessly melds the two into one, invoking the grandeur of a revolutionary fantasy with the promise of a bright and beautiful future.

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Smoky Leather

Notes: Herbal Notes, Green Notes, Jasmine, Leather

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