Bois des Iles

Bois des Iles proposes a very innovative universe for its time by elevating woody accords in a feminine register and pairing them with opulent flowers and even a few gourmand touches! A delight…

Bois des Iles, or the astonishing modernity of a perfume born in… 1926!

Gabrielle Chanel loved originality; above all she loved to surprise without ever losing the legendary elegance of her creations. If N°5 caused a sensation upon its release in 1921, other fragrances, though magnificently created, were left out of that perfumed legend. This could be the case of Bois des Iles, which was so surprising both for its audacity, playing between feminine and masculine, and for its gourmand accords, which were hardly in keeping with the trends of the time.

It should be remembered that Gabrielle Chanel was one of the first designers to dare to successfully mix very masculine fabrics, such as jersey, with very feminine cuts. It is hardly surprising that the sparkling lady wanted Ernest Beaux to compose for her a woody perfume, typically reserved for men, in order to make it feminine to the extreme.

Moreover, this famous Bois des Iles highlights fruity touches that hardly matched the standards of the time. Let us not forget that while this lovely Bois des Iles experienced a fine renaissance thanks to its appearance in the Les Exclusifs collection in the 2010s, an era when gourmand perfumes are fiercely trendy, Ernest Beaux and Gabrielle Chanel crafted it back in 1926…

Floral and woody, the Bois des Iles perfume plays on its gourmand character

The star of this Bois des Iles, which was designed as a tribute to distant travels and to women’s new aspirations, is without doubt Mysore sandalwood. Moreover, the use of this type of sandalwood carries a meaning of well-being and calm in Eastern religions, and it is likely that this was no accident on Chanel’s part.

Bois des Iles takes us on an initial fresh and energetic journey of bergamot and petitgrain, which is tinged, as with N°5 moreover, with the nervy, metallic power of aldehydes. At the heart, the splendors of jasmine, rose, lilac and clove, very Western in character, come to wed the floral and exotic notes of ylang-ylang from the Comoros and cinnamon. The fruity peach note brings its gourmand character while turning into a syrupy fruit thanks to the chypre depths of Bois des Iles. Indeed, vetiver and Mysore sandalwood lend their woody strength to a gourmand and sensual vanilla and tonka bean, like sunbeams delightfully warming the skin…

A woody fragrance with oriental swirls, everything here evokes exoticism: precious sandalwood, the languid sensuality of the great ylang-ylang flowers from the Comoros. The perfume is in itself a mysterious and distant continent. Chanel for Bois des Iles.