Coco Noir

Chanel launched Coco Noir in August 2012, eleven years after Coco Mademoiselle. The eau de parfum is signed by Jacques Polge, the house perfumer, who had composed Coco in 1984. The launch press release saw it as Chanel’s return to oriental fragrances.

Black according to Chanel

The house starts from a phrase attributed to Gabrielle Chanel: before her, no one would have dared to dress in black. Chanel says it has always given black a paradoxical role, to put women in the spotlight, and brings forth from this deep black the idea of a radiant femininity.

Venice, 1919

For the perfume’s story, Jacques Polge turned to Venice, where Gabrielle Chanel stayed in 1919 after the sudden death of her companion, Boy Capel. The city and its Byzantine influences shaped her taste for Baroque art and for gold for years to come.

In the launch press release, the perfumer describes a night vision of the Orient, an Orient that begins and ends in Venice, which imposed itself on him and toward which he wanted to lead the perfume.

A line and a face

The eau de parfum came out in 50 and 100 ml; the house now also sells it in 35 ml. In August 2014, model Karlie Kloss became the face of Coco Noir, in her first campaign for Chanel, photographed by Sølve Sundsbø.