Cuir de Russie

Ernest Beaux composed Cuir de Russie for Gabrielle Chanel after N°5, N°22, Gardénia, and Bois des Îles. The house places its launch in 1927, as do Now Smell This and ÇaFleurBon; Perfume Shrine and Grain de Musc give 1924, and The Perfume Society notes that the date remains debated.

Grand Duke Dimitri and the Ballets Russes

The house links the fragrance to Gabrielle Chanel’s meeting with Grand Duke Dimitri, cousin of Tsar Nicholas II, who went into exile in Paris in 1920 carrying images of the white steppe and of furs. Their affair lasted from 1920 to 1923, Denyse Beaulieu writes.

Charmed by Byzantine splendor, Gabrielle Chanel then adorned her designs with folk motifs and gold embroidery. She moved in the circle of Igor Stravinsky, the dancer Serge Lifar, and Serge de Diaghilev, founder of the Ballets Russes, whose seasons left their mark on Paris from 1909 to 1929.

It was probably through the grand duke that she met Ernest Beaux, born in Moscow and trained at Rallet, perfumer to the imperial court. Her biographer Justine Picardie sees in Cuir de Russie the bottled essence of that affair.

A genre born in the 19th century

The name takes up an older genre: Guerlain and Rimmel each launched their own Russian leather in 1875, and nearly fifty perfumes of the kind appeared before the 1960s. Russian leather owed its smoky smell to the birch oil with which hides were impregnated after tanning.

Caron’s Tabac Blond had opened the way for feminine leathers as early as 1919. A material linked to motoring, aviation, and travel, leather became in the 1920s an emblem of women’s emancipation, one Chanel knowingly played on, according to Denyse Beaulieu.

From 1983 to Les Exclusifs

In 1983, Jacques Polge, the house perfumer, reorchestrated Cuir de Russie. Now Smell This and Perfume Shrine report that he softened the roughest side of the leather; Angela, of Now Smell This, adds that he boosted the iris.

In 2007, the fragrance entered Les Exclusifs de Chanel, a collection sold in the house’s boutiques and a few selected stores. It appeared there as a 200 ml eau de toilette, alongside a 30 ml extrait; ÇaFleurBon attributes the 2007 version to Jacques Polge.

Today’s eau de parfum

Launched as an eau de toilette, Cuir de Russie is sold today as an eau de parfum in 75 and 200 ml. The house calls it ambery, leathery, and floral, radical and carnal: the strength of birch wood paired with cistus labdanum, faceted by jasmine and illuminated by ylang-ylang.

The extrait belongs to the Les Extraits de Chanel collection, in a refillable 30 ml. The house presents it as an interpretation of its own, joining birch and cistus labdanum with jasmine, May rose, and blond tobacco.