Gardénia is the perfume Gabrielle Chanel asked Ernest Beaux for in 1925 to evoke her favorite flower, the white camellia, which has no scent. Reworked by Jacques Polge for the Les Exclusifs de Chanel collection, launched in 2007, it now pairs a gardenia accord of jasmine, tuberose and ylang-ylang with orange blossom.
The sober bottle of Les Exclusifs de Chanel, in 75 and 200 ml; the extrait comes in a case or as a purse spray.
Gardénia wears the bottle of the Les Exclusifs de Chanel collection, which the house describes as very restrained, cultivating the sobriety of a uniform created for the collection. The eau de parfum comes in 75 and 200 ml; the extrait is presented in a case.
In the United States, the house also offers a limited-edition grand extrait of about 900 ml, nestled in a white satin-lined case and protected by a sleeve that opens like a flower.
Elena Vosnaki recalls the earlier bottles: a rectangular extrait with a white label and pale yellow juice, and a limited-edition eau de toilette from the 1990s, in a gold-edged rectangular bottle with a white cap.