Another ad for Chanel Coco (see yesterday's version with Vanessa Paradis if you missed it), starring Inès de la Fressange, the original face of Coco when it launched in the mid-1980s.
The spirit of Chanel
An oldie but goodie: Vanessa Paradis for Chanel Coco, 1991. Video quality less than excellent.
Chanel Coco ~ fragrance review
Most of us have fragrance milestones: the first perfume we bought with our own money, our first “serious” perfume, and maybe our first signature scent, back before perfume mania sank the whole signature scent possibility. My first signature scent was Chanel Coco. Now, a couple of decades and hundreds of perfumes separate me from my Coco days. When I stopped by Nordstrom last week to ask for a sample of the Eau de Parfum, I didn’t hold out much hope I’d still like it. After all, I’ve loved and left my share of 1980s blockbusters.
Silly me. It turns out all those sample vials of scent from drugstores to niche perfumeries I devoured over the years only led me to appreciate Coco’s artistry more. Coco is warm, elegant, beautifully blended, and easy. No, it won’t shock or challenge. There’s nothing funky or bizarre or tough about it. But just as a dinner of perfectly roasted chicken, potatoes, sautéed chard, and glass of Pinot Noir by the fire won’t rock the world, it satisfies far more often than the sous vide-cooked special from the latest darling chef.
Chanel Cuir de Russie ~ fragrance review
In Perfume: Joy, Obsession, Scandal, Sin, Richard Stamelman quotes from a 1936 Chanel publicity text about Chanel Cuir de Russie:
…I easily imagine this perfume floating in the wake of a tall, slender brunette, whose moves are confident, who voice is accustomed to giving orders, and who fingers are slightly darkened by tobacco. She is one of those women who always wears a suit, even at midnight at the Savoy; one of those women captivating to watch at the casino in Monaco, who after having lost a sum of money, takes bills and a money order from a love letter hidden in her fine leather handbag, where they have taken on a pungent, slightly wild odor, and with great calm throws them on the green baize of the gaming table.1
Wowee! Who could resist a fragrance like that? (Let’s hope the copy writer went on to a career as a novelist.) But by dint of perspective or reformulation, today’s Cuir de Russie is still beautiful, but not the butch aristocrat of yesteryear. Instead, it’s as if the Cuir de Russie of 70 years ago earned an advanced degree and spent time on the therapist’s couch. She’s still elegant and self-possessed, but she’s not getting written up in the gossip columns…
Top 10 Fall Fragrances 2009
As it is for many people, fall is my favorite time of year. Perhaps this is because around here it is the most fragrant season: the cool, damp leaves send up a sweet, cidery rot, I could swear there is always a tinge of woodsmoke in the air, and the evergreens seem sharper and straighter as the deciduous competition flames out. Early every morning, after bumping around and out of my pitch-dark apartment, I take a deep draw of cool air and wonder if this smell is a regular olfactory hallucination, since I live in an urban neighborhood with bylaws against bonfires and no apple orchards for miles. Whether I am susceptible to seasonal scent suggestion disorder or not, I love the colors and skies of autumn, and the weather is often invigorating enough for me to look fondly upon the hooting, rowdy herds of schoolkids that suddenly appear on every sidewalk. Even if fall doesn’t make you feel this disgustingly cheerful, you can still spend your season of mists and mellow fruitfulness in gorgeous perfumes. Please comment with your own fall favorites and let me know if you’ve sampled the new Serge Lutens Fille en Aiguilles. I haven’t tried it yet, and am wondering whether it will be added to my current autumn Lutens rotation of Chêne, Santal Blanc and El Attarine.
Etro Shaal Nur: Rather like a more contemplative, citrus-tinged Habanita, this is an airy, incense-smoke version of Molinard’s classic vetiver-vanilla. While not being particularly strong — it’s better sprayed than dabbed — Shaal Nur has impressive projection…