Perfumer Oliver Polge talks about the new Gabrielle Chanel. (If you missed it, we posted the commercial here.)
Chanel Gabrielle ~ fragrance review
How do you feel about Chanel Coco Mademoiselle? Chances are good your answer will say a lot about how you will like Chanel Gabrielle. From first sniff, Gabrielle brings to my mind images of Coco Mademoiselle stuffing her arms into one of Chanel No. 5 Eau Première’s ruffled chiffon dresses. After wearing Gabrielle off and on for a week, my feelings haven’t changed. To me, Gabrielle smells like a Coco Mademoiselle flanker.
Chanel house perfumer Olivier Polge developed Gabrielle. Chanel describes Gabrielle as “an imaginary flower”…
Chanel Gabrielle ~ new fragrance
Chanel will launch Gabrielle, a new abstract floral for women, in September. Gabrielle is named for the brand’s founder, Gabrielle Chanel, and hopes to evoke “the rebellious, mold-breaking spirit of her early years before she became Coco.” The fragrance will be fronted by actress Kristen Stewart…
Chanel No. 5 L’Eau ~ fragrance review
We should be happy. Chanel has been very careful with its legendary No. 5 and until now has only dared an Eau de Parfum and Eau Première beyond the original Eau de Toilette and Extrait. Both were careful enhancements. No No. 5 Noir or Eau de Sport or Resort Rose.
I can almost imagine Chanel executives casting sidewise glances at Guerlain. “What the heck are they doing with Shalimar?” they might ask. All those takes on the classic — Eau Legère, Light, Souffle de Parfum, Parfum Initial, Ode à la Vanille, and more — are akin to stealing Joan Crawford’s shoulder pads and eyebrows. At some point you end up not with an icon, but with a placid starlet who will please the common denominator for a few months, then be forgotten for good…
Boy Chanel ~ fragrance review & a quick Chanel poll
Boy Chanel joins the Les Exclusifs collection at Chanel this year, bringing the collection to 16.1 It’s the second Exclusif from house perfumer Olivier Polge (the first being Misia), and was inspired by Arthur “Boy” Capel. Boy Capel, an English polo player and businessman, would likely be forgotten today but for his 9-year affair with Coco Chanel — he is often cited as the true love of her life.1 That, of course, lends him massive potential as “another link in the grand construct of the Chanel story”.2 I don’t know exactly how many products he has accrued at this point, but his namesake lipstick (in the Rouge Coco Shine line) came out in 2011, and his namesake handbag, Le Boy Chanel, debuted in 2012 (and was called an “instant classic”). Now, he has a fragrance.
It’s a unisex, with the usual hedging about unisex…