Vintage Perfume - Chanel's Cuir de Russie

Explore the History of this Revolutionary Fragrance

Aug 18, 2009

This perfume was created at a pivotal time in French and Russian culture.

Legend has it that Cuir de Russie was born when a Cossack warrior rubbed birch fat into his fine leather boots on the Russian steppes. Whoever did it first, it is certain that tanneries of the area cured skins in such a way, and the scent produced inspired perfumers in France. It is a very physical fragrance, evoking warriors riding in wide open spaces.

Guerlain produced a Cuir de Russie fragrance in 1875, and Creed created one for Errol Flynn in 1938. Chanel created hers in 1924, and it is still highly regarded today. Luca Turin, the fragrance biophysicist, describes it as ‘a striking hologram of luxury bygone: its scent like running the hand over the pearl grey banquette of an Isotta Frashini while forests of birch silently pass by.’

Chanel’s Paris – The Russian Influence

In the early twentieth century Paris was heavily influenced by Russian culture. Many Russians emigrated to the city after the 1917 revolution and their culture became very fashionable.

Chanel herself was very closely involved with this. Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich, cousin of Tsar Nicholas II, was her lover for around one year, and she had a contract with Kitmir House of Embroidery, founded by the exiled Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna Romanova.

Additionally, she designed costumes for four ballets at the popular Ballet Russes (1909-29), most significantly for Le Train which was performed in 1924, the same year as Cuir de Russie was launched.

Chanel and the Perfumer Ernest Beaux

In 1920 Grand Duke Pavlovich introduced Chanel to Ernest Beaux, beginning a great collaboration that produced several classic fragrances.

Beaux (1881-1961) became one of the greatest perfumers of the twentieth century, best known for Chanel No. 5. Born to a French family in Moscow, his father was Edouard Beaux, chief perfumer of the top fragrance house Rallet and Co. By 1907 Ernest was the technical director, and like his father a member of the board of directors. His support for the White Russian Army (who fought against the Bolsheviks) eventually caused him to settle in France.

Cuir de Russie represented a radical departure for perfume in its blurring of the gender boundaries in scent. Leather fragrances had previously been for men, but along with others such as Caron’s Tabac Blond (based on tobacco), Cuir de Russie broke the mould for what was acceptable for women.

Encouraged by Chanel, Beaux took the smoky, leathery scent of masculine fragrances and combined it with feminine rose, jasmine and ylang ylang, thus making it more appealing to women. Amongst other things, he also added the more remote fragrance of iris, and warmer notes of amber and vanilla.

The result is a fragrance for the newly independent women who wore masculine clothing and dared to smoke in public. If No.5 is Marilyn Monroe in a wiggle dress, Cuir de Russie is Marlene Dietrich feminising a suit. This is typical of Chanel, who wore trousers when most women were still in corsets.

The Eau de Toilette version of Cuir de Russie was reformulated by Chanel’s perfumer Jacques Polge in 1983, and is available from upmarket outlets as part of the Les Exclusifs range. Polge softened the scent slightly. The parfum version is still made, but, like anything worthwhile, it does take a bit of hunting down.

The copyright of the article Vintage Perfume - Chanel's Cuir de Russie in Perfume is owned by Victoria Robinson. Permission to republish Vintage Perfume - Chanel's Cuir de Russie in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.