Cuir de Russie () is a fragrance from Parisian

couturier ''Haute couture'' (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design that is constructed by hand from start-to-finish. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Paris became the ...

Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel. (The term may also refer to other

Russia leather Russia leather is a particular form of bark-tanned cow leather. It is distinguished from other types of leather by a processing step that takes place after tanning, where birch oil is worked into the rear face of the leather. This produces a leather ...

perfumes, most notably ''Creed Cuir de Russie''.)

History

Coco Chanel had worked with Ernest Beaux on her original perfume,

Chanel No. 5 Chanel No. 5 was the first perfume launched by French couturier Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel in 1921. The scent formula for the fragrance was compounded by French-Russian chemist and perfumer Ernest Beaux. The design of its bottle has been an impo ...

, which debuted in 1921. In 1927, they released Cuir de Russie, which means "Russian leather" in French.CUIR DE RUSSIE
, museudelperfum.net. Accessed 4 May 2011 In the 1920s, one of Chanel's lovers was

Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia (russian: Великий Князь Дмитрий Павлович; 18 September 1891 – 5 March 1942) was a son of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia, a grandson of Tsar Alexander II of Russia and a ...

, the cousin of

Tsar Nicholas II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Polan ...

, and, according to Chanel's biographer Justine Picardie, Cuir de Russie was the "bottled ... essence of her romance with the Grand Duke."Picardie, 2010, p. 137

Notes

According to the Chanel website, the fragrance of Cuir de Russie is of "wild cavalcades, wafts of blond tobacco and the smell of boots tanned by birch bark, which the Russian soldiers would wear".Cuir de Russie
chanel.com. Accessed 4 May 2011 The scent contains frankincense, juniper wood,

mandarin orange The mandarin orange (''Citrus reticulata''), also known as the mandarin or mandarine, is a small citrus tree fruit. Treated as a distinct species of orange, it is usually eaten plain or in fruit salads. Tangerines are a group of orange-colou ...

, bergamot,

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

, jasmine and

ylang-ylang ''Cananga odorata'', known as ylang-ylang ( ) or cananga tree, is a tropical tree that is native to the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Queensland, Australia. It is also native to parts of Thailand and Viet ...

. The perfume is said to be ''gender-free'', meant for all, with smoky, sandalwood, amber and a mix of leather.

References

{{Chanel Perfumes Chanel perfumes History of cosmetics Products introduced in 1927