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Fragrance’s source of oxygen is ephemeral — the fleeting, the transient, the latest, the greatest, and so forth. Yet for Chanel, it is often a big gulp of the past that is required to predict and perfect its future. Les Eaux de Chanel is a new scent series inspired by Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s three favourite places — Deauville, Venice and Biarritz. Destinations dedicated to the sybaritic pleasures of life by the water and all reached by train from Paris.
The first instalment, Chanel’s Paris-Deauville, transports its wearer to the Normandy countryside. The seaside town is reborn, not through any kind of cliché (although the town itself is heavy with them), but an artful, olfactory pastiche. Do not expect the typical Chanel-isms — the white orals or woody orientals of fragrances past. Perfumer Olivier Polge instead set out to capture the sense of chic Parisians dreaming of a weekend away, seeking solace in a reimagined Deauville. “I wasn’t striving to capture the Normandy countryside as it stands today, but rather the promise of a stroll through the tall grasses,” explains Polge. These grasses became the root of the fragrance; the entry point into a world of greenery. The zesty scent marries exuberant notes of orange rind, petit grand and aromatic basil leaf, while cross-pollinating essence of rose with jasmine. Patchouli rounds things out, bridging the gap between land and sea.
Venture cross-country, and the second scent is decidedly more Italian in character. Paris-Venise honours the journey of the legendary Venice Simplon-Orient Express from the French capital to the floating Italian city. “I wanted people to smell that gateway to the Orient, which, at Chanel, is also an evocation of The Baroque,” says Polge. Despite its aquatic undercurrent, the fragrance is the most urban of the three; rich in cedar, amber and vanilla, an ode to the opulence of the city. A burst of sparkling citrus cuts through by way of neroli and red berry with the end result as stirring as it is subtle; an artful capturing of Gabrielle’s amore for Venice.
Weave your way back to France, and the journey of Les Eaux concludes with the call of the Basque coast. Paris-Biarritz is unashamedly aquatic; it is as if each ingredient was submerged in water, soaked by Polge until truly aqueous in nature. Grapefruit and mandarin add zing, while deep within the swell, clean notes of lily of the valley swirl and swish with vetiver and white musk. Polge has rolled Biarritz’s cool Mediterranean waves into a beautiful — albeit biting — conclusion. Les Eaux de Chanel is the summer novel of scent, a succession of seasonal anecdotes — evocative, fresh, intimate and ephemeral.
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les eaux de chanel Paris-Deauville Eau De Toilette 125ml, $195. shop now
les eaux de chanel Paris-Venise Eau De Toilette 125ml, $195. shop now
les eaux de chanel Paris-Biarritz Eau De Toilette 125ml, $195. shop now
