Chanel Noir ~ New Fragrances

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Coco Noir is a new perfume to be launched in September 2012. It will be available at department and specialty stores.

“For Coco Noir, I thought of Coco and of Coco Mademoiselle too, because it’s also part of the history. I wanted to continue exploring an entire esthetic range of CHANEL perfumery, a range that distinguishes itself from the Florals, one that is illustrated by Bois-des-Iles and Cuir de Russie. I took it up with Coco. It’s what I like to call the CHANEL Coromandel culture, what you see and feel in her apartment. The night vision of the ‘Orient that starts and ends in Venice’ imposed itself upon me and that is where I wanted to go.” Jacques Polge

In 1984, there was Coco, that sumptuous blend of wood, resins, flowers, spices and fruit. A treasure trove of splendours and an endless source of discovery and sensual delight. Then, in 2001, came Coco Mademoiselle, a breath of air that lightens this cornucopia of fragrance, in which everything is simplified and accelerated in a radiant burst of fruit and flower.

And today there is Coco Noir, a great nocturnal Baroque. Another journey in the wake of a Gabrielle who fully embraced the dazzle of black and Venice, incorporating them not only into her creations but into her life.

In Venice, city of memories and promise, Gabrielle Chanel experienced a renewal. She had traveled there to mourn the only man she ever loved, Boy Capel. She realized that she didn’t like fussy dresses, and she wasn’t going to fuss about when it came to matters of the heart. She drew strength from her discovery of the city and all of the wonders it had to offer.

She contrasted her simple, sober style with the riot of color and gold, and the purity of her lines with the baroque arabesques. The Venetian night simply confirmed what she already knew: for the moon and stars to be beautiful, they had to be absorbed and transformed by the water and the sky. For a woman to be seductive, she had to be both mysterious and light hearted. She thus refined her remarkable equation of black and bright, of profusion and restraint. From this journey to the almost-Orient, she retained the refinement of Byzantine art, the sense of grandeur and the certainty that you can renounce anything, except yourself.

For Jacques Polge, the spirit of this fragrance is concentrated in its woody base and musky notes—the way spices define Coco and fresh jasmine defines Coco Mademoiselle. Like the black velvet of a famous Venetian craftsman who dyed his cloth in successive layers to bring radiance out of the darkness, the base of Coco Noir is
generously layered with sandalwood, vetiver, frankincense, patchouli, vanilla, tonka bean and a musky note. It is a profusion, which, by its very excesses, brightens and arranges itself into a perfect, enveloping and precious form.

This tension between shadow and light becomes truly meaningful in the overall composition. The spicy freshness of pink peppercorns and grapefruit tinges the top note with Tiepolo* pink and gives it a fresh, light and lively momentum. Then comes the long sensual breath of a flesh-white heart of jasmine, rose and narcissus, as disconcerting as it is elegant. Lastly, the ample, symphonic movement of the base is revealed, where everything ties together, springs forth and radiates. The notes bring us back to the legacy and remind us what a fragrance owes women and what a woman owes herself. Cedar imposes its lofty dryness on more expansive balms, and rose geranium leaf, cultivated in Grasse, adds a minty touch to the opulent seduction of beautiful flowers.

COCO NOIR COMPOSITION:

Grapefruit note
Calabrian Bergamot

Essence and Absolute of Rose
Absolute of Jasmine
Narcissus Note
Rose Geranium Leaf

Brazilian and Venezuelan Tonka Bean
Indonesian Patchouli
New Caledonian Sandalwood
Bourbon Vanilla
White Musk Frankincense

* Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770). A prolific artist for the European courts, this Italian rococo painter and engraver remains best known for the large fresco cycles he created in Venice and his region. His name was given to a particularly bright shade of pink.

Source: Chanel Press Release