Chanel will launch 1957, a new addition to the Les Exclusifs collection. The fragrance is reportedly being introduced at the brand’s flagship store on 57th Street in New York City, which will re-open today after two years of renovations. The last fragrance added to the Les Exclusifs collection was Boy, in 2016…
Chanel will launch Les Eaux de Chanel next month. The three fragrances — Paris-Biarritz, Paris-Deauville and Paris-Venise — were developed by house perfumer Oliver Polge…
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…
Chanel will launch Boy Chanel, the latest addition to the Les Exclusifs collection. The unisex fragrance was developed by house perfumer Olivier Polge, and was inspired by Arthur “Boy” Capel…
Misia did not create anything, but, through the people she met throughout her life and her magnetic presence alongside artists of the time, she became a muse, a patron and an arbiter of taste for several decades. — Musée d’Orsay
My intention for this fragrance wasn’t so much to recapture Misia herself, but her role as a turning point in the life of Gabrielle Chanel. Misia introduced Gabrielle to a number of new things. With this fragrance, I wanted to convey the atmosphere of the Ballets Russes [of which Misia was a patron] and the smell of makeup from that time. — Olivier Polge1
Misia is the latest from the Les Exclusifs collection at Chanel, and the first release from perfumer Olivier Polge. You may remember that Polge has been named as the successor to his father, Jacques Polge, who has been the Chanel house perfumer since 1978. The fragrance was named for Misia Sert, a friend of Coco Chanel, but I am not going to belabor the backstory — Misia Sert was fascinating, but really “Ballets Russes” and “the smell of makeup from that time” tells you most of what you need to know about the fragrance…