Switching Chanels

Gabrielle Chanel was not known for creating trends. Rather, her legend is built on introducing a style for the 20th-century woman. Coco Chanel, as she was known in the most aristocratic circles then and all over the world today, liberated women from the constricting fashions that consisted of corsets, whalebones and long tresses. She introduced the carefree and luxurious glamour of fluid jersey dresses, bobbed hair and tanned skin.

Even though she was an innocent released from the sheltering embrace of an orphanage, Coco found herself mixing with the smart set. Her days in the orphanage influenced her austere aesthetic of black dresses and simple outfits. Her later acquaintance with the beau monde balanced it out with swish and refined adornments such as pearls and gold chains.

Chanel remains an institution of modern fashion. A house that is now governed by a more provocative leader, Karl Lagerfeld, it remains unique and untouched by fleeting trends.

What thought and effort must go into creating its coveted accessories and singular outfits, which skillfully mix ease and opulence. Its alliance between classical, severe, and minimalist on the one hand, and baroque, warm and ultra-feminine on the other, is translated in their eternal fragrances. Chanel No. 5 is dubbed the fragrance of the world. No other perfume has the universal status of Chanel No. 5, the perfumery’s version of the little black dress.

Chanel perfumes have been formulated under the strictest of circumstances. From 1921 to 1970, Chanel worked closely with Ernest Beaux and then later with Henri Robert.

Aside from No. 5, the house created another sought-after scent, one that is known as the other number – Chanel No. 19, a reminder of Mademoiselle’s birthday, which fell on August 19.

Chanel No. 19 perfumer Jacques Polge never knew Coco, but he is so deeply inspired by the Chanel spirit that his present work is a perfect continuation of the perfumes that preceded them.

"Perfume is an internal dimension of femininity," Jacques says of fragrance. Indeed, in his No. 19 eau de parfum, his scent craftsmanship stands out.

In Jacques Polge’s 1988 version of the perfume, the opening note was hyacinth, while its floral heart was ylang-ylang and lily of the valley.

Today’s No. 19, a floral-woody-chypre, opens with a green and white harmony of neroli and Iranian galbanum, which buffer the stark effects of Florentine iris, narcissus and May rose. Its main ingredient, Florentine iris, is rather saucy. The length of time it needs to be extracted (it takes six years and countless manipulations to obtain the "iris butter" the ingredient that imparts that distinct scent) and its yield makes it the most expensive and one of the rarest raw materials in the world.

It’s for the confident and self-possessed woman. As the Mademoiselle once said, "To be irreplaceable, one must be different." That’s the stuff legends are made of.

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Available at all Rustan’s Department Stores in Makati, Shangri-La Plaza Mall, Gateway, Robinsons Place, Alabang, and Cebu.