CHANEL Bois des Îles

Exoticism was the style du jour in 1920s Paris. Maharajas filled the workbenches of Cartier, Boucheron and Van Cleef & Arpels with the finest Golconda diamonds, sapphires from Ceylon and rubies from Burma; Chinese coromandel screens were the must-have feature of any fashionable drawing room; a dress circle seat for the Ballets Russes was the hottest ticket in the city; Josephine Baker shimmied an idealised stereotype of Africa across the stages of Montmartre’s jazz halls; and panthers, cheetahs, even armadillos, on diamond collars at the end of Goyard or Moynat leashes promenaded the Place Vendôme. And it was in this era of exotic excess that Bois des Îles was born.

Inspired by Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades opera, itself enjoying a resurgence of popularity in 1920s Paris owing to the city’s population of aristocratic Russian émigrés, Ernest Beaux created Bois des Îles for CHANEL in 1926 to capture the sumptuous exoticism of its age. Composed within a structure of impressive and varied olfactive scores suggestive of Tchaikovsky himself, Bois des Îles is a perfume of rich contrasts, redolent plushness and reticent extravagance. A CHANEL evocation of exoticism.

CHANEL’s official notes list includes:

mandarin, bergamot, ylang-ylang, sandalwood, tonka bean, resins, woody notes, vanilla

As is typical of the Exclusifs, CHANEL’s official notes list is only an abbreviated one. Experience would suggest Bois des Îles presents:

aldehydes, mandarin, neroli, bergamot, peach, lily-of-the-valley, orange blossom, jasmine, rose, ylang-ylang, iris, coriander, cumin, vetiver, sandalwood, tonka bean, vanilla, musk

Bois des Îles is first and foremost a sandalwood fragrance. The mythical Indian timber – smelling at once floral, delicately spiced, decadently creamy and decidedly carnal – is the foundation atop which Beaux assembled all other elements of the composition. While Mysore sandalwood essential oil would undoubtedly have been Beaux’s essence of choice in 1926, its modern rarity posed a problem for in-house CHANEL perfumer, Jacques Polge, when he reissued Bois des Îles for the Les Exclusifs collection in 2007. A perfumer of immense talent though, Polge managed to craft from various modern sandalwood essences an accord that very closely resembles the Mysore variety without employing the actual ingredient – a masterstroke of modern perfumery, and key to the beauty of Bois des Îles as we know it today.

Like the glinting of diamonds from those jewel-collared cheetahs on their parade of the Place Vendôme, Bois des Îles opens in a spray of scintillating aldehydes. In the style of N°5, though less fatty, lither and more astringent, the aldehydes here play a major role throughout the composition’s evolution, conveying a polished veneer that tames the sandalwood to cut a chicer silhouette than outright sandalwood otherwise could. Behind the aldehydes, but atop the promised precious wood, mandarin and neroli flash amongst CHANEL’s signature floral accord of jasmine, rose and ylang-ylang, here rendered slightly greener than usual by the inclusion lily-of-the-valley. When the aldehydic floral opening does finally relinquish its hold on the composition, Bois des Îles turns warmer, more sensuous, as coriander seed and fleshy cumin fan the flames of Polge’s smouldering sandalwood accord as it undulates in burnished shades of gold and tan. Later, deep into the drydown when Bois des Îles has mellowed to become all but a second skin, the still polar aldehydes offer a final contrast against the decadent vanilla and iris buttered sandalwood.

Typical of Beaux’s classic CHANEL perfumes, the structure of N°5 hides in the shadows of Bois des Îles to render it unmistakably CHANEL in style regardless of its faraway inspiration and materials. A stunning and exquisitely balanced composition of masterfully rendered sandalwood, aldehydes, florals and spices; an orchestration of light and dark, dry spice and powder, depth and complexity, Bois des Îles comes close to perfume perfection.

Ostensibly the first ever “woody” fragrance for women when released in 1926, Bois des Îles is as elegant on a modern man as it is a soigné woman. Spectacular.

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Year of Release: 1926

Perfumer: Ernest Beaux

Alternatives: Tom Ford Santal Blush, Guerlain Samsara, CHANEL Égoïste

Available: CHANEL boutiques and www.chanel.com from $285, 75ml.