Le Lion de CHANEL

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Born a Leo on 19 August 1883, the lion held considerable significance for Gabrielle Chanel. Superstitious as she was, for Gabrielle the zodiac lion came to symbolise courage, noble grace and strength. She would say, “I was born under the sign of Leo. I am a Leo and, like a lion, I use my claws to prevent people from doing me harm, but, believe me, I suffer more from scratching than from being scratched.” Surrounding herself with models cast in bronze, silver and alabaster in her apartment at 31 Rue Cambon, the lion became something of a talisman for Gabrielle. The story of the CHANEL lion runs much deeper though than just Gabrielle’s affinity with her zodiac sign.

In the throes of depression following the death of Boy Capel, convinced by newly married friend Misia Sert to accompany her to La Serenissima on her honeymoon with husband José-Maria Sert, it was in 1920 that Gabrielle discovered Venice. Discovering a sense of refuge in Venice, Gabrielle sought solace in the silence of the city’s neo-Byzantine churches, elegantly decaying palazzi and monolithic piazzas, slowly emerging from her grief as she did. In her meanderings of the floating city, Gabrielle found herself enchanted by the ubiquitous winged lion motif—the symbol of Venice and its guardian, Saint Mark—that adorns door knockers, street corners, and marbled facades across the city, but especially that of the great golden example that guards over St Mark’s Basilica from its starry-sky tesserae pediment high above Piazza San Marco. Marrying her newfound love of Venice with her lifelong affinity with stars and Leo constellation, Gabrielle took this winged lion as a sign of destiny, she embraced and drew peace and strength from the emblem to rebuild her life in Boy‘s absence. The lion now occupied pride of place in the life of Gabrielle and the world of CHANEL.

Born under the sign of the lion, having lived surrounded by its motif, and even electing to be buried under a tombstone guarded by five lions of her own design, the lion’s recurring presence in Gabrielle’s life, mirrored by its repeated use in her creations over the decades (emblazoned on buttons, embroidered on jackets, set in diamonds for the High Jewellery collection…), cemented it as something of an icon for CHANEL in the same manner of the camellia, quilted leather and tweed jacket. Now, CHANEL returns once again to Gabrielle’s beloved lion as a source of inspiration, this time by immortalizing it in olfactory form as Le Lion de CHANEL, the latest addition to the Les Exclusifs de CHANEL collection of perfumes.

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A tribute to the significance of the lion for CHANEL, perfumer Oliver Polge has promised of Le Lion a perfume that captures the courage, grace and strength not of the animal, but the virtues it came to represent for Gabrielle. “I was much more interested in the emblematic CHANEL lion than the animal,” says Polge, who has rendered this CHANEL lion as an oriental, the archetype olfactory family of power perfumes. Not a roaring beast though, Le Lion is a lion tamed in typical CHANEL fashion to reveal an elegant intensity and sophisticated presence, all with nod to the maison’s perfume heritage.

CHANEL’s official notes list includes:

bergamot, lemon, labdanum, amber, vanilla, patchouli, sandalwood, musk

As is typical of the Exclusifs, CHANEL’s official notes list is a deceptively abbreviated one. Personal experience would suggest Le Lion presents:

aldehydes, bergamot, lemon, black pepper, ylang-ylang, jasmine, orris, birch tar, labdanum, amber, benzoin, tolu balsam, opoponax, frankincense, vanilla, patchouli, vetiver, sandalwood, musk

True to Polge’s word, Le Lion de CHANEL is an oriental fragrance – though not an oriental like CHANEL has done before. Whereas Coco and Coromandel, CHANEL’s other notable orientals, fall into the spicy and woody oriental categories respectively, Le Lion is very much an amber oriental. In this, Le Lion is a first for CHANEL. Forgoing the more typical piquant spices and rich woods, Le Lion’s composition is characterised instead by radiant resins and animalic accords atop which Polge has assembled a symphonic oriental that feels at once new for CHANEL, but also very much in keeping with its perfume lineage.

Exploding with black pepper and dazzling citrus – tart bergamot and bright, pithy lemon peel – Le Lion is fiery from the atomiser, stoked furthermore by an omnipresent amber accord of bone-dry cistus labdanum, balsamic opoponox and vetiver. Parched and coppery, there is no escaping this amber accord, not even so early in the opening, and it quickly proves a springboard from which the compositions other mainstays emerge. First, full-bodied aldehydes in the style of N°22 reference CHANEL’s olfactory signature – a crisp aldehydic flurry over restrained floral bouquet of jasmine, ylang-ylang and orris – before the deep smokiness of birch tar burnishes the amber base with leathery edge as it pushes towards the heart. A definite nod to the great CHANEL classics of perfumer Ernest Beaux, here the aldehydes and birch offer Le Lion a sense of familiarity, without which it might seem alien in the grand scheme of the Les Exclusifs collection.

Into the heart, the richness of tolu balsam and benzoin with frankincense lend resinous touch to savoury vanilla bean, mingling all the while with that ever-present amber accord. Smoky with birch still, Le Lion begins to soften at this point as its fieriness yields to more sensual amber qualities with honeyed and cinnamon nuances by way of the balsam. It is in this rebalancing of the scales too that Le Lion’s animalic edge shifts from leather to musk; a white musk, obviously, but one that does well to steer clear of fluffy sterile powderiness to feel unexpectedly warm, sensual even. Later, it is this warm sensuality that sees out Le Lion’s polished drydown of glimmering amber-burnished labdanum, sandalwood, peppered patchouli, and balsam rich vanilla.

To describe Le Lion as an Exclusifs “Greatest Hits” does both the fragrance and Polge’s artistry an unfair disservice, but that is what Le Lion is, sort of. We have the champagne-crisp aldehydic glint of N°22, the dark sensuality of Cuir de Russie, a soupçon of 31 Rue Cambon’s herb-bitter patchouli, and even some of the baroque pageantry of Coromandel’s resins. As I said though, such a comparison is unfair, not least because there is so much more to Le Lion than just the best bits of other Exclusifs. For one, the treatment of amber is masterful – bone-dry, coppery and sensual – it is warm and inviting, yet simultaneously austere and sophisticated in a manner that feels very appropriate of CHANEL. Also, Le Lion is CHANEL’s first true amber oriental, one that has taken the maison very nearly a century to deliver, and one marked by an olfactory signature as distinct to CHANEL as that of the lion for Gabrielle Chanel. For all its newness, Le Lion feels every bit a Les Exclusifs release, every bit a CHANEL fragrance.

A luxuriously refined oriental, I have no doubt Le Lion de CHANEL will prove a popular addition to the Les Exclusifs de CHANEL collection when it is released worldwide in January 2021.

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Year of Release: 2021 after a very limited Middle East release in 2020

Perfumer: Olivier Polge

Alternatives: CHANEL Cuir de Russie, Hermès L’Ambre des Merveilles, Profumum Roma Ambra Aurea

Available (2021): CHANEL boutiques and www.chanel.com from $285, 75ml.