Chanel’s newest fragrance is more than just another perfume. It is a reflection of what the iconic designer stood for – that you don’t need to take on manly traits to be powerful, because femininity is empowering. Here are five things you need to know about the launch, before you rush out to get yourself a piece.
1. The name of the perfume takes on the real name of the brand’s founder.
Ask anyone what Chanel’s first name is and there’s a good chance the reflexive answer would be “Coco”. Not many automatically recall the name given to her at birth: Gabrielle.
2. It is the first new fragrance from Chanel in 15 years.
The previous new perfume launch from the brand was Chance in 2002. That’s a really long time for a designer label, if you ask us. And part of what makes this fragrance so special.
READ MORE: How we spent one night with Gabrielle
Gabrielle Chanel EDP, 50ml ($180) and 100ml ($258).
3. It is the first completely new scent Olivier Polge, the brand’s in-house nose, has created for Chanel.
And by that, we mean the first original, perennial scent pillar that he has produced since replacing his father, Jacques Polge, as Chanel’s perfumer in September 2013.
4. Gabrielle is a representation of Chanel’s rebellious and determined nature.
The hardships that Chanel suffered in childhood didn’t deter her from becoming a bona fide couturiere just less than a decade after venturing into business. She cared little about the era’s norms, or what people thought of her. “Be who you are, not who the world wants you to be,” she would say. Her character served as a source of inspiration for the fragrance today.
5. You might think a perfume billed as an olfactory rebel would come across as more masculine, but Gabrielle turns up its feminine qualities instead.
Created to mimic an imaginary white flower that Polge associates with feminine grace, rebellion and a trailblazing spirit, the fragrance is a bouquet of orange blossom, ylang-ylang, jasmine and tuberose, with impressions of white musk, milky sandalwood, mandarin peel, grapefruit and blackcurrant. The result is a fragrance that doesn’t smell discernibly like any one of its component flowers, but radiates warm, positive energy.
READ MORE: 17 new perfumes plus fragrance hacks you need to know now