PARIS — This crush looks likely to be here to stay.
For those crushing on Chanel, after Coco Crush Fine Jewelry, there’s the new fragrance Coco Mademoiselle Crush Absolu.
“Coco Mademoiselle truly holds a very special place in la maison Chanel and in the heart of our clients, because this fragrance is not just a scent,” explained Simona Cattaneo, president of Chanel Fragrance and Beauty. “It embodies something much bigger. It’s really the spirit of the young Gabrielle Chanel arriving in Paris. She was instinctive. She was bold, with a sensuality all her own. So it was kind of — wow.”
The designer took Paris by storm, then became the legendary “Mademoiselle.”
The original Coco Mademoiselle, a floral ambery scent, was launched 25 years ago. “To this day, it’s still the number-one eau de parfum in the market,” Cattaneo said. Year-to-date, the 3.4-ounce version is the top stock keeping unit among women’s fragrances in the U.S., for instance.
What makes it still relevant today? “It’s the symbol of freedom, a symbol of reinvention,” Cattaneo said. “It’s consistent with who we are. Then, when it comes to the clients, the feeling is that it empowers women to express all their multifaceted parts.”
That could be independence, mischievousness, elegance or free-spiritedness.
“That is what clients feel when they wear the fragrance,” Cattaneo said. “It’s part of the success.”
Now, Coco Mademoiselle Crush Absolu marks a new step in the franchise.
“The new scent reflects this modernity, relevance and singularity,” according to Cattaneo. “It’s a completely new chapter in the story, the legend of Coco Mademoiselle. It is really a ‘crush absolu’ — irresistible, like a crush, and unforgettable, because the trail of the scent is pretty amazing.”
She highlighted that Crush Absolu channels Chanel perfumer creator Olivier Polge’s strong viewpoint. He was given no brief for the scent.
Polge began thinking about wide olfactive impressions of the original Coco Mademoiselle.
“What I like about Coco Mademoiselle [fragrances] is that they express the side of our signature that is in the more ambery notes and central notes by opposition somehow to the floral notes.… When I joined Chanel, I remember I had seen an interview of my father, who was speaking about Coco,” Polge said, referring to Jacques Polge, whom he succeeded as the house’s perfumer creator.
Jacques Polge dreamed up the first Coco Mademoiselle in 2001. “He was saying that in Chanel perfumes there are two sides — the floral and the Baroque,” Olivier Polge said.
He had in mind an amber vanilla fragrance.
“The identity of this [new] perfume is really the connection between this ambery woody accord and the fruity accord that is very strong, that catches you right away when you smell the perfume,” Polge said. “It’s grapefruit and lychee accord. There is a rosy sweetness in lychee that combines very well with the ambery woody note.”
Also in the fragrance are rose, jasmine, patchouli and vetiver notes.
Coco Mademoiselle Crush Absolu
François Goizé/WWD
Echoing the juxtaposition of olfactive notes, the name Coco Mademoiselle Crush Absolu has a lightness at the start and intensity with “absolu,” French for “absolute.”
“Crush” is a name used for a line of Chanel jewelry since 2015.
“I liked the sound of it,” Polge said, of the word. “It sounded familiar. It resonates.”
He highlighted how Coco Mademoiselle Crush Absolu’s powdery quality contrasts with the woody notes olfactorily.
“Something that is only powdery is a little too simple, and I was looking for that correct impression and contrast,” Polge said. He sought the right dosage of fruity notes, as well.
“Our creators have real authentic freedom to bring some new ideas to the market when they feel that it’s the right time,” Cattaneo said, adding that is in step with Gabrielle Chanel’s iconic quote about “the freedom of becoming” — “Beauty is about the freedom of becoming who you want to be” — that has become part of the house’s North Star.
“No.5 is about the empowerment of women, Chance is much more a moment of joy … Coco Mademoiselle is the independence, the free spirit. It’s something different,” Cattaneo said. “There is this facet of expressing who you are or who you want to be. Sometimes you want to be different people in different moments, in different occasions, through the fragrance. This is the idea.”
The color of the Coco Mademoiselle Crush Absolu fragrance is a deeper beige than that of the original Coco Mademoiselle. The two perfumes’ bottles take a similar shape, though the new scent’s label has a black background, and “Crush Absolu” is written in gold.
Coco Mademoiselle Crush Absolu will launch Aug. 19, which is Gabrielle Chanel’s birthday, in Chanel-owned and multibrand retailers, following a pre-sell period starting July 31 for a limited audience of existing clients on chanel.com and in Chanel boutiques.
A 1.7-ounce eau de parfum is to be priced at $162 and the 3.4-oz. edp at $195.
Cattaneo did not discuss sales projections, but industry sources estimate the new fragrance will generate 100 million euros in retail sales during its first 12 months on counter.
Cattaneo, who joined Chanel in September 2024, has a three-pronged strategic vision for fragrances.
“The first is the creative excellence that is really distinctive and important, the profound respect for the heritage of the house that is absolutely unique, and the uncompromising commitment to savoir-faire and quality at every stage of our value chain,” she said. “That is really my daily job — to be absolutely sure that there are no compromises when it comes to quality, when it comes to savoir-faire.
“Creativity is, of course, important, is at the heart of all what we do in the maison Chanel,” Cattaneo continued. “Four generations of perfumer creators is pretty unique, bringing to the market their creativity, their energy, their new ideas with complete freedom.”
She believes Chanel fragrances have a unique mindset and allure. Company laboratories are in Chanel Fragrance and Beauty’s headquarters, in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine. Olfactive ingredients come from long-standing suppliers in the south of France.
“There is a sense and the quest of excellence in each and every gesture of the value chain,” Cattaneo said.
On June 24, Chanel opened a 462,848-square-foot fragrance manufacturing site in Venette, in France’s Oise region. Cattaneo described it as being at the forefront of innovation and sustainability.
“All our decisions are informed by creative excellence, commitment to heritage and uncompromising quality, and excellence of savoir-faire from the field to the bottle,” she said, adding it has always been Chanel’s strategy. “That is the real strength of the house.”
