31 Rue Cambon

Chanel opened Les Exclusifs in 2007, a collection built to say things the main line could not, and 31 Rue Cambon is the one most often called its high point. The name is an address: in 1918 Gabrielle Chanel established her couture house at 31 rue Cambon in Paris, gathering the ateliers, the creative studio and her own private apartment under a single roof. The collection took shape while Jacques Polge held the in-house perfumer's chair, a post he occupied from 1978 until 2015; Christopher Sheldrake is widely reported to have worked on it beside him, though the house confirms no such credit. What they made is a chypre that refuses the usual chypre foundation. There is no great slab of oakmoss holding it up, and yet the structure stands.

It opens sharp and dry, bergamot cut with black pepper and a stalky green note that reads almost like crushed leaves. Then iris arrives, and it is the whole point of the thing, cool and mineral and faintly like the inside of a leather glove box, powdered without being sweet. Ylang-ylang and rose sit behind it rather than beside it, adding body without turning the composition floral. The base is patchouli and labdanum, which gives the dry-down a resinous warmth and a suggestion of tobacco and beeswax. Chanel's own text calls it an accord of iris, black pepper and vetiver and files it as woody, floral and spicy, which tells you the house does not consider this a feminine perfume so much as an elegant one.

This is not a beach scent or a party scent. It is what you wear to a gallery opening, a long lunch, a meeting where you would rather be underestimated than noticed. It suits a still Highveld evening in April, when the heat has gone out of the day and the air is dry. Men wear it as readily as women.

On performance, be clear about which version you are buying. The 2007 release was an eau de toilette; Chanel now sells the entire Les Exclusifs range at eau de parfum strength, and the current bottle is the denser, longer-lasting one. Expect seven to nine hours with a trail that draws in close after the first hour. This is a fragrance that sits on the skin rather than announcing itself across a room, and that restraint is deliberate.