Chanel No. 19

Almost every green fragrance made since owes something to this one. Chanel released N19 in 1970 and states plainly on its own site that it was the last fragrance launched and worn by Gabrielle Chanel; the number honours her birthday, 19 August. She died the following January, which gives the whole thing a valedictory quality it did not ask for. Chanel calls it a daring, distinctive, uncompromising composition, in the image of Mademoiselle. The house does not name a perfumer; it is commonly attributed to Henri Robert.

The opening is famously unfriendly, and that is the pleasure of it. Galbanum arrives first, bitter and stemmy, more like snapping a green branch than smelling a flower, with hyacinth adding a cold, wet-leaf sharpness and bergamot and neroli only just softening the blow. It is a deliberate refusal to charm. Then iris takes over, and the fragrance changes character entirely: powdery, cool, slightly mineral, orris root giving it a dry rooty depth, with rose, narcissus, jasmine and lily-of-the-valley arranged around it rather than in front of it. The base is where the old-school perfumery lives, oakmoss and vetiver with leather, cedar and sandalwood, adding a chypre firmness under all that powder.

This is not a summer scent and not a crowd-pleaser. It comes into its own in a Cape winter, worn with a coat, where the cold keeps the galbanum crisp and the iris reads elegant rather than austere. It is also a fragrance that suits confidence more than occasion.

Performance depends on concentration. The eau de parfum is the fuller version, generally six to eight hours with moderate sillage that sits close after the first hour. The eau de toilette is greener and sharper at the top but noticeably shorter. Be aware that the oakmoss that anchored the original base has been restricted in the decades since, and Chanel has reformulated in step with that. A current bottle keeps the galbanum-iris contrast that makes N19 what it is, but the mossy floor beneath is lighter and cleaner than in a vintage bottle. That is worth knowing before you go hunting for something no shop can legally sell you.