Chanel No. 22

The number is a date, not a lab reference. Chanel states on its own site that Ernest Beaux composed N°22 in 1922, the year after he created N°5, and that the name refers to that year. The house's description is characteristically terse: a scent that becomes one with skin, a variation on femininity with a delicately crafted accord that leaves an enveloping trail.

Where N°5 balances aldehydes against a rose and jasmine core, N°22 pushes the aldehydes considerably further and puts white flowers behind them. Chanel names tuberose, orange blossom and rose, and describes the aldehydes as producing a luminous, crystalline radiance. In practice the opening is startling, a cold and almost effervescent blast that some people read as candle wax and others as freshly ironed linen. It takes ten minutes to settle. What follows is a creamy white-floral heart, lily and ylang-ylang and tuberose, held slightly at a distance by that aldehydic veil. The base is quiet: iris, vetiver and a vanilla that never becomes gourmand. There is an incense-like dryness in the final hours that has led many wearers to call it a church scent, and that is not far off.

For much of the twentieth century N°22 was a boutique rarity rather than a counter fragrance, and Chanel only returned it to wider release inside Les Exclusifs de Chanel, where it now sits in the floral group alongside Gardénia, Comète, Beige, 1932, Misia and La Pausa.

This is the most formal fragrance in this selection and it does not pretend otherwise. It suits a concert, an anniversary, a funeral, any evening where you want to be properly dressed. It is also cold-weather wear: the aldehydes bloom beautifully in a Cape winter and can turn shrill in high heat.

N°22 followed the rest of the collection up to eau de parfum strength during 2016, and the bottle on shelves now is a good deal richer than the ones before it. Longevity runs eight hours and up. It is not a discreet fragrance, and no amount of restraint in application will make it one, which is entirely the point.