Cuir de Russie is a fragrance from Parisian couturier

Haute couture

Haute couture refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing. Haute couture is made to order for a specific customer, and it is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable seamstresses,...

 Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel

Coco Chanel

Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel was a pioneering French fashion designer whose modernist thought, menswear-inspired fashions, and pursuit of expensive simplicity made her an important figure in 20th-century fashion. She was the founder of one of the most famous fashion brands, Chanel...

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History

Coco Chanel had worked with Ernest Beaux

Ernest Beaux

Ernest Beaux , was a Russian and French perfumer best known for creating Chanel No. 5, perhaps the world's most famous perfume.- Family background :...

 on her original perfume, Chanel No. 5

Chanel No. 5

Chanel No. 5 is the first perfume launched by Parisian couturier Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel. The French government reports that a bottle of Chanel No. 5 is sold every thirty seconds and generates sales of $100 million a year. It was developed by Russian-French chemist and perfumer Ernest Beaux...

, which debuted in 1921. In 1927, they released Cuir de Russie, which means "Russian leather" in French. In the 1920s, one of Chanel's lovers was Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia

Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia

Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia was a Russian imperial dynast. He is known for being involved in the murder of the mystic peasant faith healer Grigori Rasputin, who he felt held undue sway over Tsar Nicholas II.-Early life:Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich was born at Ilinskoe near Moscow, the...

, the cousin of Tsar Nicholas II

Nicholas II of Russia

Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...

, and, according to Chanel's biographer Justine Picardie, Cuir de Russie was the "bottled ... essence of her romance with the Grand Duke."