Leather in perfumery: everything you need to know

In Grasse, before the flowers, there were hides. From the twelfth century, tanners worked there along a small canal, amid a smell that was hard to bear. During the Renaissance, a fashion from Italy took hold: gloves, bags and belts were perfumed. In 1614, the king recognised the guild of “glover-perfumers”. The seventeenth century saw both the peak of tanning in Grasse and the beginnings of its perfumery.

Two perfumed leathers marked this history. Peau d'Espagne, in the sixteenth century, was a leather steeped in oils of rose, neroli, sandalwood, lavender, clove and cinnamon, with civet and musk; it was used to scent paper and linen. Russia leather, bark-tanned then softened with birch oil, owed its smoky smell to this treatment; a major Russian export in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it inspired entire fragrances, such as Chanel's Cuir de Russie in 1927.

A constructed scent. No essence can be extracted from leather: its note is an accord, which the perfumer composes to evoke a tanned hide, a supple glove or a well-worn saddle. It relies on smoky materials, such as rectified birch tar; on resins and balsams, such as labdanum or styrax; on animal notes, such as castoreum, now recreated; and on synthetic molecules.

Many leathers. Depending on the dosage, leather can be dark and smoky, spicy, green, powdery or soft through and through. Suede, for example, conveys a reversed leather, velvety and powdery. Saffron, iris, vanilla or rose often accompany it and change its whole character.

Birch gives leather its smoky, almost burnt side, that of Russia leather. These two fragrances place it at the heart of their composition.

Leather has long teamed up with animal notes and resins. These two fragrances continue that tradition, one as a pure leather, the other within a grand chypre.

Saffron is one of leather's favourite companions: it gives it an almost metallic gleam. These two fragrances pair it with fruit or with rose.

Paired with iris, leather turns powdery; paired with green notes, it brightens. These two fragrances show a more luminous leather, to wear by day.

At the opposite end from smoky leathers, some fragrances seek the softness of smooth leather or velvety suede. They are the easiest to wear for a first encounter with the note.

Start with softness. If leather intimidates you, try Crème de Cuir or Cuir Béluga first, then move on to green leathers, and keep the smoky leathers for later. Our guide How to test a niche fragrance explains how to go about it.

Listen to the seasons. Most leathers are worn in autumn and winter; Italian Leather and Crème de Cuir also find their place in spring. Our guide The most beautiful woody fragrances for winter continues the exploration of warm fragrances.

Follow leather's companions. Leather loves oud, rose and iris. Our guides Oud in perfumery, Rose in perfumery and Iris in perfumery present these materials in all their forms.

Think of others. A smoky leather can be intense in an enclosed space: one spray fewer is often enough. For work, our guide Discreet niche fragrances for the office suggests other choices.