Allure Homme Sport Superleggera
Chanel (2024)

Allure Homme Sport Superleggera by Chanel (2024) was a bit of a surprise announcement, to the point people believed it a hoax; the almighty Chanel would never lower themselves to work on a cross-promotion with an unrelated brand. However, times are tight; the richer get richer still, and vast swaths of people form Mad Max-style caravans of improvised shelters because they can't afford homes even on income three times the median, with empty apartments at $3k a pop looking more and more like Monopoly houses sat on properties to increase return on investment when sold from one venture capitalist kraken to another. And amidst it all, brands like Chanel cannot possibly further optimize profits versus costs from the shrinking market they target, so they resort to petty tricks to sell bottles, including limited editions with cross-branding. Despite all this cynicism, the scent works and is quite nice, albeit probably not "the new Chanel masculine" terminally-online fragrance enthusiasts have been clamoring for since the Pandemic. There is no revolution in a bottle here folks, and there honestly never has been for this line, any entries of it.

What we have here is Olivier Polge, inheritor of his father's 40 year dynastic reputation at Parfums Chanel, stretching his legs with a mainstream men's release for the first time since he took over in 2014. It only took him a decade to reach the conclusion that he couldn't work on high-margin Les Exclusifs releases or parfum flankers forever, so he gave us this "Bleu de Allure" reworking of the original Chanel Allure Homme (1999) DNA, tossing in hints of Allure Homme Sport by Chanel (2004); but shedding any aquatic nuances that scent had as ostensible competition for market giant Acqua Di Giò pour Homme by Giorgio Armani (1996), in favor of the grapefruit and zingy woody-amber profile popularized by best-seller Bleu de Chanel (2010). This hybridization seems low-hanging fruit, and it probably is; but again, if you told me that there was a fresh, clean, long-lasting version of Allure Homme with the best parts of the sport line, minus tonka sweetness or obvious citrus, I'd be all over it. Comparisons to the base of Dior Sauvage (2015) will likely also occur thanks to an abundance of ambroxan, norlimbanol, and sharp patchouli isolates, but it isn't a problem here. Performance is also unquestioned here, depsite what the nose-dead oversprayers may tell you across the internet.

So who is this for? Well, by the marketing collaboration with the automotive equivalent of a Supreme logo, and the "strictly limited" nature that is soon to make it the next $800 trophy purchase on eBay, my guess is the same as yours, likely. The usual clout-obsessed types that dress like extras in a mafia movie or compulsively post gym selfies on their fragrance account are probably the main target, and they're just one YouTube breakthrough away from being the next overstimulated fragrance "guru" who thinks they've found God after one spray too many of their sponsored scent of the day. All the good little boys that want to be like their "glorious leader" influencer of choice will probably also drop the $172 for this (most expensive Allure Homme flanker to date by the way), because they were convinced it was made limited for being "too good". Everyone else can pick it up for the collector's itch, or pass until Olivier Polge uses the sales results to determine whether some or all of it will transfer over to a new permanent Allure Homme flanker, or become the Chanel Bois Noir (1987) to a new age Chanel Égoïste (1990); ergo, being re-released mostly unchanged under a different name to start a new line. Either way, Chanel is up to their old trick of probing the market with limited releases, and this one happens to be good. Thumbs up

Great release from my perspective, I see it as a modernised, fresher return to the original’s masculinity and a true sport flanker. A rebellion against tonka bombs, tooth achingly sweet cinnamon bombs and now the orange blossom vanillas which are the latest to declare war on masculine perfumery. A designer take on Tygar perhaps. Here grapefruit nicely enhances the mandarin opening of the sport flanker but instead of turning to tonka this turns back to the original and introduces a whisper of Sauvage’s base for a masculine impression while shedding the sometimes stuffy woods of the original. Fresh and incredibly mass appealing. The limitation for Superleggera is that while good enough to cross into the office or into the night, Chanel Bleu will always outshine it in those situations. But conversely this is a superior casual sunday fragrance perfectly paired with a linen shirt.

The Superleggera scent itself is not very different to the Allure Homme line. There are elements of the original Allure Homme EdT in this and plenty of the cashmeran-origin "fresh" accord of the Sport EdT flanker as well. At first spray it comes across as a slightly sweeter smelling combination of the two, perhaps leaning ever so slightly towards the Sport EdT. As it wears on, there doesn't appear to be that much of a difference: it doesn't dry down like the Sport however; instead it finishes at a half way point between Allure Homme and Allure Homme Sport EdT.

I see no justification to comparisons with the Eau Extreme flanker, which contains boat loads of soapy-musky tonka ad nauseum. Superleggera is a much cleaner take on the accord.

That said, it's hard to see how such an unimaginative flanker (albeit one that's a limited edition) can be justified both on the scent itself and at its current price point (£130 for 100ml, August 2024). To those who perhaps haven't discovered the Allure Homme line it might be worth it, but for the majority expecting a "new Chanel men's fragrance", it will be a disappointing release.