Cuir De Russie, Mémoire Du Tan

When she discovered a sample of Russian leather that the Metta Catharina, a ship that sank in 1786, had kept underwater for 200 years, leather restorer Élise Blouet was won over by its strength and beauty. Legend has it that the creation of Russian leather was a matter of chance: a Cossack riding in the steppes rubbed his boots against the bark of birch trees and thus made them waterproof. Russian leather was born.

In the 1920s, Paris was Russian style. Hermès created a range of Russian-style leather goods that gave rhythm to the elegant life of a refined society. In 1924, Coco Chanel invented costumes for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and the Cuir de Russie perfume, feminizing a fragrance that appealed to many perfumers. The Hermès Museum and Conservatory have revealed their treasures for this book. With Élise Blouet, Andrew Parr, an English tanner, and the expertise of Marc Stoltz, Hermès, true to its visionary quality, brings this exceptional leather back to life and celebrates, in the secrecy of its workshops, the love of the beautiful material and the know-how of the hand.