There have long been luxurious leather fragrances from European houses such as Knize, Chanel, Piver, et al, many of which are marketed as unisex scents.  One type of leather has been especially well represented: Russian Leather or Cuir de Russie with its Birch Tar and Cossack Boots connotations and more than a nod to Tsarist elitism. 

There was a time, in the middle decades of the last century, when there was a plethora of Russian Leather scents on the market, clearly marketed to men as witnessed by their aftershave and toiletries offerings. 

Saxony, Imperial Del Oro, Royal Argenta, Prince Obolenski, L’Argene and Davlyn were among the many independent brands producing Russian Leather fragrances and toiletries.  Many of these companies produced their products in the United States in places as seemingly unlikely as Los Angeles, CA, and Rhode Island.  Take a look at any New Yorker magazine from the 40s and 50s and the pages are littered with ads for various Russian Leather fragrances.

Only one such brand still exists: Elsha, which still produces its 1776 Russian Leather fragrance as they have done for over ninety years.  The self-proclaimed “Aristocrat of Perfume and Cologne”, it is still manufactured in the US, looking—and more importantly, smelling—exactly how it has for almost a century.

The history of the brand reads like a romantic novel (or marketing materials from Creed…) whose origins are lost in the mists of time.  The brand was founded by Elias Lazaroff, who, as a Russian Jew, fled the Soviet Union before World War II. 

The Life and Legacy of Elias Lazaroff

Born in Kiev in 1896, Lazaroff trained in the dramatic arts at the prestigious Moscow Arts Theatre and attempted to start a career in entertainment in the US which included a small part in a Hollywood film and writing and producing musical plays which were performed in regional theaters. 

One musical, “The Voice of the Centuries,” was presented as part of a concert series in Portland, Oregon in 1937 which included a recital by Sergei Rachmaninoff.  Another, “Fantasy of Life,” played at Los Angeles’ Ebell Theater in 1946, and starred Lazaroff who portrayed a Russian actor who fails to make a success of a motion picture career! 

PinPromotion for “The Voice of the Centuries” by future founder of Elsha, Elias Lazaroff

With his only modest success in the theater, Lazaroff returned to the manufacture of fragrances; legend has it that Lazaroff and his family had been making his signature Russian Leather fragrance since the days of Tsarist Russia and brought the formula with him when he emigrated.  He claimed to be the one who “brought Russian Leather to America” although Chanel, who launched Cuir de Russie in 1924 might beg to differ. 

Lazaroff landed in Salt Lake City, of all places, where he started manufacturing his fragrance, now under the patriotic name of 1776 (the name Elsha may be a diminutive of his name Elias). From there he moved to Los Angeles and set up shop on St. Andrew’s Place in Hollywood where he produced 1776 as well as Liberty Bell and Golden Eagle, described in marketing materials as “LIBERTY BELL, a light, gay, summery fragrance and GOLDEN EAGLE, a warm, interesting fragrance for those moments to remember.” The patriotic, early American names were an homage to his new homeland. Lazaroff ultimately moved his operations to Eagle Rock, CA, an area to the east of Hollywood, near Pasadena. 

Lazaroff’s marketing strategy was to sell his colognes through high end haberdasheries and had his products placed from coast to coast—at F.R. Tripler & Co. in New York (stockists of Knize Ten as well), The Palmer House in Chicago, Carroll & Company in Beverly Hills and many markets in between.  Perhaps because of his time spent in Utah, he had particularly strong ties to certain states in the Midwest like Nebraska where his fragrances sold extremely well at haberdasheries such as Sampter’s in Fremont.

PinAdvertisement for defunct Utah-based department store, Devey’s, featuring Elsha Russian Leather (The American Fork Citizen, May 1962)PinAd for Biamonte’s Men’s Shop featuring Elsha as a gift idea

Changing Hands: The Kaprielian Era

In 1965 the company was purchased by the Kaprielian family, owners of Cosway Company, Inc., a major contract manufacturer of personal care products.   Cosway took over the production of Elsha products at their facilities in Los Angeles and the brand was managed by the sons of the family, Roy and Dennis Kaprielian. 

At that time, as a teen, Dennis met Lazaroff and remembers him as an imposing grandfatherly figure, “born to wealth, who gave up everything when forced to flee from Soviet Russia”.  Dennis and Roy continued production and took great care to ensure that the product smelled the same as ever, despite necessary reformulations due to IFRA restrictions of the ingredients.  Lazaroff stayed involved in the production until his death in 1976.  While this was the heyday of Elsha in some ways, it also saw the decline of bricks and mortar retailing, especially for stores focusing on traditional menswear.

Enter Jeff Scott, a Nebraskan who worked in corporate IT in Los Angeles in the 1980s.  His mother always shopped at Sampter’s and would give him a bottle of Elsha every Christmas. 

Jeff Scott and the Internet Revival

In 1989 Scott moved to Phoenix and to his dismay, could not find Elsha anywhere. Because of his technology background, Scott was increasingly interested in the internet and the burgeoning world of e-commerce.  Scott reached out to an employee of Sampter’s who put him in touch with the Cosway Company. 

Scott struck a deal to retail the product online and with an initial wholesale order of six bottles, set out to give Elsha a new, online presence, providing its diehard fans with a new way to buy their favorite toiletries on the internet. 

In 2017, Dennis’s brother Roy died and the burden of running the Elsha business—on top of all their other brands—became too much. In 2019 Dennis Kaprielian sold the brand to Scott, who moved operations to his home in Scottsdale, Az, where the Elsha brand is currently headquartered. 

Over the years 1776 has developed multiple generations of users within the same families, passing down the scent from father to son and Scott is no exception; his father is a devoted fan and Scott’s own son is actively involved in the business where he oversees the filling of the bottles.

PinElsha’s current range

What of the fragrances themselves?  1776 is a warm, ambery leather scent that has no rough edges or stomping jackboots about it.  Its notes include Cedarwood, Lavender, Guaiac Wood, Ylang Ylang, Sandalwood and Amyris. The Guaiac Wood gives it its Birch Tar note that is so typical of Russian Leather fragrances.   The Amyris Balsamifera supports the Sandalwood and lends a woody, sweet, and slightly smoky aura to the base notes.

It is resolutely masculine with a sepia-toned, film noir feel to it; think Dana Andrews in Laura or Glenn Ford in Gilda.  And while William Holden came to a bad end in Sunset Boulevard, he definitely could have smelled like this.  1776 is manly but beyond even that it is gentlemanly, harking from a time when masculinity was defined by a close shave, a stiff drink, a promise kept and a firm handshake.  This is what Mad Men’s Don Draper might have worn and would certainly have developed an ad campaign around (remember those New Yorkers!). 

The no nonsense packaging is perfect; it is retro because it literally has never been changed, not as with, say, Ralph Lauren’s Safari, which made an attempt to recreate a past that never existed.  1776 was always here, quietly on the haberdashery counter alongside the Bay Rums and other masculine fragrances from firms like Caswell-Massey, St. Johns and Royall Lyme of Bermuda. 

I, myself, am a great fan of Elsha and first encountered it at the late, great haberdashery, Carroll & Co., on the shelf next to Atkinson’s Royal Briar.  Such retailers have vanished at the same rate as most Russian Leather fragrances, so Elsha’s market strategy moving forward is going to be critical for the brand’s future.  The devoted, intergenerational fan base gives the firm a strong footing and it is introducing new products—such as 1776-scented beard oil—to appeal to new audiences.

Russian Leather for a New Audience

Elsha also recently launched a version of 1776 with pheromones—same scent, just boosted by synthetic compounds that mimic or amplify your body’s natural pheromones, which are chemical signals that can influence attraction. 

Elsha also now produces a cologne simply called Russian Leather, which shares many of the same notes as 1776 but is a drier, more pared down leather without the nutty pipe tobacco and amber accords.  This is closest to the traditional Russian Leathers with their Birch Tar and Isobutyl Quinoline.  It has an almost soapy note (saddle soap, naturally) which gives this a clean tack room vibe, or perhaps that of the barracks of the Imperial Guards regiment as they polished their tall boots in advance of a dress parade. Deep into the dry down there is a beeswax note and the whisper of animal skins.  Scott has also developed a fine glycerin soap which carries the 1776 fragrance as well as a woman’s scent, which also comes in a pheromone version.

What is next for Elsha? Given the resurgence of interest in leather scents, both in the niche world as well as designer sector, Elsha may be very well placed to carve out a place (dare I say “niche”?) for itself as the last survivor of an important fragrance movement.  Niche without being niche and certainly not at niche prices. 

And as for finding new audiences for Russian Leather scents? This does not necessarily strike me as an older man’s scent.  Dana Andrews was only 35 when he appeared in Laura and Glenn Ford only 31 in Gilda.  A latter day twenty-or thirty-year-old Dana Andrews type would be the best smelling man in the room wearing this today, and certainly not smelling like any of his peers in their Bleus, Sauvages and Aventuses.  And with the added pheromone boost?  All bets are off….