Arabie is a virtual stroll amidst the exotic Al Halili bazaar at noon, rows and rows of succulent dried fruits and colorful, piquant, pungent spices; a kaleidoscopic vision seen in vermilion and saffron red. Women and men could get entangled in its nectarous, densely woven web, especially when the weather is cool and the mood is festive.
Temperamentally sweet, luminous, golden, reminiscent of fruit & spice compotes and as mysterious as the East itself, Arabie is a sinfully rich fragrance for those who are not afraid to get their fingers inside the cookie jar!
Created in 2000.
Fragrance Family: Oriental Spicy
Top notes: candied mandarin, dried fig, dates.
Heart: cardamom, nutmeg, cumin, bay leaf, clove.
Base: Tonka bean, Siamese benzoin, myrrh.
It's not often that a perfume assumes a stolen identity to pass icognito under our noses, hiding its true nature under a misnomer. Chypre Rouge is not a chypre by any stretch of the imagination, even taking into account the new chypre contestants that assimilate the older façade. It takes the symbolic image of red oakmoss of Chypre Rouge to make one think of an interpretation of a fantasy in which darkness and light mirror the hues of the No-like makeup that Lutens has always opted for in one of his previous incarnations as makeup director for Dior and Shiseido. And much like those waxy materials that metamorphose plain features into studies in cubism, Chypre Rouge has a weird power in it that transports the notion of chypre into the realm of oriental meets occidental.
Chypre Rouge came into the public scene with one of the most impressive yet somehow incoherent press releases to date. It ran like this:
“I remember looking at the forest ground, covered with dead leaves, and finding it both macabre and beautiful. Something caught my attention: a strange patch of moss at the base of a tree, it looked as if it were bleeding, purple and red. Ceremonial dress, splendid and dying, lit by the rays of a nearby clearing. “Don’t deny, you will confess!” In this doorless dungeon we look for an exit. Thin light comes from a murdering hole. Eagle nest, precious stones, coat of arms, standards, what are we made of? Eternity, limpidity, freshness, beauty, velvet softness. A secret continent of which we would be the body, in golden darkness, moss of spices and vermeil. The kiss of a choirboy on the ring of an archbishop. Softness and depth, secret in scents where, laying our cheeks we can only dream.”
(press release courtesy of Scenteur d'Ailleurs)
Now, before you get any naughty ideas about the choirboy and the archibishop's ring, I have to add that imaginative imagery has always been at the core of the Lutens canon, so we are to take this as a flight of fancy, a reminiscence about his childhood in Hansel and Gretel land.
And just where is this mythical land? Osmoz says a propos de Chypre Rouge that it "was inspired by Serge Lutens’s memories of fall in his native Vendée region of western France". Native? Please allow me to disagree on that score. Lutens was born in Lille which is quite far from Vendée. In fact as revealed here, he spent his youth in Lille too! However I am perfectly willing to believe that he had some extended family or friends who stayed there and that his visits were coloured with the sweeping brush of vermeil and purple mentioned. It is not without importance to note that he was a neglected child whose mother donned black on her second wedding day, perhaps a symbol that rang poignant in his id. The confessional tone, mingled with the religious overtones of the papal purple, hint at a desire to express some secret ache that needs to surface through the catharsis of the artistic. And so Chypre Rouge becomes deeply personal, psychological endoscopisis rendering it difficult to interpret by someone outside the circle.
Upon encountering Chypre Rouge one is hit with the earthy smell of celery. So vivid is the impression that doubting our artistic tendencies we do a double take wondering what came upon them to devise such a -shocking to many- opening. Of course Lutens is no stranger to exagerration and carefully constructed ugliness; which puts the essential final straw on a perfect specimen, like the demonic camphorous Vapo-rub opening of Tubéreuse Criminelle, another daring Chris Sheldrake creation. However the latter is to be distributed directly from Les Salons du Palais Royal being part of the exclusive range, therefore a touch of the outré is not particularly unexpected. Chypre Rouge forms part of the export line and therefore it stroke me as odd that such a choice of top notes was opted for. The progression to fenugreek and immortelle (the note that accounts for the maple surupy hot sands of a deserted beach of Annick Goutal's Sables and the pronounced curriness in Dior Eau Noire) comes after some minutes to soothe sensibilities and transport into the territory of the spicy with subtle whiffs of flowers, dried, rolled into heaps of curried dust. Mace and coriander raise their beady heads out of this basket that recalls Arabic souks, like most of the Lutens creations, especially Arabie, influenced by his mysterious seraglioat Morocco that no one has ever visited. Named "Al Medina al Hamra", Red City because of its architecture, Marrakesh has served as a rich pool of inspiration for Lutens and his vision of perfume as a homage to a cross-reference of civilisations. The final phase of caramelised nuts rolled into musky, smooth moss is the least challengening, but by then potential audiences will have either walked away or braved the initial coup in anticipation of the soft nucleus. It is unfortunate that I tend to the former group.
Chypre Rouge launched in 2006 as an Eau de Parfum Haute Concetration, a term that denotes higher concentration of aromatic essences because of the nature of the latter that demand a higher saturation point to be perceptible and is not meant to imply that it is louder in odour volume.
Official notes: thyme, pine needles, pecans, fruit gums, honey, beeswax, jasmine, patchouli, amber, vanilla, moss and musks.
Instead of further commentary I direct you to Placebo with brilliant Brian Molko and their song "Meds":
(uploaded by dagonsio)
Please remind me to post "The Bitter End" (again by Placebo) if Serge Lutens trully retires from fragrance creation, per rumours.
Top pic from the film Carrie by Brian de Palma (1976)/Filmhai. Ad pic courtesy of autourdeserge.
For reasons of symmetry with my previous post, and antithesis as well (taking into account the above song talks about a never-ending internal winter that the singer cannot put up with anymore), I have decided to present you a list of male perfumes that could be used throughout winter; so as to "be a touch of wind, that surprises the body".
The song above can be listened to by clicking on the window. (courtesy of mpanikos on Youtube). It is sung by Greek songwriter Alkinoons Ioannidis from a record composed by Nikos Zoudiaris and is called "I cannot". The title of today's post is actually a line from the lyrics.
The whole text follows, translated by me:
If you could only slip in the darkness, if you could only fly like an elf; Tonight I will surely die, I will die if I can't see you.
Aided with sweet wine I will become an argonaut and come and find you. To just meet you for a while in my soul's seabed.
No, I cannot. Winter is hurting me. Any more I cannot... My yard is burned by snow, any more I cannot.
You're the touch of wind that suprises my body I have never satiated myself of you, it was all but a moment.
XS Black by Paco Rabanne Don't think of it as Extra Small, think of it phonetically: Ex-Cess. Excess of loveliness, of novelty points, of prettiness in a new release antithetical to the blandness of recent offering for men. Young and sweet, redolent of strawberries, pralines and patchouli with an unidentified floral note in there. Official notes: calabrian lemon, kalamazni, praline, cinnamon, balsam, black cardamon, palissander wood, black amber and patchouli. To me it's the illegitemate child of Innocent by Mugler and L'artisan's Voleur de Roses who has inherited very becoming genes. If one is as cute as the boy advertising it, it doesn't hurt either.
London men by Burberry The best tobacco and mulled wine-spice combo I have smelled from the recent batch. I have already said my piece . Go read it and then hurry and go test it!
Habit Rouge by Guerlain Named after the red riding jacket of men for going hunting on horses in the english countryside this is class and comfort in a bottle. For men timid enough to go for the iconic oriental Shalimar and women who want a little less vanilla on their body. First launched in 1965, composed by perfumer Jean-Paul Guerlain, the fragrance has attained classic status. It opens with citrus, then meanders along a slightly spicy path to some cinnamon paired with patchouli, finally leaving a leathery, vanillic impression. Powdery like opoponax and soft like a caress. Take care as the eau de parfum now circulating does not share the same formula as the classic Eau de cologne.
Arabie by Serge Lutens Do you hide a man from the souk in your heart? All khol-ed eyes and heavy languorous lips? (This last bit brings to mind another great Alkinoos song which I will post when I fully review this one). One of the few fruity scents I like. Dried, candied fruits like dates in a gold liquid and the magic of benzoin bring exotic and intense pulsations to your mind. It smells coppery...
Obsession for men by Calvin Klein The scent of choice for a rich, intense, dark, full-bodied amber with a touch of sweetness. It is single-minded and has one single effect. Makes one want to jumb your bones. Even felines seem to be attracted to it, per one zoo study (!) I won't elaborate. Needs to be sold with a NC-17 warning label on the box.
Antaeus by Chanel This is pure man's clean sweat and animalistic labdanum. Created in 1981, still sexy after all those years. Complex and passionate like the mythological hero that inspired it. For when you want to make an impact!
Vetiver Extraordinaire by Frederic Malle After all the sweet recommendations, a dry one for the grand finale. Vetivers are usually left aside for warmer weather as they have the quality of giving a grassy, earthy, cooling feeling that is so welcome in summer. This has the best qualities of the erathy aroma, not coupled with citrus as usually happens and lasts well and it struck me that it could be worn on a very bright, cold, snowy day, when the whole world is glistening with the pureness. The resinous base hints at you that pleasures of the home await after snowfighting.
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