Kate Moss Vintage: her love for old things (new fragrance)

In an interview she gives to Brendan O'Connor (a professed lover of scent, judging by his wearing of Chanel Bel Respiro), alongside the watching eye of Steve Mormoris, vice president of Global Marketing for Coty, Kate Moss talks about her newest fragrance after Kate (2007), Velvet Hour (2008) and Kate Summer Time (2009). It's called Vintage to reflect her love for old things "that have stories" and her whole aesthetic.

Hot on the heels of her Some Velvet Morning cover, the Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra song she recorded with Primal Scream, Kate has embraced her love for vintage even in perfumes. For this foray into fragrance collaboration woth Coty she went for the softer side, not her party side, she reveals, reflecting a classier aim. The perfume was developed by Olivier Polge and includes notes of pink pepper, freesia, mandarin, heliotrope, jasmine, almond blossom, tonka bean, vanilla and musk. (notes via NST) One could of course argue that that list reads nothing like Vintage, more like another increment in the vast array of modern compositions.
Still, Kate Moss Vintage is a fruity floriental, which according to the writer is "a little bit cooler and less overwhelmingly flowery than some other personality-driven perfumes. It comes in a very cool bottle and the whole package is very Kate Moss. It's the Rolling Stones in the Sixties meets Ladbroke Grove punk meets Wicklow trustafarian. It's an afghan coat and butterflies and a glass of champagne"...

Read the whole article on the Independent.ie clicking here
And here is the TV commercial directed by leading British artist and photographer Katerina Jebb, featuring her "scanning" technique. Music is taken from Nocturne Op.9 no.1 in B flat Minor by Polish composer Frédéric Chopin. You can call that timeless, for sure!



Photo of Kate Moss via fashionindie.com, bottle pic via shoppingblog.com

Yves Saint Laurent Parisienne: new fragrance

The newest feminine fragrance by Yves Saint Laurent is officially corroborated as Parisienne and will be fronted by Kate Moss. There had been a photoshoot with Craig McDean by the Eiffel Tower a while ago and Kate seemed so in love with the couturier's smoking jacket she refused to let it go for days later. Right when she's ready to launch her own celebrity fragrance, Vintage, after the commercial success of her first eponymous scent Kate Moss, there rolls this new contract!

Parisienne will launch next autumn and will be encased in a bottle that is eerily reminiscent of the diamond-cut one of the original Paris. [click for a review]
Judging by the roses that accompanied the photo-shoot (and which perhaps not coincidentally perfectly match the shade of the bottle and juice) and by the optical resemblance of design to Paris fragrance, it's safe to assume that rose as a note or perhaps a central diva will be featured in the newest feminine fragrance by Yves Saint Laurent, composed by perfumers Sophia Grojsman (the nose behind the original Paris) and Sophie Labbé. Also the name, a variant denoting the citizen of Paris, the city, alludes to some relevance with the classic rose-violet perfume by the master couturier. The alleged vinyl top note comes with all the modern clin d'oeil to a younger generation who might have grown up with Paris being worn by their mothers, so it's natural they want to strut their own way in pleather slim-pants much like their idol, fashion-plate Kate Moss.

Parisienne will be available in 30ml/1oz, 50ml/1.7oz and 90ml/3oz of Eau de Parfum for prices between 51 and 90 euros and it will be accompanied by ancillary products, such as body lotion, shower gel and deodorant spray.

A perceptive reader of mine notified me at last Monday that the new fragrance is already featured slightly discounted on an online store in the Netherlands, from which comes the pic of the bottle, but the articles are not yet available for sale.

Update:
Official notes for Yves Saint Laurent Parisienne:

Top: “vinyl accord (evoking metal gloss and varnish)”, cranberry, blackberry
Heart: Damask rose, violet, peony
Base: patchouli, vetiver, musk, sandalwood.

The teaser ads, tagged "Qui est Parisienne?" (Who is Parisienne?) are playful, to the accompaniment of bass riffs.
Qui est Parisienne ?

Watch more on www.ysl-parisienne.com/fr and take the fun test to win a week being Parisienne! (take the test clicking here)

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Yves Saint Laurent series.
Pics thanks to Modelinia.com and parfumerie.nl, video Dailymotion.

Opium Dreams ~Opium by Saint Laurent: fragrance review

Was this my life, or did I dream it? That seemingly rhetorical question might drive one crazy given sufficient circumstances. After all, isn't all life, "is all we see and seem but a dream within a dream?" like Poe used to say. Or as the ancient Greeks poetically put it: "οναρ σκιας ανθρωπος" (man is but a shadow's dream).
My thoughts revert to these aphorisms, as I converge Opium by Yves Saint Laurent and Sergio Leone's swansong masterpiece, Once upon a time in America in my mind. My proclivities to the fragrance being a given and my fondness for that final enigmatic scene in which De Niro is beatifically smiling through the somnolent haze of opium vapors, it was natural to be so; if only because, like the drug, Opium is to be worn lying down. Pilgrimage was sorely lacking till now and the Gods have been accusing me of hubris for too long.

History of YSL Opium Perfume
Yves Saint Laurent was at the zenith of his career when he envisioned a decadent, baroque perfume evoking the exotic Orient: "It will be the greatest perfume of them all and we will call it Opium", he said, perhaps with a sideways wink to his own path to hallucinogenics' addiction. The year when the concept was conceived was 1972. It would take another 5 years for it to come to fruition.



The scent was composed by Jean Louis Sieuzac (Sonia Rykiel, Dune, the re-issue of Madame Rochas) in 1977 and art-directed by Chantal Roos, while the vermilion flacon was designed by Pierre Dinand.
Originally the name that Squibb, the American parent company of parfums Saint Laurent, wanted to christen the fragrance was Black Orchid, the same that Tom Ford later grabbed almost 30 years later for his own foray into perfume for what he hoped to be an equally controversial landmark.

Opium was in many ways a landmark: Its fragrance although tracing its lineage to great orientals of the past such as Shalimar, Habanita, Youth Dew and even Tabu (with its carnation-civet accord of "parfum de puta"), was perhaps the first to enter into the floriental category, with its very much detectable carnation, orange blossom and ylang-ylang among the plush of effulgent spice and starched resins, of which oppoponax stars. But also due to the fact that it broke with the previous trends of independent chypres and soft aldehydics, bringing back the orientals which had been forgotten since their last stint during the 20s and 30s and thus inaugurating the fashions for them again, resulting in everyone producing one from Coco, Poison, Ysatis, Boucheron Femme , all the way to Loulou.

Its launch party, at a junk in Manhattan's East River, with orientalised canopies and matching decor, marked the first time such opulence was applied to a fragrance's issue and ignited a series of mega-launches that were to become de rigeur. Its campaign, provocatively proclaiming "for those addicted to Yves Saint Laurent", earned it serious controversy in certain countries: A peanut-growing premier in Queensland, Australia had the perfume banned in his state. The US Federal Justice Department tried to outlaw it. In other countries due to drug import laws it had to be imported under a pseudonym, like contraband, and relabelled within the country.Its subsequent status of a bestseller proved that all the obstacles were within its stride and that man (and woman) is really a creature desiring what seems unattainable.

Bottle Design: the Oriental Inro
The bottle has a no less interesting tale surrounding it. According to Dinand's autobiography, he was working on a stylized inro, the small wooden box samurais carry on their belts, full of little drawers where herbs, spices and opium for alleviating the pain from their wounds are kept. The little drawers are held together by strings (hence the resulting tassel on the Opium bottle) and the top is crowned with a sculpted ball, called netsuke, replicated in the cap. "That's it!" said Saint Laurent, as soon as he saw it and fixed his mind on calling it Opium, the rest being history.
The advertising had always been titillating, starting with sprawled Jerry Hall, progressing to an unknown red-head (pictured above), through to Kate Moss and Sophie Dahl infamously in the nude (therefore banned but you can see it by clicking the link). Currently Malgosia Bela fronts the ad prints.

Lauder had been secretly working on their own spicy oriental, mysteriously also in a vermilion bottle, named after a mercury mineral found in China and smelling close to Opium,Cinnabar, which launched only weeks later. Yet they never had such commercial success with it, a fact that is treated with silence when you point it out to them. Whether there had been some form of trade espionage has never been proven and is only a figment of speculation.

Scent Description
Baptising yourself in Opium amounts to owning a droplet of the Styx, imparting invulnerability, shunning your combination sinners -- your lecherous liars and your miserly drunkards -- who dishonor the vices and bring them into bad repute. It speaks the tongue of angels through the wiles of devils, fanning its brocade-like resins over your humble existence, marring the opulent flowers and the bright citruses (bergamot, lemon and the orange-tinged essence of coriander) by a contaminated hand of animalistic sin. I can't distinguish any of its constituent parts separately, as they merge into a tremendously forceful message of abandon and escapism from the vagaries of life. Was it my life or did I dream it?
The iron-pressed linen note of the aldehydes in the beginning gives off -coupled with the spicy bite of the carnation accord- a rather "clean" veneer, which allows Opium the distinction of being among the easiest orientals to carry without feeling all soiled underneath your dress. The plumminess is closly interwoven with the balsams in the drydown phase, when the fragrance has dried on the skin and only its whispered message remains; quite woods, trickly resins like benzoin, labdanum and opoponax with an animalic darkness to them from the small footnote of pungent, bitter castoreum in the far end.

Opium never fails to bring forth compliments every single time I wear it and it is the robe de guerre on every occasion where ample backbone is required or a new acquaintance is going to take place. People never identify it as such and always ask what is that magnificent fragrance emanating. Sometimes it's perversely fun to see faces fall when I reveal the true identity, other times it only makes me think long and hard about over saturation of a particular scent in the collective unconscious and the detriment that brings to a whole generation who formed bad associations through it being ubiquitous.

Opium Summer Editions and Comparison of Concentrations
My preferred form is the Eau de toilette, which highlights the spicy bite and the moribund balsams perfectly, although the extrait de parfum is another excellent choice. The Secret de Parfum which had circulated at some point during the early 90s in a cut-out bottle from hard plastic in a hue darker than the original flacon was a concentration that turned me off Eau de Parfum (to which it amounted) . Luckily that error in judgment on the part of YSL Parfums has been amended and the current version of Eau de Parfum is merely denser and more opaque, although still true to the scent. The body products in the range are some of the best I have tried in terms of both fidelity to the scent (they have a slightly pronounced orange note which is very agreeable) and texture which melts under your caress. Men have also been catered for through a men's version that is woodier and more aromatic but also rather spicy, Opium pour homme. As a faithful Opium wearer for years I can attest to it being relatively the same despite possible reformulation. If eugenol however becomes seriously restricted -as has been discussed- then it would risk severe disfigurement. {edit to add, June 2010: Alas, it has...}

In later years, many lighter summer versions launched, as limited editions, aiming at making Opium fit for summer-wear and largely succeeding: Summer Fragrance (2002), Eau d'Eté (2004), Fleur de Shanghai (2005), Fleur Impériale (2006), Orchidée de Chine (2007), Poésie de Chine (2008). My personal favourite is Fleur de Shangai among them, replicated closely in the latest version.
This trend might have started by the non-limited, non-alcoholic Opium Fraicheur d'Orient, which got issued for summer in the mid-90s and which introduced a note from Angel and an intense citrus into the composition, to no particular pleasure derived. A limited edition bottle is Opium Orient Extreme from 2007, which only changes the exterior, not the scent.
Various collector's bottles and versions will continue to get made. As long as it captures the imagination of perfume worshippers at its altar.
Notes:
Top: aldehydes,plum,pepper, tangerine, coriander,bergamot, lemon
Heart: clove, jasmine, cinnamon, rose, peach, orris, myrrh, ylang ylang
Base: benzoin, patchouli, oppoponax, cedar, sandalwood, labdanum, castoreum, musk, vanilla



If you want to watch a small tribute to the opium-escaping hero of Leone, click this link for highlights.

Clips through videosift.com and wellgard on Youtube. Pics via parfumdepub

Fragrant news: soon it might be Eau de Kate and Gwen

Coty Inc., that firm of an illustrious past and a perilous present, has signed a new deal for a fragrance licencing deal with the naughty super-model Kate Moss of innovative fashion sense and snow-sniffing affinities and another one with singer Gwen Stefani.
What is not-so-affectionately known among perfume-loving circles as a celebrity scent, that is.
Coty has under its belt fragrances either in the lower or the upper division (through the network of Lancaster cosmetics) that bear famous names and is in fact the leader in that specific market segment. Names of such famous people as Céline Dion (Céline Dion , Céline Dion Notes, Fever and Belong), Jennifer Lopez (Glow, Miami Glow, Glow in the dark, Still, Live), Sarah Jessica Parker (Lovely, Lovely liquid satin), Kimora Lee Simmons (Baby Phat), David and Victoria Beckham (Intimately for men and women respectively), Shania Twain (Shania Twain) and Kylie Minogue feature prominently on bottles of perfume under the Coty Inc. umbrella.
Another deal has also been signed with singer/rocker/sporadic actress/enterpreneur Gwen Stefani, whose favourite scents include many Victoria Secret's body lotions and the aromatic oeuvre of Vivien Westwood (Boudoir, Libertine). It will debut in fall 2007 and is said to represent her sense of style, as expressed in her own fashion label of clothing.

Whether the juice will be any good remains to be seen, but this celebrity trend has taken really outlandish proportions.
Only in 2006 a staggering number of 26 celebrity-endorsed perfumes have hit the market. According to fashionunited.uk, "The first celebrity to promote her own perfume was Elizabeth Taylor, back in 1991, when the actress launched the successful White Diamonds scent. The trend really gained momentum with the success of Jennifer Lopez's perfume Glow which was launched in 2002 and generated more than $80 million in sales in its first year."

In fact, and to put accuracy back in journalism, the Italian actress had already launched along with her eyewear collection an eponymous scent in the previous decade, in 1983 to be exact and, lest we forget, Catherine Deneuve also had in 1986. Those two however had been very good, quality scents (a chypre no less!) that met with an unjust demise. There was also the line of Alain Delon and Omar Sharif, both launched during the 80's. Few of them escaped unscathed.
Autres temps, autres moeurs!

The recent frantic pace of the market however made celebrity-endorsed products reach an all-time high, with every A-lister and plenty of D-listers as well, having launched lifestyle products (and eventually perfume, worse luck), beckoning us to wear them, eat them or smell like them! Why would anyone in their right minds want to smell like a dubious personality such as Paris Hilton is beyond me, but the fact remains.
You shalt not judge lest you be judged and all that, however and the verdict will come when I get to sniff the labour of Kate and Gwen (or more accurately, of the noses who will work for Coty on their behalf). Till then......

Info on the upcoming deals comes from Women's Wear Daily. Pic of Kate Moss courtesy of the Pirelli calendar