Missoni Aria: fragrance review

Composed in 1987, Aria by Missoni is predictably as big as a house. In the 1980s, you see, fragrances announced themselves from around the block like a fat man with a protruding belly and you could smell them down the office corridor too long after the cleaning ladies had picked up after the staff (Missoni themselves had the now discontinued ~and replaced by a completely different animal by the same name~ Missoni by Missoni from 1982). For a fruity floral, the olfactory category equivalent of the shy type at the party who wants to blend in, yet appear a bit flirty like all the other girls, Aria is an unlikely candidate, a masquerade of a bold floral which dons a silly pineapple hair clip in case anyone takes her too seriously.

By no means dissonant, Aria is an euphoric big burst of a bubblegum actually, so suffused with flavourful florals and flowery fruits that it's easy to lose track and imagine things that are not there. The image of a giant, juicy fuschia bubblegum derives from the pink jasmine used, plus ylang ylang, which is buttressed by banana-pineaplle and peachy-lactonic notes. One edge is sweet, the other edge is rather tangy and the combined effect is melodious and expansive; the best of both worlds, really.

Aria never really caught many ears or noses at its time, probably because the brand wasn't particularly in your face and kept an elegant but vivacious Italian tricot profile, i.e. it never caught on the American market. Or it might have to do with the ugly bottle, a plain glass phial toped by a sincerely plastic purple cap that could adorn Debbie Gibson's Electric Youth or something. It just didn't feel like luxury, from the looks of it. Today, Aria by Missoni is discontinued, like much else from that time-frame: now that fruity florals are a dime a dozen it sounds like it's a shameful loss of especially good, happy jingles.
You can find old stock at stockists/online discounters or auction sites. There's even some at Amazon right now.

Notes for Missoni Aria:
Top notes: lemon, bergamot, pineapple, banana, raspberry, peach
Heart notes: carnation, tuberose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, lily-of-the-valley, rose
Base notes: sandalwood, tonka bean, amber, musk, vanilla and cedar.

Acqua Missoni: fragrance review

There is a time for everything and the time for “aquatic” fragrances, or at least fragrances with a moniker that plays upon this concept at least in name, are the dog days of summer. If you’re stuck in the heat in the city with your mind reeling crazily in thoughts of the Cote d’Azur or the Montacatini spa, then it’s bound to have happened to you, even if you are a devoted lover of orientalia. You crave something watery, droplets of icy cool liquid drenching your skin and olfactory nerve with the promise of the dewy solace of a fine mist of Evian spray on a sun-baked bodylicious beach experience.
Do perfumes aimed at capturing that aspect really deliver? Sadly usually they don’t.
Acqua by Missoni, the latest product from the Italian maglia brand, although pleasant and an improvement over their rather weird Missoni in the same style bottle, different colour from last year, is a case in point.
One might argue that it doesn’t set out to wow us into believing that a transatlantic flight of fancy to the eternal azure of the Aegean is hidden into the inviting turquoise of the fancy “boule” bottles since it self proclaims its fruity floral lineage of shame; yet it fails to be really interesting and to be perfectly honest with you, after about a thousand scents roughly in that category, one would have to possess Houdini powers to hide the uniform air those scents have. They are so close to each other in their odour profile, one has to really lean closer and pay lots of attention to discern nuances. Is this what you want your perfume to say of you? I didn’t think so.

And yet Missoni Acqua is not that bad. According to the press release it encompasses three stages:

‘Radiant Greens’ mixes bergamot, melon, grapefruit and narcisse. ‘Sparkling Blues’ blends violet, peony, blue freesia and crisp muguet. ‘Crystal Turquoise’ melts Tuscan iris, jasmine and solar notes.

More specifically

“Sexy, fresh, exuberant, Missoni acqua is like an energizing dive into the “mare azzurro”, the Mediterranean Sea. The scent evokes the joys of a sun-soaked holiday with friends and loved ones. The ad campaign, shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggot, was photographed at the family’s home in Sardinia. The image captures Margherita Maccapani Missoni, the eldest daughter of Angela Missoni, emerging from crystal blue waters with the warmth of the sun.”

(Quote from Osmoz)

The bottle replicates the lovely hue of the Mediterranean sea with a gold metallic cap adorned with a coral-coloured cabochon and it's really better in person than in the pictures.

The composition is typical of what might be considered the equivalent of hanging a reproduction of Chagall on your living room wall, instead of seeing it in a museum. The familiarity of the ersatz makes you believe this is the true nature of things. Therefore, I am convinced that it contains abstract materials of complex molecular structure that have nothing to do with living flowers (living flower technology is scientific-enrobed cheating if you ask me) or the ocean and the beach (as it doesn’t smell of either particularly) and quite a bit to do with the drydown of that perennial modern classic Angel by Mugler. Or rather his new acquatic patchouli named Eau de Star, which brings us back to my initial impression: plesasant, but like any gynaecologist might divulge ~ seen one, you’ve seen them all.


The range comes in Eau de Toilette 3.4oz/100ml, 1.7 oz/50mland 1 oz/30ml ; Parfum Rollerball 0.2 oz ; Body Lotion 6.7 oz/200ml ; Shower Gel 6.7 oz/200ml.
Available at major department stores.

Pic of bottles from Parfumflacons, pic of Greek sea sent to me by mail unaccredited