The Agony and the Ecstacy part1: sadomasochism in fragrance

The rather outré title of this new latest series on Perfume Shrine is not meant as a direction to non-perfume venues of a niche of a quite different nature than that of the likes of afficionados of Lutens or Malle. Because here we will most certainly include perfume references by those two and lots of others, exploring just how certain scents play up on our subconscious and produce feelings of sensual surprise, olfactory submission and adoring intimidation or on the contrary a heightened sense of domination over all we survey.
If only Le Marquis and Leopold von Sacher had explored those avenues more fully.

Before we proceed any further, please note that the following are musings and thoughts that do not bind the author and are not meant to condone or approve of any practice or misunderstanding that you might have in mind. (This disclaimer of sorts is necessary to include because the term has been so much abused and tied to issues that are peripheral to it that it has gained a reputation that is inaccurate).

Perfume is fantasy. It has a weird effect on the psyche. And tied as it is to memory and sexuality it brings out elements of both to the fore, whether we desire it or not. Of course apart from the infamous Hirsch studies on what scents arouse and attract the opposite sex ~which are the matter of Googling searches all the time~ more importantly there is the element of how a particular fragrance makes the wearer themselves feel. This is the apex of the matter to my mind. Because perfume is so often worn for the enhancement of a mood or the desire to extol certain properties of the individual's personality, how one perceives said personality or mood is paramount when choosing what to wear. So a perfume with innocent, cherubic ambience would be more likely to evoke or pronounce a mood of traditionally viewed submissive femininity whereas a butch leather would reinforce the notion of a dominating persona. Or even the reverse if one is playing with boundaries and values the element of surprise!
Therefore are there specific perfumes that explore those pathways of the mind and playfully twist and turn them upside down for a perfume lover's rejoice? I think there are.

As cinematic experiences are so often deeply ingrained into Perfume Shrine, the quintessential film that displays the weird dynamic of an S/M relationship resplendent with a couple of perfume references is none other than "Il Portiere di Notte"/"The Night Porter"(1974) by Liliana Cavani featuring exquisite actors and personal favourites Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling. The film tells the tale of an ex-Nazi who falls in love with one of the Holocaust victims as many years later, both alive ~she, Lucia, a married woman; he, Max, a night porter~ they meet again at a Vienna hotel and reprise their strange affair surrounded by a hostile former Nazi crowd who seeks to gain power again with Max's assistance.
The doomed relationship of the two lovers reflects both aspects of control and surrender in alternating roles of great cinematic value. And although the mere thought of the Holocaust is assuredly distressing, the film manages to be respectful of the issues raised and focus on the personal angle rather than the historical repercussions.
You can watch a superb clip of it clicking on the screen or clicking here.


For an elaborate and long piece of how a viewer interprets the storyline I direct you to this post by The Scented Salamander.
Succinctly put:

Perfumes in Night Porter appear to be used to express ideas about sexuality, class, and inter-subjective relationship. Perfumes here, instead of elevating and idealizing the characters, making them appear more desirable and noble, are brought in to express not love, but prostitution, not attraction, but repulsion, not refinement but coarseness, not harmony, but destruction, not love, but a pathological manifestation of it.

There is also this link that mentions it in the context discussed.

Indeed perfumes in this film are seen through an altered lens and make us view scent as a means of control, rejection, social climbing or even manipulation and domination. It is an interesting axe to grind and worth pondering on.
So what would the ex-Nazi in hiding wear or the beautiful formerly submissive Lucia who reprises her role with a twist of unexpected ferocity?

As leather has been so ingrained into associations with S/M and isobutyl quinoline is the main ingredient used to render leather notes in perfumery, apart from the natural process of curing birch tar, I would propose Knize Ten for the character of Max. The fact that it comes from as far back as 1924 and Vienna in particular did not escape my attention either and may have contributed to this choice.
The history of Messrs. J. Knize dates back to 1858, based in Vienna. Within a little while fashion tailor J. Knize was appointed purveyor to K&K Royal Court and by the turn of the century many famous people, heads of states, artists, and industrialists were clientele to Knize. During the 1920s Knize's boutiques for men were established in the fashion cities of Paris, New York, London and Berlin. Although other scented offerings by Knize have been discontinued the iconic perfume remains still in production.
The fragrance is immediately redolent of raw cured leather that is pitch-black and tight, fits like a glove and is stained with the old fashioned aroma of smoke and a bit of turpentine. This shocking introduction laced with citrusy notes is testament to the power and suggestion such a smell holds over willing subjects. Woody and floral notes of subtle spiciness tone down this perverse beast resting it on a slightly powdery and incensy drydown that surprises yet again with its unexpected twists. Max in it would exude all the force of his uniformed days, when he could chop off the head of a prisoner who bothered his lover and present it John-the-Baptist-like to his own Salome. And yet he would also hide the pain that we can see in his eyes as he realises that there is no future for them, when they dare to exit the bastion of their seiged apartment towards dawn.

And Lucia would be sublime wearing none other than the infamous, the exquisite, the jarringly sexy beauty of Tubéreuse Criminelle (=criminal tuberose) by Serge Lutens.
Its reputation precedes it as people either love it or hate it but they all remain astounded by the sheer innovation of it at the time it first launched, directing others into exploring difficult notions of bracing top notes that might shock and disturb. A scent that is definitely meant for people into a certain degree of sadomasochism, as the opening note of mentholated Vicks rub hits your nostrils with the ferocity of a typhoon to subside after a little while into an armload of rubbery tuberose married to soft spoken buttery lilies. A soothing, warm, human caress after the sting of pain.
Comparable to what Jean Cocteau had said about Marlen Dietrich and her name: "Starts with a caress; ends with a whipstroke". But in reverse. Which makes it eminently suitable...


Next post will continue with more perfume and film suggestions on the naughty path. You have been warned!

Top pic courtesy of sadist.gr Clip comes from Youtube. Pic of Knize Ten comes from basenotes.net. Pic of Charlotte Rampling from charlotterampling.net

Benefactor from Parfums d'Armando Martinez: fragrance review

There is an underappreciated quality when judging perfume, especially among people who love it. That quality is wearability.
It might sound like a dirty word when every other fragrance release from the major companies is akin to putting on a mass-marketed piece of clothing that is being produced in Bangladesh, bearing the insignia of a well-known commercial designer no less. But I assure you that wearability is much more than what meets the eye. It is precisely this quality, often elusive in the niche arena of scents, that accounts for the success of Armando Martinez's perfumes.

From his first foray into Perfume Shrine with the powdery rose and violet honeyed tones of Maquillage, to his masterpiece aldehydic, pearly white floral Pillow of Flowers, Armando has been playing with good quality natural ingredients and aromachemicals that are blended in an ultimate caress of softness and plushness that would never alienate the lover of pleasant aromas. His creations do not lack uniqueness and to wit one could very well mention the mould-breaking herbal Satyr which is certainly different and stranger than most similar attempts on the market. Yet even then, there is a base element that ties loose ends with a pacifying tone like a familiar lullaby one has been carrying in one's mind since childhood.

And it is in this context that Armando's latest fragrance, a shared scent that can be worn by both sexes, Benefactor, is entering the scene; a glimpse of Salome's veils for the delectation of oriental lovers everywhere.

"Benefactor, a scent that envelopes the wearer in a cloak of roses, vanilla and agarwood. A modern take on the age old arabic perfume. An oriental that is unisex.
Benefactor's notes include: bergamot, camphor, turkish rose, saffron, vetiver, atlas cedarwood, vanilla, and agarwood".

(quote from Armando Martinez site).

Although a camphoric opening might predispose one for The Agony and the Ecstasy of none other than the perverse beauty of Tubereuse Criminelle by Lutens or even his equally strange yet lovely Borneo, in Benefactor the effect is subdued and short-lived enough to not jolt you into shock, yet challenge the nostrils with its peculiar aroma paired with a little culinary saffron, that spice that colours Middle Eastern dishes with its rich golden hues. As the camphoric note dissipates, a sweet and powdery rosiness like that in loukhoums emerges swan-down like from the mélange of notes with a little vanillic underscoring. At this stage the cosiness and softness is eminently beautiful without ever becoming insipid, with agarwood/oudh, that weird wood also appearing in the comparable Black Aoudh by Montale, so prized in arabian perfumery, playing the role of basso continuo all the while; providing the austere backdrop that veers the whole into the unisex universe of scents.
A simple composition that never loses its charm, it has the benefit of making one feel at once warm, cuddly and familiar with just the right touch of opulence, daydreaming of a harem in the Arabian Nights.

If interested in purchasing a 2 ounce spray bottle or requesting samples, Mando is charging $65.00 a bottle for each of his creations, directly from his site: Click here.
They are currently for sale also in Europe on First in Fragrance/Aus liebe zum Duft website. Click here for details.

Painting of Harem comes from travelinstyle.com

She's only got 2 & 1/2 expressions, for Pete's sake!!

I am not a catty person. Really, I am not. But the news some months ago that the expresioneless, manufactured-to-be-a-star, young, skinny Keira Knightley would be the new face of Chanel, substituting Kate Moss in the ads for Coco Mademoiselle perfume brought out the meow in me.
And this September the prospect of opening any glossy or switching on the TV risking to come face to face with her pouty mug is somehow giving me the creeps. You can say I am positively repelled.

Obviously, my opinion in corporate marketing doesn't matter at all; otherwise instead of coping with papers and mycenean amphorae I would be sitting at a board meeting vetoing choices like the above. Not that I regret it, because -let's face it- it's a fluff business at heart. However it would be kind of fun to shot down faces like Keira's.

The girl was all right in "Bend it like Beckham". Nobody knew her, she wasn't smug, the other girl was great in this film and Jonathan Rhys Meyers was exhibiting his own charm aplenty. And the film was original and refreshing!
Since then I can safely argue that I haven't seen her in anything in which she -specifically- was worthy of mention and her nomination for the Academy Awards for "Pride and Prejudice" (a flat, boring adaptation if there ever were one; what happened with that perfect BBC version?) convinced me we have to bear with ms.Knightley as long as the studios think they have the new version of sliced bread on their hands. Like I said, the girl's only got two and a half expressions (one of which is that pouty one depicted above)...Have you actually seen her laugh? Small children are intimidated into eating all their veggies when faced with such a toothy chukle.
I won't even think of commenting on her pretend angry/tough "face", because, really, you don't want to hear any more meow out of me...

But Perfume Shrine has a responsibility to the readers. And the same way we were the first to report the lovely news and pics of Kate Winslet as new face for Trésor, so we had the responsibility to not lag behind because of our personal displeasure. So here it is. The print ad and the stills from the TV spot shot by Joe Wright that will air on our screens in the upcoming months.

Chanel has always been very careful about their advertising campaigns and their Chanel No.5 series is testament to that, as well as their wonderful Egoiste and Coco commercials, two of the most memorable ones in all perfume advertising. Perfume Shrine had elaborated on a series of those commercials in the past.
You can read the whole article on No.5 clicking here and on Egoiste and Coco here with multimedia links to the commercials themselves.

The statements exchanged for the new campaign went somewhat like this
(reported in this link):

"Keira Knightley is a bright, young actress who has already made her mark in a diverse portfolio of films, including her Oscar-nominated performance in `Pride & Prejudice'" said Chanel artistic director Jacques Helleu in a statement.

He also said Knightley's elegance, beauty and modernity parallel some of the brand's other previous famous faces, including Catherine Deneuve and Nicole Kidman, who represented Chanel No. 5.

"(I am) really proud to have been asked to work with such an iconic house as Chanel, and thrilled to follow the extraordinary women who have been associated with it before," Knightley said in a statement.

"We think Keira is perfect because she is always incredibly alluring and seductive," said a Chanel spokesman. "She would not have looked out of place in the Forties or Fifties, and that's why she was chosen - to show a timeless chic that will never fade."

Keira herself went as far as to suggest that "Chanel's Coco is the first perfume I've ever worn" , which oddly (enter sarcasm) reminds me of a parallel statement by Nicole Kidman when she was signed for the No.5 campaign. No matter that we do know she opts for several others over it....

In the new ads Keira is trying to cement her sexy(?) and naughty(?) reputation -supposedly she was voted "sexiest actress" in a UK poll- playing around with a bowler hat, Berlinesque-stripper style (oh, she should get some lessons from Charlotte Rampling...) and indulging in gentle gender-play (no relation with those great commercials that you can read on and see here).

And frankly? I think the red Karl Lagerfel dress does not suit Coco Mademoiselle. But you can always say that my fangs are showing...


Pics come from popsugar, poponthepop and style.popcrunch sites.

Upcoming launches that caught my fancy

From August onwards there will be a frenzy of new launches according to Woman's Wear Daily to titilate the consumer into trying new versions of beloved fragrances or re-issues of older vintage fragrances of a bygone era or yet still new and supposedly original compositions.
The proof is in the pudding, but for the time being these are the launches that have got my heart going in quicker palpitations.

THE RE-ISSUES

The re-issues of legendary Givenchy perfumes, Les Mythiques(=the mythical ones): If you recall, Perfume Shrine had the scoop on the scheduled re-issues a long time ago .

These three are scheduled for October:
Givenchy Eau de Vetyver (at $65 for 100ml).
Givenchy Monsieur , the personal favourite of mr.Hubert de Givenchy, kept into production on his behalf and now re-issued ($65 for 100 ml).
and Givenchy Xeryus harking back from the early 80s ($65 for 100 ml).

All of these will be available from Nordstorm in US in limited distribution (16 doors).
No other confirmation on re-issues (especially the much anticipated L'interdit) thus far.


Rober Piguet is also hot on the re-issue front, after his much beloved Baghari re-issue of the aldehydic classic which although different than the vintage managed to smell enticing, elegant and poised. Read a full review here.
For October the house plans on launching re-issues of Visa, a women's fragrance available exclusively at Le Bon Marchι in Paris and Harvey Nichols in London priced at $190 for 30ml/1oz. parfum, $65 for 50ml1.7oz. eau de parfum and $95 for 100ml/3.4oz. eau de parfum. The vintage issued in 1945 was an animalic fragrance of potency that was anchored by an orientalised base, so the anticipation on how the new one will live up is palpable. Givaudan's Aurelien Guichard has adapted initial perfumer Germaine Cellier's original for today's market and it includes the following notes: White Vineyard Peach, Pear, Violet leaves, Italian Bergamot, Yellow Mandarin, Ylang-ylang, Rose, Orange flower absolutes, Patchouli, Sandalwood, Vetiver, Moss, Vanilla, Benzoin and Leathery Notes (according to Basenotes)
Also click here for official info.

And the men's Cravache available in specialty store distribution in about 150 doors internationally at $55 for 50ml/1.7oz. and $85 for 100ml/3.4oz. eau de toilette. The original, issued in 1963, was labeled a spicy floral chypre and was characteristic of the era. It remains to be seen how it will be accepted by today's discerning customers. It contains notes of Mandarin, Lemon, Petitgrain, Clary sage, Lavender, Nutmeg, Vetiver and Patchouli. The modernised version will be available as 50ml and 100ml Eau de Toilette, 100ml After Shave and a 200ml Dual-purpose Shave Cream/Body Wash (according to Basenotes). Also click here for official info.


NEW VARIATIONS OF POPULAR FRAGRANCES

It has been very common these past year to launch the so-called "flankers" ~new fragrances that take the name and/or image of a previous successful perfume and give it a twist (sometimes rendering the smell unrecognisable) to appeal to the consumer who loves the old version but craves something new as well. Usually these flankers do not succeed in delivering, however there are some exceptions and with that in mind I have these two from Guerlain on my must-try list:

Guerlain Shalimar Black Mystery (a limited edition). It will be available in 1400 doors (Saks, Sephora, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale's, Bergdorf's, Nordstrom, Macy's and Dillard's) at $110 for 75ml of eau de parfum. Scheduled to launch in October.

Guerlain My Insolence. It will be available in 1400 doors (Saks Fifth Avenue, Sephora, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale's, Bergdorf Goodman, Nordstrom, Macy's and Dillard's) at $45 for 30ml/1oz, $62 for 50ml/1.7oz, and $89 for 100ml/3.4oz of eau de toilette. Scheduled to launch in September.

Another flanker that sounds promising is Agent Provocateur's Strip (taking the name from the naughtily illustrated candles they had issued along with their eponymous fragrance some years ago). It will be available in Bloomingdales and on their online site at $65 for 50ml/1.7 oz of eau de parfum.

And last but not least, Chanel is revamping the No.5 line with No. 5 Eau Premiθre , which will be available at department and specialty stores and on chanel.com at $125 for 150ml/5 oz. To be launched in October.
Not super excited for something in such a big bottle, but worth trying something new in the formidable stable of No.5. After all the Sensual Elixir in this fragrance proved to be lovely. Let's see...

And the NEW FRAGRANCES

From Guerlain, Spiritueuse Double Vanille which will be available in four doors (Neiman Marcus San Francisco, Bergdorf's, Epcot in Orlando and The Breakers Hotel in West Palm Beach) at $200 for 75 ml. Sounds like an exclusive to me and those always build some anticipation. To be out in November.

Jo Malone White Jasmine & Mint Cologne . It will be available at Jo Malone Shops and jomalone.com, specialty stores (Bergdorf's, selected Neiman Marcus and Saks stores)and also at Holt Renfrew in Canada exclusively. It will retail at $50 for 30ml/1 oz or $95 for 100ml/3.4 oz and will launch in October.

Bulgari is launching Eau de toilette Rosee in September. It will be first available exclusively in Macy's, followed by Bloomingdale's, Bergdorf's, Lord & Taylor, Saks, Neiman Marcus, Sephora and Nordstrom. It will retail at $69 for 50ml/1.7 oz. or $98 for 100ml/3.4 oz

And Creed is introducing Amalfi flowers in October, available exclusively at 19 Saks doors at $270 for 50ml/1.7oz. or $450 for 8.4oz in an eau de parfum bottle signed and numbered by Olivier Creed.


I hope you have taken notes as I did and are thinking about what your sniff-list will be this coming autumn. Hopefully Perfume Shrine will be around to offer a considered viewpoint to these new launches and help you along in your choices.


In the meantime, expect to see an interesting interview with an acclaimed perfumer whose perfumes will be the talk of the town soon and a review of a new magnificent scent by a nose that has been already reviewed here at Perfume Shrine.
Stay tuned!!

Pic of Givenchy stamp for 2007 Valentine's day from french post.
Pics of Cravache ad and Guerlain crystal bottles come from Ebay.

Lies and Misdemeanors

How many times have you heard a story regarding the creation of a perfume and in the end realised it must be a fabrication?
From the almost bordering to the homeric notion of "genius through incapacitation" of Coco Chanel picking up the specific batch of Ernest Beaux's No.5 while having a severe headache to another tale ~ according to which Beaux's assistant was the culprit behind the revolutionary amount of aldehydes poured by accident into a vat of jus ready for the making that resulted in a new category of perfumes.
From the melancholic Mitsouko name supposedly meaning "mystery" in Japanese (well, it means "child of light", if you want to know) and the tale that Jicky was the nickname of an unfortunate coup de foudre that Aime Guerlain harbored for an English girl (in reality it was the nickname of his nephew Jacques) to the couturier Marcel Rochas commissioning Femme as an exclusive wedding present for his great beauty of a young bride, which proved to be such a short-lived exclusive that the following year he launched it publicly...

And cut into the modern classic that is Angel, commissioned to smell like the "the caramel scent of sugared apples, the sugary notes of candy floss and the smell of the fun fair" by Strasbourg-born Thierry Mugler. (You can read an interesting article brought to my attention on the gourmand scents mentioning this byclicking here).
Or even the references made by consumers when they talk about a favourite or just plain hip of-the-moment perfume they have fallen for: Remember how Madona in the mid-90s talked about how she chose Fracas, among many others, because it reminded her of her dearly beloved mother who used to wear it, just when the whole chic crowd was rediscovering this forgotten classic and had similar stories to recount?

Perfume needs a tale behind it to sell, it seems. Every single one of the classics has a tale behind it. Every single one of those tales has some element of fantasy. It has to, because perfume seems to be aspirational: people want to buy into a fairy tale, an illusion, a flight of fancy that would make them feel happier, more elegant, more glamorous, more alluring, certainly more attractive. At its basest level perfume is used as an element of attraction. There is an inordinate amount of questions on which perfume would draw in more people of the opposite sex on perfume fora. It practically pops up every day. It also makes column inches in advertorials and articles in the press, especially when it's time for the mega-launches before the Christmas season.

However, perfume also serves other purposes: it signals a certain persona behind it (and this is not used in the Bergman sense) that is projected through the use of something upscale as an emblem of wealth, societal status, taste and cultivation. This is the reason why when giving gifts of perfume of brands that are considered upscale the face of the recipient lights up significantly more than when presenting them with an equal -monetarily speaking- offering of an unknown brand. They feel like they "belong" and that they are validated when presented with said offering, same as when they whip up the credit card to do it themselves. And people mostly want to "belong".

A variation of the latter nevertheless is the undisciplined spirit of people who want to be perceived as breaking the mould, as forming their own individual fashions and opting for something that would set them apart. In a world that is crammed with people smelling the same, the olfactory ID of a different scent acts much like the shoulderpads of the 80s, creating a little distance and hauteur that allows people to mark their own territory. And this is where the ever expanding market of "niche" perfumes falls. Based on the premise that limited ditribution creates exclusivity and that limited advertising saves money for better-quality ingredients, accounting for a better effect, as well as some leeway of an artistic vision that is not as aysterely restrained by "suits" in marketing boards, niche brands opt to play the game by their own rules.
But that is not meant to imply that they do not engage in their own literature of fantasy. Ambre Sultan is supposed to have been inspired by lumps of vegetal amber found in Moroccan souks and served as an inspiration to Lutens to come up with a perfume that has become infamous due to its perceived naughty undertones that to some smell like lady bits. Or think how Annick Goutal reading "Memoirs of Hadrian" by M.Yourcenar envisioned the young philosopher emperor smelling like a crystalline mix of Sicilian lemons and cypress resulting in Eau d'Hadrien. Or yet the very romantic tale of Antonia Ballanca Mahoney recounting the story of her grandfather and a Sicilian song named Tiempe Passate (=time passes) that served as the inspiration behind the homonymous fragrance of austere cedar and powdery orris.

Are those new tales true? I guess it doesn't matter too much. And sceptical readers will have already drawn their conclusions. But it's nice while they last. In a pedantic world they help us dream a bit.


Pic is from the film "Lady in the water", a fairy tale about how fairy tales might help us; courtesy of athinorama.gr