Wednesday, March 11, 2009

New Frederic Malle scent by Dominique Ropion: Geranium pour Monsieur

"A new fragrance named Geranium Pour Homme has been created for niche brand Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle by perfumer Dominique Ropion. It is expected to be available from Frederic Malle stockists, including Les Scenteurs, later on this year", according to today's Basenotes reportage by Danielle Cooper. Update 1: Later confirmation from Malle representatives corrects the name as Géranium pour Monsieur and sets the launch date in May.

Geranium is a rosy note distilled from the leaves of the plant and is traditionally used to render rose notes in masculine and unisex fragrances instead of more opulent rose essences traditionally considered more feminine. "An adventurer who abandons himself to instinct, Ropion is on a quest to create new, harmonious accords by pairing ingredients which are extreme opposites. His work is special because of the tension between precision and freedom." If indeed we take into consideration how Ropion usually works with his materials, we can expect a counterpoint of tense antithesis or the exagerration of the essence into its most baroque interpretation.

Update 2~"Now, after 18 months of "editing" with three-time contributor Dominique Ropion, Editions is poised to release an eighteenth scent, Géranium pour Monsieur. Though the perfume business is drenched in tradition, and there are plenty of flower petals where this one came from, make no mistake: this is a modern operation. Malle and Ropion used state of the art technologies to assemble an unlikely blend of raw Chinese geranium extract, mint absolute distilled at the molecular level, and cinnamon extracted with CO2.
"It's exactly like Photoshop," says Malle of his scientific manner of "amplifying" scents. A female friend of mine described Géranium pour Monsieur as smelling like a "cozy fireplace with fresh mint and licorice thrown in." Which is pretty close to the effect the two were going for. "It's super fresh, but it evolves to something warmer," says Malle, who will release Géranium in June then open his first stand-alone stateside boutique on Madison Avenue later this fall. [...] We came up with this idea by looking at toiletries from the 1920s. They all had mint in them, geranium, anise. When you think of mint you usually think of gum. These scents are associated to other things, but they're also truly pleasant. My son who desperately wants to be a playboy thought it was an asset, and he was wearing it the whole time we were designing it.[...]It's like a Darwinian chain. [The ingredients] all share things in common. Geranium and mint have things in common, mint and anise work together, anethol works with mint, and floralozone works with anethol. Then there's another facet—the cinnamon, clove, sandalwood, and incense—which creates warmth."
(via Interviewmagazine.com)

Notes for Géranium pour Monsieur by F.Malle include: mint, Chinese Geranium, Rhodinol, Anéthol, cinnamon, clove, white musks, floraozone, incense, and benzoin.

Might I remind you that Roaster by Cartier was one successful launch of the previous season.

Dominique Ropion began his training at the acclaimed Roure Bertrand Dupont laboratory, later going on to work with Jean-Louis Sieuzac (the creator of Opium among other gems). Some of his most famous creations include Amarige, Ysatis (both for Givenchy), Dior Pure Poison, and Calvin Klein Euphoria. Ropion had been outsourced for the Frédéric Malle brand for exceptional and striking creations such as the masterfully realistic tuberose Carnal Flower, the wet cobblestones of Vétiver Extraordinaire and the deliciously animalic, meowing floral Une Fleur de Cassie. Ropion currently holds one of the major creators' seats at International Flavors and Fragrances.



Pic via F.Malle

14 comments:

  1. I. am. so. excited.

    I love geranium

    thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. K,

    you're welcome. It's one of the things that were missing in the line (there is Une Rose but it's an earthy, dirty, bastardised rose; this one looks like it will be more herbal or even a fougere >just a hypothesis on my part)
    We will see what happens!

    ReplyDelete
  3. OH. MY. LORD!

    I am SO excited to hear of this... Geranium is my single most favourite accord in any perfume!! I think I will be queuing up to try this one immediately upon its release! :)
    Thanks for the heads up E!
    D.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love it when Geranium gets attention!

    ReplyDelete
  5. D,

    it's something to anticipate with enthusiasm, then!
    You're welcome. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. J,

    yeah, it's not like it's often mentioned, huh? Although it's sure used a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Geranium? How surprising... To me geranium is such a powerful note that even use of it as a part of a complexer accord is already a challenge. It's a note to be hided and disguised. To give geranium a leading part? Well, very curious what it becomes. A real challenge for a real maitre d'art.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hello, E. Thanks for reporting on this. I'm curious to see how it turns out. I feel like Ropion's work for FM is stellar -- I love all three of them. Based on this, I went to explore Amarige, Ysatis, Pure Poison, and Kenzo Jungle L'Elephant as well, but found them harder to love (at least for me)... I'm curious to see how this goes, especially if it goes in a masculine, fougere direction.

    ReplyDelete
  9. This isn't quite related to this post (though it's certainly exciting, I love Ropion's work), but, my, my, dear E., I've lost count of the number of lemmings you've inspired for me. I'm about to order some Colony and Declaration as per your instigation; my wallet cries out for mercy!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Excellent point M!
    It is quite potent, but I think this is why Ropion is doing it. He's known for that sort of work: tackling "loud" notes (tuberose, vetiver etc.)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi J! You're welcome, I couldn't resist commenting on how this might be played.
    I like a lot three out of those more mainstream ones you mentioned, although I mostly wear only two out of them. DR's work for Malle is truly great: CF and UFDC are staples in my collection.

    ReplyDelete
  12. D,

    LOL! I didn't mean to, but I guess I managed to do it, huh? Well, those two are EXCELLENT fumes, you really can't go wrong with them.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous09:25

    Ah, I very much look forward to this as well. I am another lover of geranium.

    Geranium does, in fact, already make a bold appearance in Editions de Parfum in Michel Roudnitska's Noir Epices. I discovered this one in fall last year and fell so hopelessly in love that I had to have a bottle. It still makes me swoon with its complexity, and I do not think I am exaggerating when I say it is a masterpiece.

    Thank you for posting this news! A masculine herbal floral or fougere style will definitely be welcome in the line!

    ReplyDelete
  14. J,

    great point about the NE! Thanks!! :-)
    Do note that I am hypothesizing as to whereas DR will make it into a herbal floral or fougere though: no official info on it yet. Just an educated guess!

    ReplyDelete

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