The year was 1947. Perfume maverick Germaine Cellier created Fracas, the landmark tuberose perfume against which all others are measured up to till this day. In 1999, Fashion Fragrances & Cosmetics, current owner of the Piguet fragrances liecence, enlisted perfumer Aurelien Guichard to re-introduce Fracas on the modern market after a fallow period, with a slight reformulation, working on the original formula.
The legendary white floral is now accompanied by its first flanker for the first time, Petit Fracas, a lighter, more youthful interpretation of the 1999 reformulation with cocoa. Aurelien Guichard is the nose again.
Notes for Robert Piguet Petit Fracas: Bergamot, mandarin, pear,jasmine, tuberose, gardenia, musk, sandalwood and cocoa. Petit Fracas will be available in September 2012, 100ml/$150.
The same perfumer also developed a trio of scents called The Pacific Collection according to The Perfume Magazine, named Blossom, Chai and Jeunesse. Please consult the link for more info as well as the official Piguet website (linked through the banner above).
[info via Robert Piguet press, release rephrased by me, first to report was The Perfume Magazine]
Tuberose plus chocolate? Stuff of dreams or nightmares. We'll see...
Hmmm, I thought Douglas Hannant thing they put out last year was basically the youngified version of Fracas, sigh, here we go again.
ReplyDeleteAnd I still haven't tried the DH thingie! :-(
ReplyDeleteI do hope that Piguet stays on the good course it has mapped out so far. It's a discerning brand for discerning customers, so hope they don't ruin the concept. I do have to admit that tuberose plus chocolate could be potentially lethal. Trusting Guichard though....
I love tuberose perfumes, I'm not so keen on chocolate in them and now I'm wondering if it's just my lack of imagination that is making me suspicious of the result. ;-)
ReplyDeletePerhaps the cocoa note listed will be sufficiently bitter and earthy to make this work.
ReplyDeleteTarleisio has recently written favourably on her site of the tuberose scent Flor Azteca by Puerto Rica perfumer Juan M. Perez. He surrounds the Aztec tuberose with other scent notes from the area including "chocolatl" (which is usually understood as bitter cocoa). I don't know about "potentially lethal" but she calls it a "feral" tuberose.
-- Lindaloo
ines,
ReplyDeleteit's totally plausible Guichard is thinking on an upper echelon of inventiveness than we can ever imagine :-)
Hope you're well and had a great summer!!
L,
ReplyDeleteinteresting (indeed), thanks, though I suspect that an "exotic" sounding formula by a Latin perfumer allows for more experimentation with local traditions (the Mexican/SA chocolatl) while a classic reference -such as French Piguet- is less pliable to such an expansion on what feels "classical". Just a thought on what people actually "receive" such a concept.
But as always I won't judge before I actually try!!
Thanks for the reply and the perspective of how people's possible (or likely) unwillingness to receive a new concept can constrain a perfumer's options.
ReplyDeleteThis kind of knowledge, whether offered in your posts or in your replies to comments, is exactly why I enjoy coming to your site.
-- Lindaloo
L,
ReplyDeleteI'm very happy you feel that way. Means we're (readers as much as author) doing something right, here.
Thanks for reading and commenting!