Perfume
Iris Cendré, Review, Press, Perfume, magazine
HIGHSNOBIETY, USA
I ESCAPE ‘POUR HOMME’ HELL & BROUGHT YOU BACK THESE PERFUMES. Article by Thom Bettridge
IRIS CENDRÉ
Powdery flowers is a scent profile that we’ve been trained to associate with granny perfumes, but in order to free oneself from the shackles of the pour homme universe, one must go there and one must commit. Luckily for the flower-curious, perfumers like Naomi Goodsir are making iris- and violet-led perfumes that turn up with hits of tobacco and a smokiness that is reminiscent of a mouthful of peaty scotch.
From the desk of Highsnobiety Editor-in-Chief Thom Bettridge, The Materialist is an editor’s letter in the form of a treasure hunt. Its mission: to look closer at the products that fascinate us as a way to better understand ourselves and our world — or just to find better stuff. For this special FRONTPAGE edition, we're taking a deep dive into fragrances.
For decades, the world of marketing has accidentally conspired to turn young men off of fragrance.
As a child of the Y2K era, I was introduced to the concept of cologne through the frosted blue abs of Jean Paul Gaultier’s bottle for Le Male. Furthermore, my eardrums will forever be stained by the voice of a phone sex operator moaning “Look at that bod” over a popular and oft-maligned 15-second ad for a product called Bod Man Body Spray. And sometime during my elementary school career, a demented soul invented a thing called Axe. (An aside, but shout out to Axe for disowning whoever took their body spray with them into the US Capitol raid.)
Flash forward to 2021, and cultural evolution in men’s fragrance space has been minimal to nonexistent. Johnny Depp and Dior’s quest to make the most racist commercial of all time might be behind us, but even the luxury end of the pour homme world still seems made for a spectrum of humanity that starts with James Bond and ends with Pauly D. Aftershave. Muscles. Warfare. Suits. Barbershops. Dark blue packaging. The mental universe of cologne marketing embodies everything tragic and obsolete about being a man.
I needed to get introduced to perfume — in particular, the lively and unisex scene of niche perfumers — in order to truly understand the magic of fragrance. With the help of olfactory aesthetes in my life, I learned the joys of reeking like a fist full of jasmine. I embraced traces of roses and oud and peppercorns and the other mysterious aromas that ran around corners in my mind as I tried to identify them. And I walked to bodegas smelling like rare species of tree.
During quarantine, I set off down a deeper and more spiraling rabbit hole, sniffing and wear-testing the nearly 200 perfumes that went into the making of this review. Cloistered in my home office, searching for base notes in my mind’s eye, it came into focus that perfume is not inherently social. To smell good around others is a worthwhile endeavor, but the real fun of fragrance comes with using it as a form of mental travel, to the kinds of faraway places, people, and memories that are uniquely evoked by the olfactory senses.
So, without further ado, here are the finest fruits of my voyage, arranged across the traditional scent-wheel categories of Green, Woody, Spicy-slash-Amber, and Floral.
Avalaible in the US from LUCKYSCENT
Art, Book, Nuit de Bakélite, Perfume
LIFETIME PERFUMES - FROM JICKY (1889) TO NUIT DE BAKÉLITE (2017)
Loin d’être une simple liste, cet ouvrage de référence propose une véritable histoire des parfums, à travers 130 ans de créations.
Jeanne Doré et le collectif Nez ont voulu mettre en lumière les 111 parfums qui comptent, qu’ils soient chefs de file, célébrés ou méconnus, best-sellers ou disparus. Cette nouvelle édition consacre un chapitre aux parfums disparus tout en présentant de nouvelles créations lancées depuis 2017.
De Jicky (1889) à Nuit de Bakélite (2017), cette sélection aussi subjective que passionnée est classée en 7 périodes marquant les grandes transformations de l’industrie. Les textes, sensibles, curieux et didactiques, s’adressent aux experts comme aux profanes, aux jeunes amateurs comme aux grands connaisseurs.
Les Cent onze parfums qu’il faut sentir avant de mourir contribue indiscutablement à l’émergence — tant attendue — d’une culture olfactive exigeante et accessible, indispensable pour mieux sentir et ressentir le monde qui nous entoure.
1880 – 1939 : L’âge d’or de la parfumerie moderne
L’apparition de la synthèse chimique dans les formules des parfumeurs bouleverse leur manière de travailler. Les créations sont alors plus abstraites et artistiques, et parmi elles demeurent des grands chefs d’œuvre comme Jicky, Tabac blond, N°5, Joy…
1940 – 1969 : Des couturiers aux hippies
Entre l’essor des couturiers parfumeurs à partir des années 40 et la vague de fraicheur à la fin des années 60, cette période riche en évolution voit naître de grands succès tels que Femme, Miss Dior, L’Air du temps, Eau sauvage…
1970 – 1979 : Un vent de liberté
La publicité prend plus de place et les parfums de marques de prêt-à-porter font leur apparition. N°19, Rive gauche, Opium, Mûre et Musc, Eau d’orange verte illustrent la diversité olfactive de cette décennie.
1980 – 1989 : Le règne du marketing
Les compositions se font plus puissantes et exubérantes, jouant sur la transgression et l’opulence, à l’image de Poison, Loulou ou Obsession, tandis que la masculinité s’affirme, à l’instar de Kouros ou Bel ami.
1990 – 1999 : Une parfumerie de fin de siècle
Le marché de la parfumerie s’internationalise, de nouvelles tendances olfactives s’imposent, entre fraîcheur purifiante et douceur régressive. L’Eau d’Issey, Angel, Trésor, Le Mâle incarnent la dernière décennie du XXe siècle.
2000 – 2009 : L’éveil de la niche
Alors que les lancements se multiplient, émerge une nouvelle parfumerie indépendante et innovante appelée « la niche ». Flower by Kenzo, For Her, Bois d’argent, Carnal Flower ou encore Terre d’Hermès ont marqué cette période.
2010 – aujourd’hui : Mutations en marche
Tandis que la niche poursuit son essor et intéresse les grands groupes du luxe, les parfums deviennent plus calibrés, stéréotypés, mais de belles créations tirent leur épingle du jeu : Portrait of a Lady, La Panthère, Misia, Cuir d’ange, Nuit de Bakélite…
Nouveau chapitre : Les parfums qu’il aurait fallu sentir avant qu’ils meurent.
Honoured to be included.
NICHE LIFE WITH NICHE PERFUME BY JESSICA SON YUAN
We are honoured to feature inside the new book NICHE LIFE WITH NICHE PERFUME by journalist Jessica Son Yuan.
IRIS CENDRÉ, BEAUTÉ GOTHIQUE
A very interesting critique, by Olivier David for Au Parfum, about Iris in general and more particularly Iris Cendré by Julien Rasquinet.
Art, Event, Exhibitions, Fashion, Perfume
CRÈME DE LA CRÈME BY DONATAS ZAZIRKAS, PHOTOGRAPHER
MOPA (Museum of Perfume Art) by Crème de la Crème - Haute Parfumerie, exhibition “Forbidden Ingredients” during ARTVILNIUS’19 - International Contemporary Art Fair in Vilnius, Lithuania.
“Choker” fashion accessory by Naomi Goodsir. Photos by Donatas Zazirkas.
Art, Exhibitions, Installation, Perfume
ARTVILNIUS'19, LITHUANIA
We are happy to announce our participation in ARTVILNIUS’19, Baltic International Contemporary Art Fair from May 30th to June 2nd, 2019 at Exhibition and Congress Centre Litexpo, Vilnius, Lithuania, in partnership with CRÈME DE LA CRÈME - Haute Parfumerie.
ArtVilnius is the only contemporary art fair in Lithuania and the largest art fair in the Eastern Europe region. ArtVilnius, which had its start in 2009, was one of the most important events in the Vilnius – European Capital of Culture project. Over the last eight years the art fair has expanded and become firmly established on the local and international art scene, as well as on the list of must-visit events for art lovers.
This is also confirmed by the statistics. Every year ArtVilnius has over 20,000 visitors, with about 60 art galleries from a dozen or so countries participating ((Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, the Netherlands, Russia, Italy, and France). The applications of galleries wishing to participate in the art fair are reviewed and selected by a jury made up of art critics and art market experts, thereby ensuring the professionalism of the galleries at the fair.
As the only art fair of its type in the region, it aims to be universally democratic. For this reason, the main objectives of ArtVilnius are not limited to stimulating the art market in the Eastern and Northern Europe region, as well as the presentation of a representative panorama of contemporary art galleries. The fair’s organisers have integrated Vilnius into the system of the most significant centres of contemporary art in Europe and have helped it become a bridge between East and West. The ArtVilnius team has established and continues to develop international contacts with contemporary art museums, institutions, curators, collectors, and journalists.
design, New dress code, Perfume
NEW PACKAGING BY NG
A graphic point of view. The form implies the function. Simple & chic. Custom design/made by Naomi Goodsir.
magazine, Perfume, press, Bois d'Ascèse
RIKA MAGAZINE AW 18
HAIR'S HOW MAGAZINE, RUSSIA
Thank you to HAIR’S HOW MAGAZINE Russia for their interview about Naomi Goodsir, part of an issue dedicated to Australia.
Boutiques, Event, Displays, Perfume
EN PASSANT PAR ... AMUGA IN BASSANO DEL GRAPPA
It was a pleasure passing by this beautiful Italian city & to introduce our perfumes to Edoardo’s customers. Amuga is a fantastic boutique to discover in Bassano del Grappa. Thank you to all Edoardo’s family.
OLFACTORAMA 2018 PARIS, NUIT DE BAKÉLITE AWARDED
Third award for Nuit de Bakélite in 2018. l’Olfactorama, Paris “Prix de l’Emotion”. It was such a pleasure to collaborate with Isabelle Doyen. Thank you to the Jury.
Since 2012, the mission of Olfactorama is to defend quality perfumery and to position the perfume as a form of artistic expression, a true aesthetic, cultural and social object. Thus, they intend to defend the existence of an activity of "critical olfactory" exerted by the bloggers specialists on their own supports, by the journalists in the written press, but also by the amateurs on the sites, forums and blogs.
Nearly 350 perfumes are evaluated each year to constitute the qualitative reference of the market: the Olfactorama Selection.
To decide between the candidates, the Olfactorama uses an unprecedented evaluation method to evaluate the quality of a perfume in twelve defined criteria.
L’OLFACTORAMA lin