Postcard from Paris: November 2006
by Michael Connor, 08 November 2006
One house bucking the trend is The Different Company. In a burst of fervent activity this year, Jean-Claude Ellena’s daughter’s employer has opened a boutique on Rue Chabanais, moved two doors down the same street and released the fabulous Sel du Vetiver. This month sees the release of three new scents inspired by nature. Un Parfum d'Ailleurs et Feuilles is a green and summery remake of L'Artisan Parfumeur’s discontined Extrait de Songe, all hay, honey and orange flower water, while Un Parfum des Sens et Bois mixes cedar with sweet “wintergreen”, violet and eucalyptus. - not unlike Divine’s l’Homme Sage, to my nose. Un Parfum de Charme et Fleurs is neroli and white flowers, reworked with that modernist sheen the house excels at.
There’s a distinct family resemblance between this trio - I couldn’t tell which was which for a while - and they’re more like watercolours compared to fuller, richer and more complex scents like Bois d’Iris or the aforementioned Sel du Vetiver. The three scents are available in swanky coloured glass versions of the usual Different Company bottles
Another house releasing an autumn trio, though with wildly different results, is Marc Jacobs. This month, MJ follows up his splash cologne set (Grass, Rain, can’t remember the other: Sunshine? Breeze? Little fluffy clouds?) with another batch, this time titled Violet, Ivy and Amber. The bottles, like all MJ’s flacons, are ace. The fragrances - like all his scents - are disappointing: light, synthetic, homogenised and sterile. How can a designer that gets so much so right, get his fragrance division so horribly wrong? Available from Colette and Bon Marché.
Belgian clones Viktor & Rolf release Antidote, their first men’s scent this month, and that minimalist bottle with clever dripping wax seal is everywhere. An antidote to what? Certainly not boredom. One of the biggest launches in Sephora this autumn, it’s a heady aniseed, mint and woods blend with a sweet undercurrent that nods to Dior Homme and JPG Le Mâle. Nothing special but is likely to fill a few stockings this Christmas.
Also getting a big push in Sephora is Lanvin’s recent Rumeur. This is a treat: A restrained and elegant fruity-floral, if you can imagine such a thing, with a pale blue dusty-velvet appeal. Contemporary but decidedly non-bling, it’s refreshing to see a scent as subtle as this doing well in one of the city’s biggest shops.
Kylie’s beau, French actor Olivier Martinez smoulders from shop windows to advertise another autumn launch, this time Yves St Laurent’s L’Homme. L’Homme’s striking bottle is supposed to evoke Bauhaus, but I didn’t see any bats. The juice is touted as a nod to retro macho classics, but prepare to be disappointed if you expect something rugged and masculine: Today, “retro” means the 1990s and L’Homme is reminiscent of nothing less than that era’s gender-nullo whiffs like Clinique’s Chemistry.
I suppose this is only to be expected when a perfume company tries to associate the words “rugged” and “masculine” with a Frenchman. But then again, Martinez gets to slap Kylie on the ass when she comes out of the shower in the morning, and I don’t.
For something completely different, you need to look at one of the few niche houses that is still flying the flag for innovative scents. L’Artisan Parfumeur went through the same uninspired patch that is now afflicting its peers a year or so ago. A range of variations on old themes, uninspired summer editions and rip-off “vintage” perfumes made some fans suspect the house had hit an imaginative block: Its new release, Dzongkha, should restore the faith.
Inspired by the mountain kingdom of Bhutan, Dzongkha opens on a light lychee-liqueur note, before plunging into much darker territory - smoked tea, floral incense and leather. It finishes on a long, spicy floral note that flirts with the powdery. Despite the dark materials, this is a more accessible scent than you’d expect, with real presence. Almost enough to make you forgive l'Artisan for discontinuing favourite classics like Santal and Vetiver. Almost.
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