Histoires de Parfums - Defile New York

Thank you, JC! You are our perfume intelligence!! I like your posting of news!

I have recently fallen in love with Moulin Rouge, so this is interesting. What are the prices at such a small quantity??

As for Henri Bendel, I was not impressed with the Etat Libre d'Orange Bendelirious. It broke my heart. To "candy-like" for my tastes. I was lookng for something less mainstream.

Thanks for sharing this; it sounds quite interesting!

It's times like this I wish I had more immediate access to New York . . . interesting bunch of notes, it's almost like three genres of perfume slammed in on top each other.

I'm always on the look out for Histoires de Parfums releases. Would love to sample this - the pyramid looks intriguing indeed!

This is great news, thanks for sharing. Now perhaps Bendels will carry the entire line.

I bought a bottle of Défilé last night at Henri Bendel's and also got to meet Gérald Ghislain, the man behind Histoires de Parfums; he signed my bottle, which was very nice. This is actually the first fragrance from the house that I've smelled (I also picked up 14ml bottles of a bunch of other scents from the line as well), and it is astonishing. I'm shocked that a fragrance this interesting and masterfully made was created with such limited distribution in mind.

As befits a fragrance with such a unique collection of notes, this is a highly nonlinear fragrance. It starts with crisp green, and right out of the bottle feels like a sparkling green fragrance with a touch of warmth given by the base notes. Quickly, though, the fragrance settles into a dance between the green notes (grass, etc), the mint, and the ambery/gourmandy base notes. I was surprised by how well the notes work together, but then I realized that the genius of this fragrance is that the mint acts as a sort of bridge between the green notes and the warm notes.

This is not a mint-heavy fragrance (which is good, because I don't like mint), but the mint is the key to the whole structure. As Défilé dries down, it becomes variously: gourmandy, green, minty-green, ambery. The balance between green and amber shifts and sometimes becomes almost bizarre, but in a good, novel way. At the extreme dry-down it reminds me of a warmer version of Geranium Pour Monsieur, and the coffee/chocolate/vanilla come out to give a hint of sweet mixed drinks or a warm dessert. But again, the green notes keep this from becoming too sweet: it never becomes cloying or overly edible. This is not a sweet, thick fragrance, but rather smooth and streamlined.

Anyhow, I am blown away. This is a brilliant fragrance and it must have been a huge amount of work to balance these notes, which represent a combination I've never seen before. I'm torn between hoping such a groundbreaking fragrance gets a wider release, versus wanting my bottle to be a sought-after holy-grail scent.

There were some bottles left at the end of the night. I don't know what they're going to do with them, but if this sounds even remotely like something you'd like, call Bendel's and see if you can get a bottle. You will not be disappointed. (As for price, it was at the same price point as the rest of the bottles in the line.)

Longexact, great description of it! I actually went to Bendel's today, and they're still selling the remaining bottles. (They even have a couple of signed ones left; so I got me one!)
Kevin, they actually do carry the entire line now. (I'm guessing it's because Takashimaya, which used to carry it, closed down across the street.)
Diamondflame, if you'd like to try it, I'm offering decants of it on my page below..

Lovely description Longexact, can't wait to give it a sniff. HdP has quite a few beauties in their line-up.

Thanks for taking the time for the great description, Longexact

Sure sounds interesting - after 1969 I can certainly see HdP playing with gourmand notes in an interesting / unexpected way - the mint touch makes sense, too. Cool.

How would you describe it in terms of gender? In other words, do you find it to be masculine, feminine or unisex?

In keeping with most of the scents from this line that I've smelled, I'd say that it's a straight down the line unisex. I can't really discern the floral note; it must be part of the general green aspect. The sweet notes don't come off as too sweet either.

Mr. R thank you for the decant of this perfume. This is something interesting. On the first spray, you can smell a lot of things going on! It's sweet and fresh and crisp, and green, metallic, and many more! It's interestingly weird!

I have worn this one several times now and, frankly, Longexact has nailed it beautifully

I read that part of the analogy the scent was looking to make was that traditionally the NY Fashion Week involved being near a big lawn in Manhattan (?) and I get that one, but it's handled in a more subtle way that L'Eau d'Artisan / Eau de Campagne where the freshly cut grass thing is very, very obvious. With Defile it's just part of the idea, there is a lot more going one right from the start.

The ongoing interplay between a lawn somewhere nearby and people drinking coffee, with dark chocolate maybe, in the near distance is the picture I get, with some nice interludes between the action. Works nicely for me - it's quite a happy scent.

it is indeed!