176 176

GUTTER CREDIT 177

4A flower, aD photoFgraph,O or a UT
PG memory can inspire a perfumer. But the most visceral spark? A location. By Lindsy Van Gelder 1MBDF

t began with the violet color of the sky around the Eiffel Tower at dusk—l’heure bleue, when lovers rendezvous and Paris is at its most romantic. The color of the light then made perfumer S0ophia Grojsman consider the smell of violets as an element in the fragrance that eventually became Yves Saint Laurent Paris. Grojsman knew her violets. Growing up in Belarus, a “kid of two Holocaust survivors who never was exposed to anything that wasn’t small-town,” she remembers them as the only flowers that were accessible. “I never saw a rose until ARCHIVE I was older—that was a much more

TRUNK expensive flower.” Nor did she see much female glamour in the

MATADIN/ hardscrabble postwar Soviet milieu. When she first traveled to

VINOODH Paris as a young woman, Grojsman

AND was blown away by the sexy elegance of French women—“The hair, the clothes, the makeup!”—

LAMSWEERDE and as a perfumer, she wanted to

VAN incorporate that killer femininity

INEZ into the brew.

177 178

The violet heart of Yves Saint Laurent hammock under the palm tree, such research the Jardins fragrance series, Paris (launched in 1983) is uplifted by as coconut water and pink grapefruit drawing inspiration from Tunisian gar- a sophisticated rose—and in that floral in Jennifer Lopez’s Miami Glow, or dens, the banks of the Nile, and the smell smackdown, Grojsman channeled the watermelon in Lilly Pulitzer’s Palm of the air after a rainstorm in India. “The essence of every innocent abroad’s first Beach–inspired Beachy. Mediterranean way I create our Jardins is not about giddy encounter with the City of Light. notes such as cedar, cypress, fig, mint, capturing or reproducing faithfully the orange, and citron can similarly plunk smell of a place, but rather capturing the ragrance whacks the you down on the corniche overlooking the creative idea of the place,” he explains. primitive, reptile part harbor in fragrances like Elizabeth Arden “I’m looking for the emotion, so cer- of our brains. A whiff Mediterranean and Editions de Parfums tain fragrances will be highlighted—for of perfume or cologne Frédéric Malle’s Lys Méditerranée. instance, the fig tree in Un Jardin en can trigger instant But not all places smell like orchards, Méditerranée, the green mango in Un associations with your gardens, spices, or oceans. The real Jardin sur le Nil, the ginger and water mother, a lover, a time Paris aroma is as much about baguettes, idea in Un Jardin Après la Mousson,” in your life...or a city or part of the Citroën exhaust, and the curious orang- his fragrance based on a monsoon. world. Voilà! It’s the next best thing to ey disinfectant they use in the Métro as it “You try to capture the place either - literally, through the raw materials, or a round-the-globe airline ticket. is about flowers. And ultimately, “good There have been fragrances inspired fragrances are made to become a part figuratively, to evoke the feeling,” says by locations as far-flung as Fiji (Guy Laroche Fidgi), Tokyo (Guerlain), Timbuktu (L’Artisan Parfumeur), 5SPQJDBMUIFNF
GSBHSBODFT
Russia (Chanel Cuir de Russie), African big-game country (Safari Ralph Lauren), Sicily (Dolce & Gabbana), Positano (Eau IBWF
PMGBDUPSZ
IJUT
UIBU
QVU
d’Italie), and the hills above Florence (Christopher Brosius’s A Room With A View, named after the E. M. Forster ZPV
SJHIU
JO
UIF
IBNNPDL novel that’s set there). Sometimes a perfumer will create of somebody,” notes perfumer Frédéric Trudi Loren, vice president for fragrance a fragrance that’s close to the way a Malle. Therefore they “can only include development worldwide at Estée Lauder. place actually strikes the nose. To cap- glimpses of an atmosphere in their com- Or both: For instance, she explains that ture the sensuality of Morocco, Mandy position, as their main task is to smell Michael Kors’s Bermuda contains pas- Aftel of Aftelier Perfumes homed in on like a person, not like a place.” sion flower, cedarwood, and hibiscus, ras el hanout, the cooking-spice rub So perfumers combine conventional which are indigenous to the island, as whose aroma wafts over every souk. fragrance ingredients with subtle geo- well as synthetic ingredients such as Her Parfum de Maroc uses natural oils graphical hints to create a mood—as musk that have nothing Bermudian derived from the ginger, cardamom, cin- with the black tea in Dior’s Escale à about them but which, in the perfumer’s namon, cloves, allspice, pimento berry, Pondichéry, or the red currant and pine art, can evoke warm skin and “bring and nutmeg in the traditional recipe. The needles in Paris-Moscou, Guerlain’s you to that moment in time when your result is bottled casbah. evocation of a train trip to Moscow. toes are in the fine sand.” Kors’s Capri, Tropical-theme fragrances have Hermès’s in-house perfumer Jean- on the other hand, honors a chic but olfactory hits that put you right in the Claude Ellena travels the world to rocky island that has very little natural (YV\UK[OL>VYSK

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

(1) Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle Lys Méditerranée Spicy, like a actresses. (7) Bond No. 9 So New York Notes of cocoa and espresso for European summer evening. (2) Ralph Lauren Safari An exotic, floral chocoholics and the coffee-obsessed. (8) L’Artisan Parfumeur Timbuktu scent. (3) Carolina Herrera 212 Named for Manhattan’s first area code. Mango and papyrus wood evoke landscapes in Africa. (9) Guerlain (4) Creed Virgin Island Water A unisex scent with hibiscus and ginger. Paris-Tokyo Jasmine and green tea capture this train trip from France

(5) Dior Escale à Portofino Bergamot and bitter almond from the Italian to Japan. (10) Estée Lauder Beyond Paradise A floral scent based DRURY

seaside. (6) Michael Kors Very Hollywood Inspired by red-carpet-ready on rare English plants found in the Eden Projects gardens in England. DAN

178 179

In every era, there’s been at least one olfactory homage to Paris on the market—not surprising since, Toujours Paris in addition to being beautiful, the City of Light is the headquarters of many perfume companies. 1920s 1930s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2009

Bourjois Rochas Avenue Yves Saint Yves Saint Guerlain Chanel Yves Saint Soir de Paris Matignon Laurent Rive Laurent Paris Champs- 31 Rue Laurent Gauche Élysées Cambon Parisienne

flora. So the perfumers used typically York, Rahmé adds, “each one has a differ- orange trees growing outside her win- Italian notes like basil and cypress and ent soul, spirit and attitude. Park Avenue, dow. It became the basis of a scent named blended them in unusual ways that were for example, has no buses and almost not Jerusalem or Tel Aviv but Calyx designed to telegraph sophistication. no stores. So we made an understated for Prescriptives. Editions de Parfums fragrance with tiny white flowers—very, Frédéric Malle’s fragrance Bois d’Orage ond No. 9 has made a very discreet. You move one block away in the United States (known as French business of bottling the to Madison, and there are stores and Lover in France) has a distillation of the metaphorical essence of stores. This fragrance has to be bolder, smell of Paris’s Café de Flore. Armani’s many neighborhoods in a mixture of jasmine and gardenia that Onde Extase is inspired by Japanese gei- New York City. Little Park Avenue would never wear.” shas but named after the French words Italy is designed to smell Other evocations can be as subtle as for “wave” and “ecstasy.” Go figure. like citrus gelato; New an area code (Carolina Herrera’s New And there are magical locales that Haarlem [sic] has a bold, jazzy mix of ber- York–inspired 212). And sometimes fra- may never be chemically transliterated. )gamot, cedarwood, patchouli, and coffee. grances are profoundly influenced by a “To create a perfume is an act of love, Brooklyn combines spicy and citrus notes specific locale, but you would never know and my first love is Italy,” said Ellena that aren’t usually blended. “We wanted it—the place becomes the backstory. when asked what city or country he still the fragrance to reflect the young popu- Grojsman remembers visiting the second- dreams of capturing in a bottle. But the lation and the ways it’s contradictory,” floor apartment of an aunt in Israel, and exact place in Italy that makes his nos- says company president Laurice Rahmé. “in the morning all of a sudden I felt this trils quiver? That, he says, he is “going Even among adjacent streets in New unbelievable smell” of grapefruit and to keep a secret.” ³

We asked celebrities and fashion designers: Room Spray Do you bring your own room scent when you travel? ([[OL0UU FRANCISCO COSTA: “I bring cedarwood JOY BRYANT: “I try to travel with a Many hotels use fragrance to create a chips in my bag. I also use them at home.” candle. I like Serge Lutens.” memorable environment. “Scent can ALEXIS BLEDEL: “Candles with the lid. In GABRIELLE UNION: “When I work on enhance a guest’s experience,” says hotel rooms, they really help. I use one a movie, I bring a candle to my trailer, Offer Nissenbaum of the Peninsula with lavender and ylang-ylang.” because they usually reek.” Beverly Hills, which has Anthousa room CHRISTIAN SIRIANO: “I’m all about my RACHEL ZOE: “For my hotel room? Serge scents such as grass and cucumber. Yves Saint Laurent home spray. Lutens fragrances. And there are a bunch Didier Picquot of La Mamounia in It’s sweet. And it gets the must away.” of oils I get in St. Barts every year.” Marrakech commissioned a fragrance KERI HILSON: “I travel with Jo Malone EMMANUELLE CHRIQUI: “I bring with dates and orange water—a good candles—Orange Blossom. Everywhere, different essential oils. I put them in idea, according to Melissa Biggs

PAGE. and all over the room. One on the the bath, on my pillow, to freshen up. It Bradley of the travel website indagare bedside, one in the bathroom.” makes me feel in my space.” .com. “Indigenous scents provide a

CREDITS KARA DIOGUARDI: “I have been known MISCHA BARTON: “I love Diptyque connection to the region,” she says.

SEE to burn incense or travel with candles. candles. John Galliano has one.” But winning smells aren’t always I really like vanilla, and I’m a big fan of MARK BADGLEY: “Santa Maria Novella native: The Ritz in Paris diffuses an Amber, a candle from Henri Bendel.” potpourri. James [Mischka] and I have amber accord by Maître Parfumeur et CREDITS, KELLY ROWLAND: “Diptyque Baies. I it in our drawers at home. We’ve had Gantier through the heating system. can’t even say it. But it’s beautiful.” disasters where batches of it burst New York City’s Cooper Square Hotel ZAC POSEN: “I love a gardenia and/or open in our suitcase, and we couldn’t asked Red Flower for a candle with peonies. Sometimes I will bring a candle get rid of that smell for months. It’s notes of resin, water, and steel. The PHOTOGRAPHERS’ with the scent of vetiver.” very strong.” ±+&''3&:
4-0/*.
name: Wanderlust. ±-*"/"
4$)"''/&3
FOR

179