Culture: 426 posts

It’s with much sadness that I share the news of perfumer Guy Robert passing away on Monday, May 28th. Whether we are talking about Mr. Robert’s ravishing Christian Dior Dioressence or opulent Amouage Gold, sassy The Pink Room Parfum Pour Toi or glamorous Hermès Calèche, Mr. Robert’s fragrances are what French perfumery calls “grand parfums,” perfume symphonies. Mr. Robert’s creations also include Hermès Equipage, Doblis, Madame Rochas, Monsieur Rochas, Gucci Pour Homme (1976), The Pink Room Parfum No 1, Parfum Gres Chouda, among many others. It’s an impressive portfolio that reveals Mr. Robert’s creativity and imagination. “You need an orchestra to play a symphony, but you can make great music with just a flute,” he would say, and his perfumes, even at their simplest, have numerous layers and sing in perfect harmony.

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Classical NYC subway shot

I usually keep several notebooks in my bag to jot down any thoughts or observations.  Smelling blooming black locust treea–its flowers smell like jasmine, Indian incense and coconut water–next to a bakery makes me wonder if a toasted hazelnut note would work with a creamy jasmine note and which perfume on the market has done it already. So, into my notebook it goes. I taste a tart juice made from beets, pineapple and lime and think that it would make a refreshing sorbet. I write it down. Lately, I’ve added my camera to the things I carry around with me–my arms are going to be nice and toned by the end of the year! Using a camera to see the world around reveals a whole new dimension, and I find it fun to capture the moment. So, I’ve decided to supplement my usual weekend scented observations and discoveries with my photographs.

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1) South German, Triptych of the Virgin and Child with Saints, 1505/15

“How can you make a drawing look appetizing?” I muttered under my breath as I pushed the pencil across the white paper. I was trying to draw my first still life of two apples and a pear. “It should look good enough to eat. Also, pay attention to the light and shadows,” the teacher kept reminding us. If I were to compile the images that spell frustration to me, a scene of my 8 year old self sitting in my art class in front of two apples and a pear is one of them. How can one capture the taste, the scent, the emotion in a painting? Years later, as I started thinking more about how to capture a sensation in a drop of perfumed liquid, I began to search for clues in art.

I spent a lot of time at the Art Institute of Chicago during my student days. It has free visiting hours on certain days, and I still think of it as my favorite museum, mostly because it feels very familiar. During my visit over Christmas, I wanted to take photos of a few favorite paintings, but instead I started snapping details that caught my eye–an angel’s brocaded skirt, a hand holding a book, a glistening string of pearls on a white neck.

When I suddenly noticed the shy whiteness of lily of the valley near Santa Margareta’s cloak (painting 1), I could almost smell Diorissimo around me. So I kept taking photos of elements that conveyed a smell, a taste or a tactile sensation to me. I tried playing the game of assigning a perfume to each painting, but I was with my husband, whose fragrance knowledge is still limited, despite years of being my captive audience. He told me that I should play this game with you and let him enjoy the paintings in peace.

So feel free to join my husband in just looking at the images, but if you want to play along, tell me what perfumes these paintings suggest to you.

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Did you make any interesting discoveries over the past week–perfume, food, movies, books, etc?

In my futile attempts to keep up with the fast pace of the fragrance market, I often don’t have a chance to revisit older launches. So, over the past year I’ve decided to make more time for things that aren’t exactly brand new. In this spirit, I’ve rediscovered L’Artisan L’Eau de L’Artisan (1993), which is a zingy blend of verbena, lemon and grassy notes. It smells exactly the way your fingers do after you crush a basil leaf. It’s a cologne, so it lasts for only a couple of hours, but while it lingers, it has such an appealing verdant brightness that I don’t mind reapplying. It was  created by perfumer Olivia Giacobetti, and it bears her delicate fingerprint.

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It’s my pleasure to share with you that Bois de Jasmin won the 2011 FiFi Award for Editorial Excellence. The winning article was my exploration of functional perfumery, Luxury vs Function. I’m happy that this particular article won (my other two nominations were Red Lipstick Glamour and Building Perfume Wardrobe); although I talk on a regular basis about fine fragrance, I haven’t always recognized the art of functional perfumery. When I was first training in perfumery, I scoffed at making scents for laundry detergents, soaps and candles. You have a tiny budget, a handful of allowed materials and hardly any room for creativity. Where was the art in that?

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