Chypre: 72 posts

“These two hues remain my two favorite colors of choice in couture,” wrote Christian Dior in his Little Dictionary of Fashion. He was talking about grey and pink, the colors that inspired many of his collections and his first boutique on Rue Montaigne in Paris, where the walls, the molds, and even the Louis XVI medallion chairs were tinted soft grey. Gris Montaigne, a new perfume from the Collection Privée, is a romantic tribute to Dior’s favorite shades interpreted by in-house perfumer François Demachy.

I probably wouldn’t describe Gris Montaigne as grey and pink if I were to smell it blindly, but the choice of delicate rose and earthy woods makes for a polished fragrance. It’s noticeable without being loud, but it has enough character to be memorable. Gris Montaigne is a pile of wood shavings drenched in rosewater, with just enough mossy, wet soil notes to keep this pastel number from becoming too prim and proper.

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Colognes are close cousins to gin, vermouth, and other spirits flavored with botanicals. Until the late 19th –early 20th century when denaturated alcohol gradually began to supplant grape spirits as a perfume base, you could safely take a swig of your Eau de Cologne. Today, I wouldn’t recommend it, but take a whiff of Ô de Lancôme, and you can easily imagine it served on the rocks with a twist of lemon. It smells exhilarating–green and lemony, with a pleasant earthy note of wet woods.

If you’re familiar with Christian Dior’s Eau Sauvage, Ô de Lancôme will seem familiar. Launched in 1969, it was Lancôme’s answer to Dior’s marvel–you see, even back then, perfume companies were happily copying each other’s blockbusters just as they do today. But while in the 1970s, it was probably just another nice cologne, today Ô de Lancôme stands out for its classical elegance and nonchalant style. You can easily wear it to the gym, to a cocktail party or even a board meeting: It’s really that versatile.

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The first thing I noticed about Charenton Macerations Christopher Street was that it was a proper, old-school chypre (a perfume based on an intricate combination of citrusy, floral and mossy notes).  At  long last, I should add. It was composed by Ralf Schwieger, author of Lipstick Rose for Frédéric Malle and lately several fragrances for Atelier Cologne and Etat Libre d’Orange.

Charenton Macerations is a new indie brand created by fragrance consultant Douglas Bender, and Christopher Street is the debut perfume from this indie outfit. The notes of Christopher Street are supposed to give an olfactory picture of this New York neighborhood, and to that end one might want to read the brief as given on the Charenton Macerations Web site. Early on, Bender wished to “…combine classical floral elements with more subversive tones of metals, smoke, watered down alcohol, wet woods, clove, burnt coffee, and dark tea” that would represent, well, a lot of things having to do with the history of Christopher Street and its casts of characters.

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When I first smelled Ann Gérard Perle de Mousse last year on a cold winter day, this delicate perfume didn’t seem quite right. Its sun-dappled demeanor needed a white seersucker dress, a picnic basket, and a mild spring breeze. In other words, it felt like a perfect warm weather fragrance that could be both casual and elegant, a rare combination.

Perle de Mousse was created by perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour for the jeweler Ann Gérard, whose warm Cuir de Nacre would tide me over while I waited for spring to come. (Ciel d’Opale is the only fragrance  from the trio that didn’t move me.) Though it’s already March, we still get the occasional snow fall here in Belgium; yet, the sun becomes more generous, prompting the freckles to bloom on my cheeks. It’s now time for Perle de Mousse.

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Jean-Louis Scherrer is one of the hidden classical gems. In the US, you might have to search for it at the discount shops, but the Europeans can easily find it at most perfumeries where it sits someplace between Ralph Lauren and Stella McCartney on the alphabetically organized  shelves. The tall oblong bottle filled with pale green liquid is not flashy, and the first whiff of the perfume doesn’t reveal anything extraordinary–leafy and peppery, with an unmistakable  wet earth note that you find in many classical green perfumes. It takes a few moments for Scherrer to weave its spell.

Classical is the best way to describe Jean-Louis Scherrer, because it’s a perfumed time capsule. Taking a deep breath of this green, earthy perfume is like stepping back three or even four decades. They don’t make them like this anymore. Scherrer was launched in 1979 by a French couturier who dressed women like Françoise Sagan, Jackie Kennedy, and Claudia Cardinale. Shortly thereafter, he added Scherrer 2 and Nuits Indiennes (now discontinued) to the collection.

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