Diamond  heists and Gérard Depardieu’s tax evasion tactics aside, Belgium doesn’t make the front page news often, but the Antwerp fashion scene never fails to be noteworthy. Dries Van Noten is one of the top Belgian designers, and his colorful clothes emphasizing textures and  prints are unusual and eclectic. After walking around his store in Antwerp this summer, I felt as if I had just visited an art exhibit. I then spotted a neat row of Frédéric Malle bottles on one of the shelves and learned that Van Noten is a big fan of Editions de Parfums.

So here we have Dries Van Noten par Frédéric Malle, part of a new initiative to create a series of olfactory portraits of artists and other creative personalities. Such projects are only as  interesting as the people who inspire them, and in this case, we have an exciting collaboration. The perfumer interpreting Van Noten’s portrait is Bruno Jovanovic, and the main theme of the composition is warmth.

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What lies outside of your perfume comfort zone? Which fragrances are still challenging for you?

The other day I voluntarily donned a perfume called I’m Rock and immediately regretted my choice. I decided to test my boundaries wearing a sweet gourmand fragrance, but when I’m Rock turned into a candy factory on fire, I cut the experiment short. I don’t have a strong sweet tooth when it comes to fragrances, and I’m Rock wasn’t the best choice.

Another group of scents that I don’t enjoy are the watery, aquatic perfumes, even if they are well-made like Issey Miyake. An accent of watery notes can give a gauzy, weightless effect to rich florals like Marc Jacobs for Her, but a generous dose smells sharp and cold to me.

I still keep on trying scents, even if I suspect that they may not fit the bill for me. Hope springs eternal that I may nevertheless find a hidden gem. At worst, if a perfume turns out to be a scrubber, some makeup remover (the kind designed for waterproof cosmetics works best) is all it takes to remove the offending scent. The thrill of discovery is worth a few duds.

Photography by Bois de Jasmin, parrots testing the Belgian winter.

My first scented purchase—made when I was ten—was not perfume.  Rather, it was soap, in the shape and smell of a peach. The soap cost a dime and I was loathe to use it, since this luxurious object purchased at a church bazaar would be impossible to replace. I recall the weight of the soap in my hand and the globular shape that split in half to reveal a pit.  I adored the smooth texture of the soap and the delightful scent as I put the soap to my nose to smell the sweet, fruity aroma.

The enjoyment of fragrant soap has not changed for me.  Finding a new soap that has rich, creamy lather and sublime fragrance is always a treat.  Often, the fragrance from soap is the only one I want to wear for the day, and this is especially true when I’m suffering from olfactory fatigue.  That’s when I reach for a lightly scented soap, perhaps one with a marine or fruity fragrance. I’ve always been thrilled when a favorite fragrance has a complementary soap (or shower gel) and there are occasions where the soap is the only form of a fragrance that works for me.

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From May 5th until June 5th, 2013 the Palais de Tokyo in Paris will host an exhibit dedicated to Chanel No 5. The No 5 Culture Chanel exhibit will trace the links between the iconic fragrance and  the avant-garde movements it inspired.  There will be works of art, photographs, archives and other objects connected with the perfume.

The exhibit sheds “light on this unique and timeless perfume; whether through her favorite destinations like Venice, Russia or her villa, La Pausa or through the creations of her artist, poet and musician friends Cocteau, Picasso, Apollinaire, Stravinsky, Picabia.” Via www.5-culturechanel.com

The No 5 Culture Chanel Exhibition
May 5th until June 5th 2013
Palais de Tokyo, Paris
13 Avenue du Président Wilson 75116 Paris, France
+33 1 49 52 02 04

With the onslaught of new launches, you might wonder ends up a success and what vanishes into the perfume twilight zone populated by the 77th flanker on Very Irrésistible and minor celebrity fragrances. Every year the industry decries the fast pace of launches, and every year it goes on to produce even more. One favorite explanation is that we, the consumers, are demanding more and new things, but to me, to put it mildly, this is sheer nonsense. Blaming the consumer when the realities of making a profit in the fragrance market today have changed doesn’t make sense.

In the past, fragrance houses devoted years to developing new fragrances, because having a potential classic guaranteed consumer loyalty and established a brand’s reputation. The launches were gradual, usually starting in France or the US and slowly moving across the world. There was no expectation that a fragrance needs to be an immediate blockbuster, knocking it out of the park within the first quarter.

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