News: 582 posts

In his 1701 portrait, Louis XIV of France wears red-heeled shoes.  While it seems like a minor detail, especially given the opulence of the king’s robes, the poppy red shade sends an instant message–status. Louis XIV even passed an edict limiting red heels to the wardrobes of nobility. Today, red soles are the trademark of Christian Louboutin, whose stiletto pumps cost upwards of $700. Not much has changed since the 18th century with regards to red heels and their mesmerizing effect.

The themes of status, fetish and fashion are explored in an exhibit “Killer Heels” hosted by Brooklyn Museum. “As fashion statement, fetish object, instrument of power, and outlet of artistic expression for both the designer and the wearer, throughout the ages the high-heeled shoe has gone through many shifts in style and symbolism. Deadly sharp stilettos, architecturally inspired wedges and platforms, and a number of artfully crafted shoes that defy categorization are featured among the more than 160 historical and contemporary heels on loan from designers,” explains the catalog.

The exhibit includes work of renowned designers such as Christian Louboutin, Alexander McQueen, André Perugia, Prada, Elsa Schiaparelli, Noritaka Tatehana, Vivienne Westwood, among many others. It also traces mentions and depictions of heels in paintings and sculptures, some of which date as far back as the 12th century.

Even if you can’t make it to the exhibit, please take a look at the video on the Brooklyn Museum site.

Killer Heels: The Art of the High-Heeled Shoe
Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11238
Robert E. Blum Gallery, 1st Floor
September 10, 2014–February 15, 2015

Image: Louis XIV of France by Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1701 (a detail).

Hermès is launching a new home scent collection created by Celine Ellena, the daughter of Jean-Claude Ellena, the house’s perfumer. In a collaboration with a renowned ceramist Guillaume Bardet, Ellena has composed five new scents to perfume candles, ceramic pebbles and an origami horse. The collection includes À Cheval! (pumpkin), Champ Libre (sulphur), Fenêtre Ouverte (lagoon), Des Pas Sur la Neige (taupe), and Temps de Pluie (celadon).

The candles are available in 3 different sizes: 1100 g at 350€, 620g at 250€, 220g at 150€. Each perfumed pebble is 200€. A set of 4 scented origami horses is 62€ (I had to look twice to make sure I didn’t make a mistake, but yes, they are 62€…)

The collection will be available in Hermès boutiques and in selected sales venues starting from December 2014. Via press release.

Happy news for those who’ve been mourning discontinued perfumes from L’Artisan Parfumeur–Tea For Two, L’Eau du Caporal, and Oeillet Sauvage will return to the collection in November 2014.

Tea For Two was created in 2000 by Olivia Giacobetti and was inspired by lapsang souchong, a famous smoky tea from China.  Giacobetti blended smoky notes, adding gourmand accents, ginger, cinnamon and honey. It was one of the first fragrances to be reviewed on Bois de Jasmin, and it was the fragrance I missed the most from L’Artisan.

Continue reading →

In my new article for the Financial Times Magazine’s fragrance column, Perfumes with a Twist of Japanese Incense, I discover the pleasures of incense in Japan.

I’m sitting in front of smouldering joss sticks trying to determine whether they smell of the milky sweetness of sandalwood or the raspy sharpness of cedar. A young woman with a glossy black bob lights one stick after another, blowing out each flame with a gentle wave of her hand. I’m unused to kneeling for so long, and I feel the crunch of tatami mats through my thin wool trousers. Please read the rest by clicking here.

As Kiyoko Morita explains in The Book of Incense, “unlike perfume, the fragrance of incense can be quite faint and subtle; so much so, in fact, that we can understand why the Chinese used the expression ‘listening to incense’ (wenxiang) rather ‘smelling incense’.” Even so, the delicate suggestion of Japanese incense can be found in some fragrances, whether it was deliberate or not. I mention a few such perfumes in my article.

Photography by Bois de Jasmin

One day Richard Wallace found out two things that changed his life–that he was the illegitimate son of the Fourth Marquess of Hertford and that he was the heir to an invaluable collection of antiques, including paintings by Titian, Frans Hals, and Rubens. He worked as a secretary for the Marquess, but discovering the true nature of their relation was a shock.  When he inherited his father’s collection, the apartment in the rue Laffitte, the chateau of Bagatelle, and the estates in Ireland, he was living in Paris. He married Julie Castelnau, a former perfume seller, and set about taking care of the collection. It was to become his life’s work.

The Franco-German war of 1870-71 and the uprising of the Commune precipitated his move to London, and that’s where his collection currently resides. What is more, its treasures are available to visitors free of charge; Lady Wallace bequeathed most of the collection to the nation.

Continue reading →