lanvin: 5 posts

This week as Belgium and the rest of Europe was battered by Siberian winds, I’ve enjoyed thinking about peach blossoms and pink confections. March 3rd is celebrated in Japan as Hinamatsuri, also known as Girl’s Day or Doll’s Festival. Starting in February, families with daughters put up elaborate platforms representing the imperial wedding, complete with the emperor, empress, court ladies, famous poets and musicians of the Heian era (794-1192). These doll sets are usually given by grandparents to their granddaughters as they wish them health and happiness. Since most Japanese live in tiny, cramped apartments and doll sets cost around $2000, only a few still keep to the old customs. Nevertheless, girls are still feted on this special day.

The reason I enjoy Hinamatsuri is not for the dolls but the flowers and food. March 3rd is known also as Momo no Sekku, the festival of peach blossoms. Peach trees blossom even before spring makes its first claims, and the flowers are as beautiful as they are symbolic–delicacy need not come at the expense of resolve. The fragrance of peach blossoms has a hint of bitter almond and creamy jasmine, but it’s fresh and bright. The pale color of flowers inspires the meals served on Hinamatsuri, like chirashi zushi, a bed of vinegared sushi rice scattered with raw fish, salmon roe, egg threads and pickled lotus root slices, or hishi mochi, diamond shaped rice cakes in delicate pastel shades. My other favorite is sakura mochi, glutinous rice cakes filled with red beans and wrapped in a salted cherry leaf.

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Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

Lanvin Rumeur was originally created in 1934 by André Fraysse, a perfumer responsible for a number of Lanvin classics, from the sandalwood infused floral warmth of Arpège to the incense tinged Crescendo. Rumeur was Lanvin to the core—elegant and lighthearted, suffused with both the warm fruitiness and the intriguing mossy darkness. One could just imagine a wearer of this striking beaded grey taffeta gown trailing a dark chypre veil of Rumeur. …

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Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

Provocatively named, Lanvin Mon Péché (My Sin for the American market) is a mystery novel full of unusual twists and complex subplots. From the chilly elegance of its top notes crowned with the crisp aldehydes to the languorous darkness of its floral heart and the animalic base, heavy like a sigh of yearning, it never ceases to maintain attention. Why a mystery and not a simple story of seduction? Like most classical fragrances, My Sin does not flaunt its sensuality, but treats it in a tantalizing and unpredictable manner, resulting in a composition that, like a good mystery novel, keeps one guessing until the last page.

Between 1923 and 1924, the Russian perfumer Mme Zed created a range of perfumes for Jeanne Lanvin’s fashion house, which were intended more as the scented souvenirs for travel obsessed Lanvin than the fragrances with the wide appeal. Thus, La Dogaresse captured the beauty of ochre colored Venetian palazzos reflecting in the murky waters of the canals. Geranium d’Espagne spoke of hot stone paved streets in Seville. Le Sillon reminded of the wake of a ship. A collaboration between Mme Zed and Firmenich in 1924 resulted in My Sin. It broke with the holiday postcard tradition of Lanvin perfumes, instead presenting a composition that told its irresistible story in a sexy whisper. Its success was to be rivaled only by Arpège. …

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Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

Arpège Pour Homme is the newest men’s fragrance from Lanvin, created by Olivier Pescheux. A decision to have Arpège as part of the name immediately sets up a challenge from an incomparable feminine version of Arpège, created by André Fraysse and Paul Vacher in 1927 (and successfully reochestrated by Hubert Fraysse in 1993). Yet, Arpège Pour Homme is worthy of its name, pairing crisp elegance with gentle softness.

The transparent hesperidic note sets the stage for the composition, remaining present throughout the development. While initially it soars over the peppery dryness of the top notes, its vivid clarity softens over time. An indolic note of jasmine is an interesting counterpoint to the austere and cold iris. As iris unfolds fully in the heart of the composition, it attains an almost violet-like quality from the vanillic notes, which cascade rapidly into the base. The base notes are layered with delicately sweet and powdery musk, oscillating between clean and sensual.

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Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

Among the fragrances André Fraysse created, none can rival Arpège, which the perfumer composed in 1927 for the French couturier Jeanne Lanvin, in collaboration with Paul Vacher.  Scandal (1932), Rumeur (1932), and Pretexte (1937) followed after the success of Arpège. Jeanne Lanvin dedicated Arpège to her musician daughter, Marie-Blanche, who picked the name for the fragrance.

The original 1927 formulation of Arpège is true to its name–a musical concept of arpeggio–in a sense that individual notes are played distinctly one after another instead of simultaneously. Rose dusted by opalescent aldehydic shimmer unfolds first, followed by rich jasmine.

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