Jo Malone English Pear & Freesia is the new fragrance for Fall 2010, inspired by one of the last great English Romantic poets, John Keats, and one of the most perfect short poems in English literature –  ‘To Autumn’ –  the fleeting moment of “mists and mellow fruitfulness” when the last days of summer are edged with fresh, clear autumnal airs.

 

Christine Nagel, Master Perfumer

 

For the first time since the Company's launch in 2000 by aesthetician Jo Malone, the brand is touting 'la nez' behind  one of its scents—in this case, Master Perfumer Christine Nagel. Admired for her award winning body of work including Miss Dior Cherie, Cartier Delices (she met Jean Claude Elena at that time when he was working on Cartier Declaration),Lancome Mille et Une Roses,Thierry Mugler Miroir des Envies, Thierry Mugler A*Men Pure Coffee with Jaques Huclier and Narciscso Rodriguez for Her developed with Francis Kurkdjian to name just a few.  

 

That will now change. According to Dominic De Vetta, Global General Manager at Jo Malone (when I spoke with him privately), he acknowledged that the Company (until the debut of this fragrance) never placed the nose 'center stage'. In addition, Mr. De Vetta declared that Jo Malone has a history of using master perfumers (for example, Bertrand Duchaufour created Amber and Lavender). "We need to reach out to the bloggers;we realize they are influencers; they appreciate the quality as well as the noses behind our fragrances.".He noted that Jo Malone was and always has been innovative, using basil and ginger notes over twenty years ago,which, in retrospect was quite unusual.

  

 

According to Madame Nagel,her challenge was in recreating the scent of a pear captured just at that moment of perfect ripeness, when you bite into the fruit and the the juice drips down your chin. You enter the fragrance immediately through the skin, just like when you bite the fresh fruit, and then directly after, the supple juicy pear.

 

 

Combined with a honeyed, liquid note of quince, the pear is undercut with the delicate freshness of white freesias and scrambling wild roses.  Base notes of patchouli, white amber and musk. The unconventional keynote of cool green rhubarb – acidic and at the same time soft –  lends an unusual and distinctively sensibility to the English fragrance.

 

Dior's New Look

 

Madame Nagel believes "simplicity is the ultimate sophistication". She created English Pear and Freesia using a streamlined palette to capture a complex concept (I was reminded of Jean Claude Ellena's post 2004 compositions upon smelling the scent). Key to the composition is at the base of the fragrance. Madame Nagel used  a fashion analogy…Dior's 'New Look' of the 40s, with its full skirt and hidden petticoat.The musk note, which gives structure to the fragrance, is the petticoat, hidden, but without it the skirt would collapse.

 

 

 

Madame Nagel has created the four fragrances in the Jo Malone Cologne Intense Collection, due out in August… Amber & Patchouli, Oud & Bergamot, Rose Water & Vanilla and Iris & White Musk, “inspired by the great fragrance traditions and ingredients of the Middle East” (of course,

this gives me hope that Jo Malone might be contemplating a 'Perfumer in Residence" position for Christine Nagel, similar to that of Bertrand Duchaufour for L'artisan Parfumeur…but again, that's just me speculating).

 

 

Almost every perfumista has a favorite Jo Malone Fragrance;English Pear and Freesia is now mine.

 

It was a wonderful moment when Madame Nagel agreed.

 

 

 

Available beginning September 2010 at Jo Malone Shops, jomalone.com, Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and select Nordstrom and Bloomingdales stores nationwide. Available exclusively at Holt Renfrew in Canada.

 

 

– Michelyn Camen, Editor-In-Chief