My passion for perfume had crossed the gender lines at least once and I wear fragrance specifically marketed for the so-called “opposite sex” (if there is such a thing). Some  women  have crossed much more than once. One of my first guides along the perfumed path is a person who has in her perfume collection a greater share of perfumes marketed for men than perfumes marketed for women. One time, out of her exceptional generosity, she let me look through her wardrobe and pick anything I wanted a decant from. I picked several from her favorite houses and chose one fragrance from each. Out of these, only one fragrance was marketed unisex. The rest were marketed for women. I simply did not plan on crossing gender lines.

    

I was aware of crossing gender lines through another one of my interests, that is, vocal music and opera. Seemingly, what can be more feminine than a diva? Some even model their stereotypical images of women on opera divas. And yet very often a diva, especially if she is a mezzo-soprano, takes on a trouser role – that is, puts on, quite literally, trousers and other elements of a man’s costume and plays a male character on stage.  She still sings in her own recognizable voice that is unique to her, but she now wears a man’s costume and moves about on stage like a man does, transforming herself into a divo for a night.

 

 

 

That was the inspiration for a famous mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato’s CD which is called just that, “Diva. Divo” and combines her take on some of the favorite male and female roles for a mezzo. She paired up a Diva and Divo aria from the operas based on the same story. What a way to make a plot alive! This disk has inspired me to once again  to associate the perfumes with music, this time opera characters and arias and to explore my own "trouser" acts – the actual perfumes marketed for men which I wear regularly  and love – and to try on some other ones which I now feel much closer to. Through this journey I became more comfortable with the trouser roles I take on and convinced that there are more of them for me in the store.

 

 

 

I adore Blenheim Bouquet by Penhaligon’s, no doubt a fragrance marketed for men. But I don’t cringe any more when I see it described as “a perfect scent for a gentleman” on their website since I started thinking of it as a trouser role!  I associate this fragrance’s wholesome minimalistic composition of lavender, citrus and light woods with youthful ardor of the music of Cherubino (Mozart, Marriage of Figaro). Cherubino is happy, he loves every woman he sees (true, he loves the countess Rosina most of all, but one cannot say he does not love Susanna, and after all he does marry Barbarina in the end, doesn’t he?). Even a prospect of being torn away from the estate and enlisted in the army does not take away his cheerfulness for very long. Cherubino never fails to put a smile on my face and Blenheim Bouquet never fails to make me happy either.

  

 

I was very fortunate to hear and see Joyce DiDonato in the HD transmission singing a trouser role of a page Isolier in a Rossini’s opera Le Comte Ory. Le Comte is plotting and scheming to seduce beautiful Countess Adèle, while Isolier who is truly in love with her (and is loved) walks a difficult line of saving his beloved from the dangerous embrace of his cleverly disguised master and of saving her for himself. The Diva showed how she could get into an image of a page – and a sexy one at that! Isolier, clad in the leather red coat, smiling, knowing what to do seems redolent of no other but Chanel Egoiste to me. Egoiste’s composition of spices, fruit (I get plum) and woods blends together harmoniously.

  

Do not pay attention to the crowded beginning. Wait until the lights are off and dashing Juan Diego Florez (Le Comte Ory) comes in with a candle trying to find Adele, and then the scene will get so intimate that there  is no way you can stop listening and watching!).  Of course, the truth is in the name, since Isolier ended up keeping his love for himself, but he was not even the worst egoist among the cast, and just about every character in Comte Ory was pursuing his (or her) own interest.

   

 

 

Amouage Silver  has the body made of silver, the bones made of steel, and the skin so soft and sweet that you would like to kiss and caress it. The similar contrast between sweet and strong is explored by Joyce DiDonato when she sings Romeo from Bellini’s I Capuleti e I Montecchi.  Bellini is a master of a seamless vocal lines, but Romeo’s aria is a seamless transition between soft and sweet and strong and steely as well. Romeo starts out sweetly pleading for peace between the two warring clans, but the minute he hears the news that Juliette is promised to Tibald he turns back with fury as enormous as his bare sword. I sometimes shrink away in astonishment when I hear those low notes of angry Romeo, they are so intense! But I never shrink away from Amouage Silver even though I know that it is a silver dagger you could kill with if the need arises.

 

  

I will readily admit that one of the most serious potions in my cabinet is 1740 Histoires de Parfums for men. I cannot resist its turbulent spicy start, its assertive leather and its incredibly reassuring drydown.  I found a perfect match for it in one of the newest Met Opera productions, a baroque pastiche loosely based on two Shakespearean plays and set on the music by Vivaldi, Handel, Rameau and other baroque composers. It is also sung in English (yes, I know, it sounded scary to me as well, but only before I went to the HD production).

  

I think we are experiencing a revival of baroque music, much the way the bel canto operas had a revival in Maria Callas’s time.  What I love about baroque music is its polyphony, multiple melodies, harmonies, complexity – and behind all that, an unexpectedly streamlined whole, a clear melody line, and a momentum that can carry forward a freight train. And yes, 1740 is baroque in this sense of the word as well. The way it modulates between cardamom, cumin, musk and leather reminds me of the vocal ornamentations baroque singers are allowed to bring in when they sing. 1740 plays off its different harmonies to me each time I wear it.

   

Joyce DiDonato was in this production in her Diva role, but the trouser part belonged to Danielle de Niese, a spirit named Ariel, first enslaved, bitterly complaining and trying to fight his master and break free.  Then Ariel performs spells that cause a sea to storm and people to forget their lovers and fall in love again (and I swear, that’s what 1740 can do as well, due to some serious magic of the perfumer). Finally, Ariel lures the lovers, all enthralled with the wrong matches into the enchanted forest, sings a lullaby with which you would not be able to put a child to sleep. But the lovers, weary of unrequited passion, go into a deep restful slumber, and when they awake, they are matched with their true loves. Ariel fulfilled his duty, is now free to go and the sky is his limit. And so can I, in my trouser role of 1740 which makes me feel accomplished, sure and infinitely free.

 

 

 

Sweet young Siebel is trying to woo Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust. Carrying a fresh bouquet of roses, he sings a song of love he is too shy to deliver to Marguerite in person. But oh, because of the evil spell of Mephistopheles his bouquet withers. Siebel is inexperienced, perhaps even green behind the ears, but he knows what to do. He dips his hand in holy water, holds the bouquet again… and I am instantly reminded of the holy water that Amouage puts in their gorgeous bottles. It is Amouage Lyric for men that has me always remember that the green is always fresh, roses are always blooming and the simple logical solutions work the best.

 

–Olga Rowe, Contributor