Carlos Huber the Creative Director of Arquiste Perfumes is launching two new fragrances with J.Crew stores, No. 31 and No. 57, which is a collaboration a long time in the making. In 2012 Carlos was a model for J. Crew (Carlos is consistently on the "it list" for best dressed in New York) for their “We Know You Are Out There" ad campaign” and the idea to collaborate was born.
Perfumers Rodrigo Flores-Roux and Yann Vansier of Givaudan
Carlos Huber’s Arquiste perfumes are very well respected in the niche fragrance community, although virtually unknown to a general audience. With his long time friends and partners in perfume, Yann Vasnier and Rodrigo Flores Roux they created two perfumes, very different from the Arquiste line, but with the House’s artistic integrity and the spirit of J. Crew.
Carlos Huber of Arquiste featured in J.Crew ad campaign 2012 (Courtesy of Carlos Huber)
I asked Carlos about the new scents, “I can tell you that the process of developing these with Jenna Lyons and Tom Mora was a great process- we were very focused and worked consistently every week on each modification. They are J.Crew fragrances in all its spirit but are faithful to my values as well. I'm very proud of No.31 and No.57. They are very emotional fragrances and they propose something for a larger audience. I also think the J.Crew fragrances say something really positive about storytelling. Something I always pursue in my own Arquiste collection: we all love the meaning and value in a good story and that goes beyond price”, he explained
Art of This Century Gallery Peggy Guggenheim 1940s
The new fragrances are true to Arquiste's scent as a time capsule stories. The date is JANUARY 5, 1943 30 W. 57th ST. NEW YORK CITY; the party of the decade: Peggy Guggenheim hosts Exhibition by 31 Women, the first all-female modern art show in the United States, and displayed at her Art of This Century Gallery on East 57th Street in New York in 1943. The exhibit featured artists like Frida Kahlo and Helen Frankenthaler.
The perfumes take their cue from the beautiful scents and cocktails of the 1940s and the curved wood of the gallery. No. 57 has notes of aged whiskey, cinnamon bark, labdanum and vanilla are meant to reflect the warmth, wood and amber glow in Guggenheim’s gallery. “The red vermouth, eau-de-vie accord, Bulgarian rose, and damson plum in No. 31 attempts to capture the excitement of the crowd and essence of the cocktails. We incorporated dark plum, which was a popular note in fragrances in the Forties. It’s fruity but very elegant,” said Carlos Huber.
According to WWD, J. Crew is investing significant resources into the fragrance collection’s marketing campaign. No. 31 and No. 57 will be featured prominently in the company’s September catalogue and will have their own landing page on the Web site. The company has filmed perfumers Flores-Roux and Vasnier in the lab with Huber doing quality checks in the factories for potential use on the page. Arquiste for J.Crew launches Wednesday, August 20th at all J.Crew Locations and online.
Each fragrance comes in the following presentations: Bottle: 1.7fl oz/50ml $78 and Rollerball: 0.34fl oz/10ml $25. They are Eau de Toilettes
Source: Via Carlos Huber, J.Crew and WWD
–Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief