“Who goes beside you into the forest on the darkest night?  In Victor Hugo’s poem, "What Two Horsemen Were Thinking In The Forest/  À QUOI SONGEAIENT LES DEUX CAVALIERS DANS LA FORÊT,  the narrator writes" by my side, Hermann seemed to me like a shadow.”

Creative director Etienne de Swardt of Etat Libre D’Orange is known for his unusual briefs which often provoke or are based in mythology.  His new fragrance HERMANN A MES COTES ME PARAISSAIT UNE OMBRE composed by Quentin Bisch of Givaudan (whose first perfume was Le Fin du Monde for Etat Libre D’Orange in 2013) is inspired by a little known poem in Victor Hugo’s Contemplations. This particular poem speaks of the dead, of darkness, of graves, of regrets, and misfortune but also of continuity and peace.  It is a fragrance for “the Alternative Self”

 In the press release the entire poem is included but it is the final line that speaks to me personally today.

“Do not dismay them through bitter irony. As in a dream, they hear our voices.”

Notes: Blackcurrant buds, black pepper, galbanum, calypsone, geosmin, frankincense, pepperwood, petalia, rose absolute, patchouli, ambroxan

100ml/125 €

Available  for sale today https://etatlibredorange.com

Via Etat Libre D’Orange

Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief