I would have to say that one of my favorite people in all of perfumery is Victoria Christian the daughter of Clive Christian. I have had the great pleasure of meeting her a few times and every time I walk away thinking what a fun, intelligent, and sophisticated person she is. There are two new Clive Christian fragrances which are named after her simply called V for Men and V for Women.
Recently it was announced that Los Angeles-based perfume emporium Scent Bar was launching a new collection of bath and body products in partnership with Target stores. I decided to adopt a wait-and-see attitude, because I know that snobbery can come back to bite you in the butt, and I’m glad I did. I received a nice array of the products to test, and I am happy to say they are really good.
Ground Zero smelled of concrete, smoke, dust, glass and death. And then, all too suddenly, it didn’t smell of anything. Perfume, I realized, is the scent of life itself: an intermingling of different smells which, at any given time, combine and pass a threshold, entering our minds as a whole.
One of the best discoveries last year was the Australian perfume house of Tommi Sooni. Creative Director Steven Broadhurst and perfumer Brent Schlitter have a very synchronized vision and I wanted to see a Tommi Sooni fragrance which was inspired by Australia and the rich floral environment that exists down there. Passerelle is that fragrance.
Every perfumista I know has, at one time or another, wanted their “own perfume” or has “osmagined” the perfect perfume. I was lucky enough to receive such a perfume (inspired by my suggestions and blended flawlessly by the perfumer Adam Gottschalk of Lord’s Jester) this past March, as a birthday gift. My bespoke perfume was named after one of my favorite stories in Greek mythology, Persephone.
Ben Gorham, the Founder and Creative Director of Byredo Parfums, envisioned his newest addition to the line as a true tribute to the Middle East, a part of the world he has visited frequently. I have never traveled to that part of the world, and might not in my lifetime, but if wearing Bullion takes me there, it’s a very fragrant place to visit.
