Buongiorno Perfume Lovers! I started my last day of Esxence 2013 by visiting with Joe Garces of Parfums Robert Piguet. There are three new releases coming this spring to the UK. Alameda will be exclusive to Selfridge’s; Rose Perfection will be found at Harvey Nichols and Knightsbridge will be exclusive to Harrod’s. Aurelien Guichard is the perfumer behind all three and Knightsbridge is the best fragrance he has created in his tenure as de facto “in-house” perfumer for Robert Piguet. The brief Mr. Garces gave him was beautifully simple, “Imagine walking through Harrod’s at 2AM.” Knightsbridge is a celebration of all things luxurious with an incredibly posh leather accord at its core. I am completely entranced by this fragrance and I want to wander the deserted aisles for a long time.
knightsbridge bt robert piguet
I had a hard time getting in to the CnR Create booth over the past few days and there were these amazing bottles I kept seeing as well as being interested in this line of fragrances based on astrology signs. As one would expect there are a men’s and women’s fragrance for each sign of the Zodiac. The twenty four fragrances are more based on the ruling planet of each sign rather than the characteristics ascribed to the sign. The amazing bottles I spoke of are all hand crafted to house an extrait version of the perfumes. The bottles color corresponds to whether the sign is Earth, Water, Fire, or Air. These are called the Galaxy Collection and they are each a unique piece of visual art.
CnR Create
With time running short I entered my version of the Esxence Speed Round as I stopped by Xerjoff to try the new Join the Club (JTC) Collection. My quick impression favorite is the one called Kind of Blue based on the old Harlem jazz clubs. I am looking forward to spending some quality time in this club.
Stephane Humbert Lucas who created many, or all, of the perfumes for SoOud and Nez a Nez presented his own line named Stephane Humbert Lucas 777. I tried the entire line and there are familiar beats from his previous work but two stood out on this initial sniff; Khol de Bahrein and Oumma. Khol de Bahrein is a violet and iris combo over a resinous base. Oumma is a balsamic study of oud and is for those who love oud.
Final stop of the Speed Round was at Castle Forbes where their new vetiver fragrance called Forbes Vetiver feels like a fabulous multi-faceted simulacrum of real vetiver. It is green and woody with a touch of smoke. It is going to go straight into my summer rotation.
Now it was time to head for the door while saying my goodbyes.
Last stop for this trip was the 65th birthday party of Robert Piguet Fracas. A huge cake in Fracas’ pink and black color motif complete with roman candle like flares surrounding it was surrounded by the entire Parfums Robert Piguet team led by Joe Garces. It made for an interesting piece of symmetry to my day as in the morning I celebrated the future of Robert Piguet and in the evening its past.
I have to thank Caterina Gianoli and the entire ICE team as well as Silvio Levi for giving me the opportunity to participate in this year’s edition of Esxence.
So for the final time from Milano; Ciao Perfumistas!
–Mark Behnke, Managing Editor