Alexander McQueen Circus Collection 2001 from Dazed and Confused
A treasured memory of my youth is going to the Circus. I remember being both awed and overwhelmed, crying and laughing, There were the clowns (they always scared me), holding my breath while elephants stepped over a beautiful girl on the ground and my mouth opened in a capital “Oh” looking at the acrobats swinging like birds on a trapeze.
Karen Elson in Alexander McQueen S/S 2007
Imagine asking a 30 yr old perfumer to capture all these feelings as an olfactory briefing in the late ‘90s at the height of the minimal aesthetics. Doesn’t it sound like the recipe for a flop? Fortunately, as Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam would say, the best ideas come not from reason, but from a clear, visionary madness.
Olivia Giacobetti
When L’Artisan Parfumeur launched Dzing! in 1999 (orignally named Désir de Cirque), Olivia Giacobetti was the rising star of artistic perfumery. After a brief time chez Guerlain, she signed the beautiful homage to fig Diptyque Philosykos (1996) and the floral elegance of Hermes Hiris with its unusual pairing of warm carrots and metallic orris) (1999). Mme Giacobetti ‘s transparent signature is like a floating scarf and only a perfumer of her caliber can create a fragrance that could have been a cacophonous mess in lesser hands.
All Hollow Circus Photo: Behance.net
DZING! is a masterful interpretation of a theme and Mme Giacobetti’s palette runs the spectrum of leathery, spicy, wood and gourmand notes, as tricky as a taming a wild animal under a big top made of transparent soft toned gauzy colors spun into a dreamlike softness that sparkles on the skin.
Circus Schon Magazine: Photographer Igor Oussenko Model Aspen
DZING! opens taking no prisoners with whiffs of elephant dung (castoreum) and sweaty horses. Nothing really fecal to my nose, but definitely redolent of musk and the smell of hay after elephants, horses, monkeys and big cats have spent the night. on my skin these first notes are pure genius and I can almost hear thunderous applause; there is a striking dry sawdust accord mixing with turpentine and an odd platiciized floralcy of daffodils and lilies.
P-Cresol
The sleight of hand is in her deft use of P-Cresol, which is difficult to work with. It can overpower all your senses. Instead Mme Giacobetti wraps the P-Cresol animalic and floral aromas in a memorable cellophane wrapped bouquet that would be in the performers' dressing rooms.
Photographer: Andy Silvers Circus de L'Amour
As Dzing! develops it begins to soften more on skin and the scent of the saddles are dusted with cinnamon and saffron, then sweetened and sparkles with gourmand stickiness of benzoin and vanilla. When I tried it, with its many opposing raw materials I still remember that I kept my fingers crossed (like for the girl under the elephant) and hoped that it wouldn’t crash the initial magic turning everything into a freak show.
All Hollow Circus Photographer Diana Ionescu behance.net
Mme Giacobetti walks the tightrope and never teeters. Yes it is inspired by the circus, but DZING! is the result of a true master at work, an example of a unique perfume that is the ultimate scent show and unlike any other before or after. Dzing! has all day longevity; the sillage is below average and wears very close to the skin.
Disclosure: This review was based on a sample of Dzing I got from Olfattorio, the Italian distributor of L’Artisan Parfumeur.
Ermano Picco, Contributor and Editor of La gardenia nell'ochiello
DZING! digitialized with Circus Painting by Henri Toulouse Lautrec MC
Thanks to L’Artisan Parfumeur we have a 100 ml bottle of DZING! For a US, Canada or EU registered reader.You must be registered. To be eligible please leave a comment with what you enjoyed about Ermano’s review of DZING!, a childhood memory of the circus and where you live. Draw closes August 2, 2015.
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