22 October 2024 |
EAU DE ‘90S
Come with me, if you will, to a time not that long ago when the world mourned Kurt Cobain, Friends debuted, Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson got married, and Oasis’s Definitely Maybe was climbing the Billboard charts. The year, of course, was 1994, and while Pulp Fiction and Reality Bites arrived in theaters, ckOne arrived on beauty counters.
With its outsized influence, ckOne was a vibe. The resolutely unisex bergamot, lemon, and green tea fragrance fronted by a delightfully grungy Kate Moss in an iconic ad lensed by Steven Meisel soon lined bathroom shelves nationwide. But ckOne was also part of a fragrance vibe shift—a muted response to the bold opulence of ’70s and ’80s blockbusters, such as Dior Poison, YSL Opium, and Giorgio Beverly Hills. “Make me the scent of water,” Issey Miyake famously told the perfumer Jacques Cavallier Belletrud, who would deliver the similarly era-defining Eau d’Issey. The aquatic floral, which featured a newly popular synthetic molecule, helped create a generation of breezy, modern eaux. Now, as perfumers leverage 21st-century ingredient advancements and big fashion houses return to the idea that fragrance can—and should—be a powerful, organic extension of their aesthetic, we find ourselves in the midst of another vibe shift, one that borrows from the past while looking to the future.
This fall, there are numerous nods to those intoxicating ’90s marines. Parfum Christian Dior’s Sauvage, masterfully reimagined as a new Eau Forte by the perfumer Francis Kurkdjian, offers a riff on the bestselling scent’s allegiance to wet spicy woods that is now both symbolic and literal (the formula uses a patented water-based delivery system, with no alcohol). Diptyque’s Lilyphéa, meanwhile, takes on green minimalism with a warm shot of vanilla; it’s for the girl who wore Gap Dream. The chypre for our time? Hermès Barénia, the maison’s creative director of perfumes Christine Nagel’s first interpretation of the complex citrus and mossy fragrance family that Gucci Rush, 1999’s louche violet-plum hit, once personified. It’s a signature scent for the quiet-luxury set that makes a statement with subtlety and a flowering heart. Even the gourmand wave, birthed by Thierry Mugler’s unforgettable (and unavoidable) 1992 innovation, Angel, has been carried on with Quentin Bisch’s Casa Grande for Fendi’s first fragrance collection, a melding of cherry, leather, vanilla, and tonka bean. Those with a keen scent memory will recall that Angel also marked a comeback for patchouli—the historically hippie, polarizing ingredient resurrected by The Body Shop’s popular oils—which has taken a turn for the seductive with Guerlain’s latest, a sexy skin scent that balances the ingredient’s animalic tendencies with an overdose of musk. (Not to be forgotten, the all-natural oil crowd will find nostalgic pleasure in the earthy, limited-edition roll-on from the cultish skincare brand Vintner’s Daughter.)
It’s worth noting that many of the fragrances conjured 30 years ago arrived as a salve for the tenuousness of the Y2K era—a reminder that scent can, even in a small way, help subdue our current moment of uncertainty as well. May a few spritzes of Les Parfums Louis Vuitton LVERS, Pharrell Williams’s nod to the enduring power of choosing the light, the joyfully optimistic Matin de Jade—one of the 14 scents from the new Infiniment Coty Paris collection that mine specific human emotions for an instant mood boost—and the below eaux offer a similar sense of ephemeral comfort.
Text FIORELLA VALDESOLO
THE DEBUT: FENDI FRAGRANCES
FAMILY MATTERS
At Fendi, everything is a family affair. Ever since 1925, when Adele Casagrande Fendi and her husband, Edoardo, began their fur and leather goods business, the fi ne craftsmanship that became a hallmark of their workshop in Rome has been passed on from matriarch to matriarch. Now, as the Italian house gears up to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2025, it has decanted four generations of that creative spirit into not one but seven fragrances—its first olfactory foray in almost a decade.
Each scent is housed in an arched flacon made by the centuries-old French glassmaker Pochet du Courval and crafted to reflect the essence of la famiglia Fendi. “The fragrance collection tells our story from another point of view,” says Silvia Venturini Fendi, creative director of accessories and menswear. Her Perché No (“Why not?”) fragrance, with its spicy hints of Brazilian pink pepper and grounding sandalwood, evokes sheets FAMILY MATTERS drying in the sun at I Casali del Pino, the family’s home in the Roman countryside. “I associate perfume with silent accessories that send messages about who we are or who we want to be,” adds Delfina Delettrez Fendi, Silvia’s daughter and the artistic director of Fendi jewelry. Her scent, Sempre Mio, spotlights orange blossom from the Ourika Valley near Marrakech, a nod to Delettrez Fendi’s paternal grandmother’s Moroccan roots.
The collection also salutes Fendi’s chosen family: artistic director for womenswear and couture, Kim Jones, explores his early childhood spent in Africa through notes of tangerine, rosemary, and oakmoss. But it’s Casa Grande, a nod to Adele Fendi, that offers the most literal homage to the origins of the house with a sweet, creamy cherry note and a leathery base. Adds Venturini Fendi, “Today, we can readily say that we have explored and used all the senses.”
Text EMILY PHILLIPS
Instagram: @fendi
fendi.com
THE INGREDIENT: GUERLAIN PATCHOULI PARIS
NIGHT VISION
What does it feel like to be young and in love in Paris? “I imagine walks at night with music when Paris is entirely red, lit by fireworks, the Eiffel Tower, and Hôtel Amour,” says Delphine Jelk, Guerlain’s perfumer, describing the glow of the neon sign that hangs atop the popular boutique hotel on Rue de Navarin. Although I am half-French, my version of Jelk’s quixotic vision has thus far been confined to Woody Allen films. But Jelk, who in June won The Fragrance Foundation’s Perfume Extraordinaire of the Year award for the French maison’s fan favorite, Tobacco Honey, is a master at bottling rich compelling scenes; her latest eau, the sensual Patchouli Paris, is no exception. “There’s nothing sexier than patchouli,” she says.
Jelk works with her nose, but she thinks in pictures. “I build my stories with images,” she reveals, lifting her computer screen to reveal a mood board covered with various snaps of the French capital, as well as one of an unmade bed and two lovers entwined in an embrace. “White, wrinkled sheets evoke a bit of cleanliness for me, and a bed that remembers a moment,” she elaborates, explaining that more than any Parisian landmark, it was this image that helped shape the fragrance’s composition by offering an analogy for how to treat patchouli, a contentious ingredient, in a new and unexpected way. “Even if the relationship is not easy, she’s capable of giving the worst and the best of herself,” Jelk suggests of her perfume protagonist, explaining that most people either love or hate patchouli, especially its earthy, animalic notes. So, in order to “tame” it, she overdosed it with musks, as well as iris and vanilla—hallmarks of the house of Guerlain—so that it smells as though it has been heated by the skin.
While she was designing the eau de parfum, Jelk fittingly referred to it by the code name I’ve Got You Under My Skin. “That came to me pretty naturally,” she says; as did the rosy color of the fragrance itself, which applies in a transparent burst. It’s yet another detail that Jelk says she hopes will support the transportive sensation of her creation, before declaring “Guerlain is Paris!”
Text PENELOPE FLOURET
Instagram: @guerlain
guerlain.com
THE OIL: VINTNER’S DAUGHTER UNDERSTORY
NATURAL SELECTION
Growing up with winemakers, April Gargiulo wasn’t allowed to wear perfume. Even a whiff of a fruity floral could impede her ability to analyze the rich plum and rose petal aromatics of her family’s cabernet sauvignon. “Scent was never anything I thought about wearing,” says Gargiulo, a Northern Californian native and the founder of the popular skincare brand Vintner’s Daughter. “It never smelled as good as the real thing anyway,” she says of synthetic perfume essences designed to replicate the kind of natural bounty right outside her door. But Gargiulo’s lack of interest in fragrance changed when she met master perfumer Loreto Remsing, who could translate her belief in whole, nutrient-dense plants for the skin into something for the senses. The result is Understory Volume 2, a hand-blended, 100 per cent natural perfume oil that smells like the botanical wonderland blooming beneath California’s redwood forests. Now in its second iteration (a limited quantity of the first volume launched in 2022), the unisex scent features notes of violet, rose, jasmine, moss, and soft petals; as it seeps into your skin, the warm, woody blend is meant to take you on a journey down a lichen-covered lane beneath a lush canopy.
Vintner’s Daughter loyalists will recognize similarities between the calming aroma of Volume 2 and its predecessor, which featured the same raw materials. But much like different wine vintages, each one is slightly nuanced and deeply complex. “This isn’t a scent that you put on and walk in the room and everyone is like, ‘Hello,’” Gargiulo says of the limited run of 500 bottles that arrived last month. “It’s a more personal moment,” she insists of the subtle, violet-forward blend, which happens to pair very well with a full-bodied red.
Text KATE BRANCH
Instagram: @vintnersdaughter
vintnersdaughter.com
The Collection: Bottega Veneta
Bottega Veneta creative director, Matthieu Blazy, has been busy. A mere matter of days after showing his joyous Spring 2025 collection Milan, which was also the debut of the Ark, a limited-edition lounge chair collection inspired by Zanotta’s Sacco seat, the French-Belgian designer released his first fragrance collection for the storied Italian house—and the first launch from the newly minted Kering Beauty. A collection of five scents, each fragrance features ingredients sourced from all over the world resulting in an olfactory Intrecciato that uses 100% essences of natural origin: Colpo di Sole is all about the Mediterranean, blending French angelica oil with sensual orange blossom absolute from Morocco, while Come With Me delivers a dose of fresh elegance with hints of Italian bergamot and powdery orris butter. Those looking for a more sensual, spicy eau de parfum will fall hard for the geranium and cardamom-forward Déjà Minuit and the myrrh-heavy Aclhemie, with its energizing notes of Brazilian pink pepper. But Acqua Sale, a wholly unique take on more familiar aquatic blends, stands out for its combination of woody labdanum absolute and Macedonian juniper oils, which manage to evoke the smell of salty air and seawater-soaked skin. Housed in mouth-blown glass bottles, replete with the idiosyncratic air bubbles that are innate to the centuries-old artisanal practice, no two flacons are the same; individually colored wooden caps further distinguish each scent, which sit on a slab of Verde Saint Denis marble (the Blazy faithful will recognize this tactile detail from the design of his Bottega stores). Refillable and made with sustainable materials—and 0% plastic—the fragrances represent the best of what luxury could (and should) be.
Text PENELOPE FLOURET
The Wellness Warrior: Vyrao
Yasmin Sewell has long understood how scent can impact our mood. The fashion executive-turned-entrepreneur launched her wellness-based fragrance brand, Vyrao, in 2021 to tap into this science-backed connection, going as far as to put a Herkimer diamond crystal—charged by her own personal healer—into every bottle. Mamajuju, her latest creation in collaboration with perfumer Meabh McCurtin, stays the course, boasting some serious emotional perks while offering an olfactory outlet for grounding your spirit and reconnecting with yourself. Designed to smell good and make you feel good, thanks to neuroscience-backed ingredients, the earthly scent benefits from data collected by the International Flavors & Fragrances’s Science of Wellness Program, which has been researching how different ingredients affect the brain for 40 years. “If The Sixth, our perfume for mindfulness and intuition, shoots you up into the sky, Mamajuju connects you to the earth,” explains Sewell, who achieved this feat courtesy of sandalwood for self-esteem, pink pepper to boost memory, rum absolute for warmth, and essences of red clay, a tribute to Sewell’s homeland of Australia. The sweet, deep smell of the land down under’s iconic red earth provides a guiding mantra for the perfume as well: the words “Get Down To Earth” accompany the bottle, serving as a small reminder to take a breath, slow down, and find your center.
Text AMELIA CRABTREE
The Oud: Frederic Malle
Frederic Malle’s knack for curation—and collaboration—are core to the success of his eponymous fragrance brand; by listening to perfumers, and giving them license to create what excites them most, Malle has produced some of the world’s most beloved scents. As one of Malle’s long-time co-conspirators, perfumer Dominique Ropion knew exactly where to go when he found himself transfixed with the power of oud—the smoky Middle Eastern resin that has come to define the olfactory profile of the region. Malle’s Desert Gems collection was born from a conversion between the two men, yielding two oud masterworks from Ropion in the form of the cypriol, amber, and patchouli-tinged Promise, and The Night’s blend of Turkish rose and saffron. And yet Hope, Ropion’s third riff on the smoldering ingredient, offers something new in the form of sensuality and sophistication. Capturing the essence of natural oud, in all of its prized depth and intensity, Ropion leverages smoky frankincense, earthy vetiver, and the freshness of pink pepper and juniper to imbue every spritz with a sense of calm and refinement. Inspired by the majestic, untamed landscapes of desert dunes, Hope is yet another chapter of a sensory journey that reminds us that real luxury starts with nature.
Text AMELIA CRABTREE
EDITED BY CELIA ELLENBERG
