Our big party (still recovering), Featureless Void, which we held at a club near the sea , in Yokosuka – was a blast – even if it almost ended in catastrophe when a pole detached itself from the ceiling and hit one of the performers (Belgium Solanas, above), who was sitting on the sidelines. Thankfully no one was hurt and the show went on. That aside, it was dreamy and expansive and a very good recharge for the love batteries – everyone said they felt really happy and at ease and I have kind of been basking in the glow in the week since.
Perfume-wise, it was interesting. Annoying in a way that people I have given so much scent to in the past didn’t bother to wear any (if not then, when ?!!! ). It was a VERY hot day as well, and some guests – having travelled in some cases more than two hours down south from the Tokyo area. would have benefited from a spritz or two of something nice; I concealed my own sweat stench with lashings of Gucci Envy For Men, which in the overly air conned space gingered forth from my person rather sexily, with lots of keenly inhaled compliments ( it was so good to be able to hug so many people after all this time ).
One friend smelled great in Electric Purple by Lalique : another in Diorissimo parfum. Belgium Solanas smelled incredible in two different cherry scents ; another smelled very ‘dressed up’ for the occasion in Coco Mademoiselle Intense – clean, silvery and ambery current, I am used to the more oystered edition that I consider one of my personal betes noires ( a relative in England gave herself two sprays of the original edt from what I think was a relatively old bottle when I was back home last summer and it was vile); on Sadnha the Intense version was much more sensual and iridescent.
Getting all the presents home the next two days was quite the joint-strainer : flowers, champagne, wine, home made gifts – one bag – we didn’t know who it was from at first- contained a luxuriantly presented bottle of Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet. Ordinarily I would probably just wrinkle my nose up at this as I stride past the department store counter ( wouldn’t you?) because I think I have just tended to lump all commercial perfumery into one category – it all just smells like duty free, that horrible, horrible, chemicalized ‘miasma’ as I often refer to it but then sometimes you realize that you are just being too overgeneralizing and swift-judgey.
I don’t know if it is only because it was from a friend, or because the special bottle the perfume comes in is rather appealing, but this 2023 new edition of Blooming Bouquet is actually very well done. Pretty, slightly melancholy, with rose and peony laced with peach and apricot nectar over the more familiar, lightly chypric dry down, I actually wore it on the grey skied second-day-after-the-come-down Tuesday morning in the silence of home and felt quite emotional.
While my basic perfume taste veers much more to the classical or artisan note centric / (the more singularly strange and beautiful, or else just effortlessly wearable), you also realize sometimes that even within the blockbusters there is evolution ; last year’s Eau Fraiche edition of Givenchy’s Irresistible, for instance, reached a pink floral loukhoum of paradigmatic perfection: similarly the red hot rouge edition of L’Interdit – so strong it was the only thing my mother could smell when she had Covid, and she likes it enough to wear to a family wedding next weekend, is so triumphantly all cylinders you want to applaud – none of the star perfumers were holding back when they set to work on that one.
And I think this is the point. I sometimes forget that the perfumers who are hired to make these blockbuster creations are artists at the very top of their game. Yes, they often have to work with banal scripts and limited budgets, and probably wish they could be more daring and adventurous, but they still always want to make something special that smells good- their professional integrity is on the line. So when Anne Flipo – author of some beautiful L’Artisan Parfumeur fragrances – and Carlos Benaim were brought in to work on an extrait edition of Saint Laurent’s popular lavender / patchouli vanilla Libre, which I smelled in a department store the other day, they presumably sat down for hours weeks and months in dialogue and experimentation – the much richer, and far more appealing – ginger and saffron emboldened orange blossom vibrating elixir (nothing new as such but still something of a sensual showstopper and much more interesting than the first version), the successful fruit of their labors. While I would myself usually prefer to be surrounded by more diffident and intriguing olfactory mystery – because I like to not understand everything, everywhere all at once (the basic message of the current popular prototypes), at the same time – as our party proved – some energized, upbeat and colourful fun is, occasionally, just what you need.
What a fabulous anniversary party!
Wish I could have gone.
That new Blooming Bouquet sounds amazing.
Not amazing – predictable. but pleasant and actually kind of elegant.
Wish you had been there as well. I also know you would have perfumed up for the occasion. What would it have been ?
I have 5mls of vintage Fracas for just such an occasion.
Or maybe Quelques Fleurs Royale Collection Privee?
Or both?
Anyhow, it’d be death by white florals for anyone coming within 10ft of me.
I WANT YOU
I would have killed for such a sillage, honestly.
People can be so fucking DULL !
The party and your amazing crowd of friends look so much fun and I really appreciate the inclusion of the little video in this post, I felt like I could be there with you, drunkenly sprawled on some sofa or other.
Regarding the mainstream scents, I wish I had the time to bother sifting through the dross, but I gave up so long ago now. It is good to know that some quality still lurks.
Just occasionally!
Wish you had been there as well – looking forward to proper conversation though in the summer – it was quite hard ‘working the room’ as we flitted from one place to another
Ah: how delightful are the record player and your verandah! Happy days. So glad the party went well. Hope you’ve forgiven The Unscented by now. I actually really enjoyed reading about your your brush with the blockbusters. Sometimes it’s also nice to hear about things that are relatively easy to come across, at least to try. And a good point about the perfumers being at the top of their game on releases like this. Happy anniversary lovelies x
Thanks E
yes it’s good not to be TOO superb and dismissive about these things – I mean you live in a house full of Chanel Bleu etc so you must have become very accustomed to the finer nuances.
The mini jungle is at the end of our futons and provides a lot of pleasure I must say as I keep adding to it. The single was a party present and it felt so nice just playing it alone
Haha! Not quite the houseful of Chanel Bleu these days. T has moved on now he’s officially an adult. Has just waltzed out on a date (is that what they call them nowadays?) drowning in Dior Homme. Unsubtle but I don’t mind it. One day I would like to sit on one of your futons. Hopefully I won’t be an octogenarian by then hobbling on it with a walking stick x
You can join me if you are in my decrepitude
Hope the date went well and the overly caramellized iris didn’t put off the other
Ps I think I might have had you in Cristalle for this one
Ah yes. Definitely the perfume of 1994 for me.
Good grief. I mean 1993! I can’t count to 30
Looks like a great party! And the pictures of you and D over the years are wonderful. It is intriguing how perfumers have such varied scents and brands in their resumes. They are seemingly not exclusively niche or designer.
Yes they must just go where the work is.
That book The Ghost Perfumer was very illuminating in that regard – being a nose actually sounds like quite a tough slog
I enjoyed reading this very much, and seeing the photos. Knowing that you like beautiful, strange and slightly melancholic perfumes struck a chord with me as that’s often what I like about niche fragrances; one of my favorites is de Profundis by Serge Lutens. I also like several of the perfumes from the Icelandic artist and perfumer Andrea Maack. My favorites by her are Smart and Coven.
Even though I love vintage classic perfumes more than anything (especially Caron)! I will always be drawn to niche fragrances as well.
Coven is terrifying !
More like installation art than wearable scent – I like characterful but not overly weird myself
Caron : oh yes MAAAAM
I love Caron so much! I used to shop at their beautiful store on Fifth Avenue in New York (long gone now) and they would fill your perfume from the beautiful crystal flacons. I wear Narcisse Blanc and En Avion in the spring/summer months and Tabac Blond, Poivre, French CanCan, Nuit de Noel and Narcisse Noir in the fall/winter months. I am dying to get my hands on Bellodgia but it must be vintage.
Your comment about Coven made me laugh. It is somewhat terrifying yet I am strangely drawn to it.
What do you think of de Profundis? I think it’s somber and melancholy, slightly dusty. I love the violets and the green notes. The chrysanthemum in it is so interesting. To me it is like no other perfume I have ever smelled. I l really like it but I must be in the right mood to wear it.
Happy anniversary!! Your featureless void was a riot of colour and sound and sensation. Such fun to see. I really admire you for having the energy and imagination to put on such an extravaganza. May you trip the light fantastic for many more years to come! Had I been there, not that you asked, but maybe Fleur Burlesque by Vilhelm, or Niki de Saint-Phalle. I’m being overly literal, no doubt. It would have had to be something “acidulé » as they say in France.
It looks like a good time was had by all, including the ones who did not wear perfume. I cannot understand how someone could go to a party like that without spraying on a few spritz’s of perfume. I would feel
naked without any perfume on. I wear perfume everywhere I go, including when I go to bed or take a walk.
It looks like one hell of a great party and that a good time was had by all, including the ones who did not wear perfume. I wear perfume no matter where I go and could not imagine going to a party without wearing it as I would feel naked without it.
I know ! To me it is and was totally unfathomable, especially when all the guests knew how much the hosts love it.
It’s weird : such a massive multibillion dollar industry and yet you don’t actually get to smell it much
Man oh man, I missed a good party.
I would have poured a pint of vintage Vol de Nuit extrait over myself and given you a D a great big hug.
What a stunningly charming array of people y’all collected to celebrate your love!! I love all the videos you share. The last one of the record spinning on the porch is such an immaculate vibe.
Trying to think of what I would have worn… probably Hiram Green’s Slowdive, it’s a beeswax bomb on me, the notes settle deeply and last forever 🧡
Ha !
I once gave that to a friend.
In the hair : disturbing, but amazing
Would love to have had you there