I was out with a Buddhist friend of mine last night and the conversation got onto the subject of where Tina Turner might be.
Metaphysically, of course, since she is no longer physically with us.
( her answer was something I couldn’t entirely grasp about how her essence in the ether will have been separated into five distinct elements and that if conditions are right, she will be reincarnated again on earth in different form )
I have no real idea about that but this morning I remembered the discussion when my eye alighted on the bottle of Azzaro – sometimes called Couture – that I picked up a year or so ago – I had never even heard of it but loved the box – and had forgotten to write about.
I neglected to write anything after Tina Turner died too – the last couple of years or so things occur to me but I am not always able to bring them to fruition in the moment : I wasn’t a huge fan – though I love River Deep, Mountain High, Let’s Stay Together, Private Dancer and Gypsy Acid Queen from Ken Russell’s delirious Tommy – and liked her spirit and attitude towards life.
In the picture above she is seen with Tunisian Italian fashion designer Lois Azzaro – whose flamboyant but just so creations she favored – the classic flash the legs short tasseled Tina Dress was also by the couturier – so, rather randomly I suppose, today I am going to talk about his (rather successful – if you consider the longevity of Pour Homme – a tasteful yet erotic fougere that still kind of flies off departure lounge shelves ) range of perfumes
( spontaneous posts like these are often lost on public transport with me pressing the wrong button or whatever so I am going to publish this now and then edit it as I go along rather than getting to the end of the journey, messing it all up and then just wishing to evaporate in a puddle like the wicked witch of the west )
Azzaro dressed a lot of luminaries of the day, including the Barry Lyndon starring Marisa Berenson (divine), so it is perhaps not surprising that Couture is a stylish creation.
Very ‘Decadent Dior’ – a bit Diorella meets Dior Dior with a smidgen of Empreinte De Courreges – these kinds of dirty elegants are inherently flirtatious – filth under the flowers with redoubtable style. The creator of the scent, Jan Martel, made only three perfumes but wow, these were Jules Dior, Couture, and Paco Rabanne Pour Homme, one of the best selling fragrances of all time – and clearly had a strong predilection for the carnal lurking beneath polite surfaces – there are indoles and melon citrus, gardenia and fizzy animalics under a sheeny veneer : I don’t love it- there is something a little dead-headed here, a bit too blase, but if I ever meet a deserving disco dame whose coiffed bouffant could benefit from wearing this I might be willing to consider a donation
( hang on a sec, didn’t I meet this very person, smoking outside the Silk Road on Saturday night, partying like it was 1976 or auditioning for Brian De Palma’s Carrie ?)
Azzaro – I don’t carry boxed extraits around with me, except when I do, but it would actually have been perfect for the chick in green.
I love Azzaro! Those decadent, 70’s, flashy flowers/neon lights/carnal animalics, all covered with moss are just gorgeous! A soapy dirtyness if you will, Couture, Vu, Dior Dior, even Metal, Mila Schon are the epitome of sexy! The girl in green looks stunning btw!
I thought so.
And what do you mean – ‘even’ Metal – that is surely the best of this ilk and what my addled brain was reaching for in comparison
tBC btw.. got home earlier than I thought
I see Metal as the freshest of the bunch. The others have a certain boogie boogie disco feel. Or a sinful rendezvous après hours. A smoky environment and silk underwear. That’s the image that comes to my mind..
Perfect. It’s true – Metal is more like the bubblebath afterwards
With your Azzaro descriptions and the woman in green, I think immediately of early (very bouffant) Rula Lenska. So glad for the current revival; what a rich decade it was (from psychedelia to disco to punk, to name just a few), and what beautiful photos of Tina Turner.
Rula Lenska!
I didn’t even know there was a current revival – I was hoping it was more of an instinctive fashion anomaly – but yes.
And I was also intrigued by this more flowy Azzaro Tina
I bought my Perfumes and Scents from the 70ies on till in the 90ies at Palais des Parfums from Madame Irene at the Leidsestraat in Amsterdam. She always recommended me certain scents and we have spent hours talking. I remember her praising one of Azzaro’s first scents, don’t recall the name but remember the box. When I read you even the scent materialised fleetingly … light, fresh and with a touch of darkness in the end. That’s why i liked it. I don’t possess your knowledge of scent components, but my nose remembers verbally.
I think she recommended the male Azzaro, just called Azzaro! It was my first male perfume! She was incredible, a Southern French very elegant petite dame with black eyes and an immense knowledge of her ware. Always remembered and cherished. Never met anyone like her again.
What a treat, looking at all these pics of TT and Azzaro.