parfums de rosine: 10 posts

The best rendition of magnolia I’ve tried was Pierre Bourdon’s Sous Les Magnolias from his eponymous perfume line. It had the lemony ice cream richness of the southern flower, but instead of rendering it photorealistically and flatly, Bourdon structured the fragrance around a mossy-earthy chypre accord. It was a genius decision. Unfortunately, Sous Les Magnolias can be hard to find.

When I read about Les Parfums de Rosine offering Magnolia signed by Bourdon, I assumed that it would be close to his own magnolia.

Continue reading →

Who was the first fashion designer to launch a perfume? It was most certainly not Coco Chanel and her No 5. The first couturier who linked fashion and perfumery was Paul Poiret. His rise in the world of fashion happened at the turn of the 20th century. Although his success was as meteoric as his fall was swift and tragic, he left an indelible imprint on fashion and created a modern sense of couture and dressing, the very road that Chanel and other fashion designers would follow.

Poiret’s autobiography, King of Fashion: The Autobiography of Paul Poiret (V&A, London 2009) reveals him as a complex character that he was. While in its pages he can come across as pretentious and self-congratulating, his passion for art and fashion is moving. So is his openness to taking risks or even bearing opprobrium. “Do not kick up a fuss for something that is not admissible today, because  tomorrow it will be,” he writes. He knew what he was talking about it, since one of his first designs, a kimono coat elicited a vehement rejection from a Russian countess. “What a horror! When there are low fellows who run after our sledges and annoy us, we have their heads cut off, and we put them in sacks just like that,” she said. This kimono-coat was to become one of Poiret’s hits.

Continue reading →

Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

In Arabic, one can wish someone a morning of roses, “sabah al ward.” Whenever I hear the words “Clair Matin,” I think of this beautiful expression. The idea behind the newest limited edition fragrance from Les Parfums de Rosine was indeed to capture the delicate scent of pink roses as they unfold in the morning. Yet, the question that remained for me as I wore Clair Matin was whether it truly evoked a rose scented dawn for me.

Continue reading →

Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

A flower of many symbols, rose originated in Persia, where it was considered to be a masculine flower and a flower representing the divine, the ultimate achievement and perfection, since a fragrant blossom crowns its long, thorny stem. Possessing additional symbolism of secrecy and mystery, rose eventually became associated with beauty and love. Hindu goddess of prosperity Lakshmi, whose beauty was considered unrivaled, is supposed to have been born from a rose composed of 108 large and 1,008 small petals. Roman goddess of love, Venus, counted rose among her emblems.

In this light, it is fitting that the newest Les Parfums de Rosine fragrance should intertwine the themes of love and rose. Rose d’Amour was created by Camille Latron, the nose behind Rosa Flamenca. The aldehydic touch makes Rose d’Amour as classical as a bouquet of red roses. However, in contrast to the classical interpretations, Rose d’Amour is barely touched by the sparkling aldehydic veil, which lends a lovely luminous counterpoint to the rich floral motif coursing through the arrangement. …

Continue reading →

Focus on rose in a fragrance designated for men seems like a radical offering, yet as my recent interview with sociologist Marcello Aspria revealed, there is nothing quintessentially feminine about rose, other than the meaning afforded to it in a given social context. In the Middle East, rose based fragrances are very popular among men, where rose plays an important role in the religious symbolism.

For the newest offering from Les Parfums de Rosine, François Robert created a rose that is devoid of sunny sweetness and honeyed richness. Instead, the rose in Rose d’Homme is accented by the lemony coriander in the top notes and the earthiness of vetiver in the base. It is a rose that vacillates between waxy petal and woody stem, settling only in the heart, where the floral accord lightens and turns sweeter.

Continue reading →