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Perfumes: the greatest hits of 2001
"The need to feel secure, the quest for purity and more gentleness in seduction..." The world of perfumery has adopted all those desires, as can be seen in the creations that marked the last season.
By Justine Hossano 01/17/02
Instruments of seduction and part of a social code, now more than ever, perfume is all about lifestyle. "It isn't just about fashion any more," says Bernard Devartanian, sociologist. Perfume creators are accommodating women and men's deepest desires and their vision of the way they live. "Bunkering" - the reinforced version of the 90s' "cocooning" - has been an established trend in the worlds of fashion and decoration for some time now. It is expressed through fabrics, shapes, seductive clothing, great comfort and colors that can be warm or sparkling, but are always lively. The world of perfumes is following the trend, or rather accompanying it, with creations that the general public couldn't miss."
Here is a panorama of the most beautiful olfactory successes of last year.
A flower in town
As we are swept up more and more into a frenetic urban lifestyle, our desire to be at one with nature has never been so deep. "A dichotomy emphasized by the pollution alerts on air, water and food of theses past few years," declares Bernard Devartanian. This desire for what is pure and clean has boosted the health-food market tremendously." A concept already validated by Oxygene by Lanvin, a great breath of fresh air. The Kenzo brand, for its part, brought in poppy, a symbol of this fragile yet resilient nature, which springs back to life wherever it can find even the tiniest unpaved space. A flower that brings the heart of "Flower by Kenzo" alive. And a real success story for the brand. They managed to capture the need for simplicity and poetry in a world invaded by technology. To enable the juice to portray all the vitality of the poppy -- which is after all a flower with no scent -- creator Alberto Morillas played with three accords: floral with Parma violet, powdery with the warm tones of Bourbon vanilla, and stimulating with synthetic products, hedione and cyclosal, giving the whole a bold and very modern freshness.
When the body has a mind
The revival of eaux de toilettes stems from the same desire for purity and lightness in the face of an environment that leaves a lot to be desired. From Mugler to Chaumet and Cartier, freshness has gained ground, but this time, it has a better hold on the skin compared to traditional eaux de colognes.
But what is more interesting in this desire to return to natural scents is the pact the body has sealed with the mind. "Spirituality has been a systematically popular value since the late 90s," confirms Dominique Rollin-Berger, a style expert at a fashion trend agency. "The use (or veruse) of the word "Zen", aptly illustrates this new interest." It's a fine line between wearing perfume just to smell good and wearing it to feel good as well. Guerlain crossed that line successfully in 2001 as his three Aroma Allegoria received a warm welcome from the public. For his creations, Jean-Paul Guerlain chose the ingredients not only for their olfactory qualities, but for their obvious impact on the mind as well: tea and safron in the Aroma Parfum Vitalisant, linden and chamomile in the soothing version, spices for their sensuousness in the exalting version.
Like a second skin
Women have changed their ways of seduction , hence the way they wear perfume, too. The generation of heady and a touch provocative perfumes has slowly given way to more subtle scents that literally cling to the body and bring out its natural smell. These are true body fragrances that demand an up-close-and-personal approach to reveal their magic. The best example of this "third-millennium seduction" is Nu, a perfume composed by Tom Ford to embody the newfound femininity of the Yves Saint Laurent House. To be in phase with the round, intense blue bottle, perfume-composer Jacques Cavallier chose to cultivate the mystery by laying the sensuousness of incense and black orchid over the sparkling note of bergamot. The spellbinding concoction quickly developed into a huge commercial success.