Dries Van Noten :
A portrait by Frédéric Malle
It seems to me that the enveloping warmth of Dries Van Noten’s aesthetic – enriched with embroidered Indian motifs, scenes from 18th century engravings, and stark color contrasts – springs not only from harsh Belgian winters, but also from the country’s history as one of the great trade hubs in the days of empire. Thick textures, colorful prints and Indian spices introduced a kind of domestic comfort that is now inherent to Flemish life and to Dries’ designs.
I asked Bruno Jovanovic – who possesses a flair for warm scents – to compose a perfume around Dries’ world. He decided to compose it around natural sandalwood, which he chose for being simultaneously soft and exotic, homely and unusual.
Allying sandalwood’s milky aspect with vanilla, saffron and sacrasol, and tempering it with a jasmine and white musk accord, Bruno created a lasting effect of buttery warmth, reminiscent of milky tea and speculoos biscuits, to see you through the winter. Like a couture winter coat and so many of Dries’ pieces, it is timeless, classic, and yet, ever so sensuous.
F.M.
Promise by Dominique Ropion is our newest addition to the Middle East collection, and a perfume one does not easily forget. Two precious varieties of rose, lifted by apple, pink pepper and clove, and bound to a sensuous base of patchouli, cypriol and labdanum, celebrate one of the strongest bonds in human relationships, keeping one’s word.
A new Editions de Parfums store is opening in Milan this month, designed by Frédéric Malle himself as his own Milanese pied-à-terre. Adapting his own taste to the original structure and style of the building, he has married 1940s neoclassicism with constellation of modern objects in a paradigm of architectural rigor.
Laguna B, a leader in Venetian glass craftsmanship, has created a limited edition line for Frédéric Malle of five candles in Murano glass. Colorful, playfully extravagant and skillfully executed, each candle is a unique collector’s item, never again replicated.
