Posted by Robin
on
15 December 2010
Frédéric Malle’s new Portrait of a Lady, developed by perfumer Dominique Ropion, marks the line’s 10th anniversary. Happy anniversary, Frédéric Malle Editions de Parfums, and here’s wishing you many, many more. Oh, and can you please do jasmine next?
Portrait of a Lady is not jasmine; as many of you undoubtedly already know. It is rose, an oriental sort of rose with woody notes and spices, quite different from their earthy masterpiece Une Rose and even farther away from the powder-puff classic, Lipstick Rose. Portrait either was or wasn’t inspired by the Henry James novel of the same name — I’ve seen both claims — but was certainly inspired by, or grew out of, ideas from Géranium Pour Monsieur, Ropion’s last outing for Frédéric Malle.
The notes — raspberry, cassis, rose, cinnamon, clove, benzoin, sandalwood, patchouli, frankincense, ambroxan and white musk — sounded comfortably familiar. Fruitchouli we’ve seen plenty of lately, and patchouli + rose (to say nothing of incense + rose) combinations aren’t exactly thin on the ground. But of course this is Frédéric Malle. Portrait of a Lady doesn’t smell like your average teen-bait fruitchouli, and it’s considerably more elegant than your average patchouli rose…
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Posted by Robin
on
4 December 2010
There are those wanting to know more in a hysterical way. Honestly, we live in a world of nerds.
— Hear, hear. Frederic Malle, on perfumista culture, in Perfumer Frederic Malle delights 'fumeheads at Barneys New York at Dallas Morning News. Many thanks to Angela and March for the link!
Posted by Robin
on
18 November 2010
Frédéric Malle has launched Portrait of a Lady, a new fragrance marking the line’s 10th anniversary. Portrait of a Lady was developed by perfumer Dominique Ropion.
Portrait of a Lady is a new breed of oriental rose…
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Posted by Robin
on
29 September 2010
Frederic Malle will be appearing at several Barneys locations to introduce his home fragrance line:
“Freddie is like a fabulous character out of Proust. The mysterious cult of Frederic Malle…”
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Posted by Robin
on
29 June 2010
He made his first call to Pierre Bourdon, who had created the iconic Cool Water for Davidoff and worked at Roure in the ’80s. Malle gave him one caveat. “I said, ‘Let’s find a way not to be copied. The people who others copy go cheap.’ ”
— From Scent of Success, about the Frédéric Malle perfume line, with many thanks to Monika for the link!
