From wwd.com
repost from basenotes.com
Dior’s Cologne Triumvirate
By Miles Socha
PARIS — “Old school” is hardly a term one associates with Hedi Slimane, a strident modernist whose men’s wear for Dior Homme is about as forward-thinking as you can get.
But that’s how the designer describes his new trio of fragrances for the French house. The colognes, the first since Christian Dior was founded in 1947, are meant to evoke French perfumeries of yore — with the powdery scents reminiscent of the 18th century.
“Sometimes extreme classicism makes more sense than making something else, and it sometimes feels more contemporary,” Slimane told WWD during an exclusive preview. “I wanted it to be quite disconnected with fashion timing — to signify the idea of longevity.”
The fragrances, the first created from start to finish by Slimane, are slated to arrive in Dior Homme boutiques and corners next month — a total of 16 locations worldwide.
Prices are in line with the exclusive distribution, ranging from $98.50, or 80 euros, for 125 ml. up to $197, or 160 euros, for the 500-ml. size. A scented candle is to be added to the line in December.
Slimane said the scents are meant to communicate his ideas about masculine style and allure — but allowed that women could wear them, too.
Cologne Blanche, or White Cologne, is a classic amber cologne, which includes notes of rosemary, sweet orange, orange blossoms, bergamot and vanilla, plus a sweet almond accord.
Eau Noire, or Black Water, is the scent Slimane himself wears. Described as a sweet oriental lavender for evening, it contains notes of white thyme leaves, vanilla pod, clary sage, lavender and cedar. There is also a violet stem accord.
Meanwhile, Bois d’Argent, or Silver Wood, is a woody fragrance, whose juice has notes of incense, iris, myrrh, patchouli, honey and leather.
Although Dior only expanded Slimane’s responsibilities to fragrance and beauty products a year ago, the designer began concocting a scent immediately. Indeed, when he opened his minimalist atelier at 40 Rue Francois Premier in 2001, “I wanted to have an odor that would feel and smell like Dior Homme,” said Slimane, who worked with Quest International and Firmenich on developing the formulas.
The result was Cologne Blanche, which Slimane only now will commercialize. Very perceptive followers of the Dior Homme saga might have detected a whiff of it at his last fashion show, since all the models were spritzed with it backstage.
In fact, Slimane’s beauty ambitions stretch back to his days as the men’s designer at Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, where he earned his reputation as the most exciting men’s wear designer of his generation. “I actually had a plan to do cosmetics at that time for men,” he revealed. “I left before I was able to do it, and as you know, [Jean Paul] Gaultier recently did it, which is great.”
Yet at Dior, Slimane said his first idea was to do cologne — to express its tradition of bespoke tailoring and couture and also his modern, architectural approach to fashion.
Surprisingly, for a designer hailed for his rigor, Slimane describes the packaging for the colognes as “almost non-design.”
The classic round flacon is capped with a black lacquer stopper with Slimane’s signature plissč or pleated effect — meant to evoke a cummerbund. It comes packaged in a thick Bristol board column-shaped box with the Louis XVI ornamental molding found at Dior’s Avenue Montaigne headquarters.
“The idea was to keep it totally authentic,” he said. “We weren’t faced with any marketing concerns. In this case, it’s a pure couture thing. There is no need for us to be talking to a large number of people. That was not the point of it.”
To wit: No advertising campaign is planned. “There’s no marketing at all around it,” he said. “It’s about having the cologne in an exclusive distribution.” So exclusive, in fact, that financial considerations don’t seem to be the main concern. The project apparently is more a matter of image and artistry. Dior executives did not break out projections or budgets, but industry sources estimate that the global volume of the three fragrances might amount to $1.5 million to $2 million.
Not that big isn’t beautiful, too. Slimane revealed he’s working on another new Dior men’s fragrance meant for large-scale distribution. Still, he hinted that the cologne project “really gave a different feeling of the way we should work.”
repost from basenotes.com
Dior’s Cologne Triumvirate
By Miles Socha
PARIS — “Old school” is hardly a term one associates with Hedi Slimane, a strident modernist whose men’s wear for Dior Homme is about as forward-thinking as you can get.
But that’s how the designer describes his new trio of fragrances for the French house. The colognes, the first since Christian Dior was founded in 1947, are meant to evoke French perfumeries of yore — with the powdery scents reminiscent of the 18th century.
“Sometimes extreme classicism makes more sense than making something else, and it sometimes feels more contemporary,” Slimane told WWD during an exclusive preview. “I wanted it to be quite disconnected with fashion timing — to signify the idea of longevity.”
The fragrances, the first created from start to finish by Slimane, are slated to arrive in Dior Homme boutiques and corners next month — a total of 16 locations worldwide.
Prices are in line with the exclusive distribution, ranging from $98.50, or 80 euros, for 125 ml. up to $197, or 160 euros, for the 500-ml. size. A scented candle is to be added to the line in December.
Slimane said the scents are meant to communicate his ideas about masculine style and allure — but allowed that women could wear them, too.
Cologne Blanche, or White Cologne, is a classic amber cologne, which includes notes of rosemary, sweet orange, orange blossoms, bergamot and vanilla, plus a sweet almond accord.
Eau Noire, or Black Water, is the scent Slimane himself wears. Described as a sweet oriental lavender for evening, it contains notes of white thyme leaves, vanilla pod, clary sage, lavender and cedar. There is also a violet stem accord.
Meanwhile, Bois d’Argent, or Silver Wood, is a woody fragrance, whose juice has notes of incense, iris, myrrh, patchouli, honey and leather.
Although Dior only expanded Slimane’s responsibilities to fragrance and beauty products a year ago, the designer began concocting a scent immediately. Indeed, when he opened his minimalist atelier at 40 Rue Francois Premier in 2001, “I wanted to have an odor that would feel and smell like Dior Homme,” said Slimane, who worked with Quest International and Firmenich on developing the formulas.
The result was Cologne Blanche, which Slimane only now will commercialize. Very perceptive followers of the Dior Homme saga might have detected a whiff of it at his last fashion show, since all the models were spritzed with it backstage.
In fact, Slimane’s beauty ambitions stretch back to his days as the men’s designer at Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, where he earned his reputation as the most exciting men’s wear designer of his generation. “I actually had a plan to do cosmetics at that time for men,” he revealed. “I left before I was able to do it, and as you know, [Jean Paul] Gaultier recently did it, which is great.”
Yet at Dior, Slimane said his first idea was to do cologne — to express its tradition of bespoke tailoring and couture and also his modern, architectural approach to fashion.
Surprisingly, for a designer hailed for his rigor, Slimane describes the packaging for the colognes as “almost non-design.”
The classic round flacon is capped with a black lacquer stopper with Slimane’s signature plissč or pleated effect — meant to evoke a cummerbund. It comes packaged in a thick Bristol board column-shaped box with the Louis XVI ornamental molding found at Dior’s Avenue Montaigne headquarters.
“The idea was to keep it totally authentic,” he said. “We weren’t faced with any marketing concerns. In this case, it’s a pure couture thing. There is no need for us to be talking to a large number of people. That was not the point of it.”
To wit: No advertising campaign is planned. “There’s no marketing at all around it,” he said. “It’s about having the cologne in an exclusive distribution.” So exclusive, in fact, that financial considerations don’t seem to be the main concern. The project apparently is more a matter of image and artistry. Dior executives did not break out projections or budgets, but industry sources estimate that the global volume of the three fragrances might amount to $1.5 million to $2 million.
Not that big isn’t beautiful, too. Slimane revealed he’s working on another new Dior men’s fragrance meant for large-scale distribution. Still, he hinted that the cologne project “really gave a different feeling of the way we should work.”
