Almost never. I wear fragrance when I go out in the evening. That is to say, three times a year, about. What is a perfume? When everything is finished, one adds it like a jewel.
— Serge Lutens, answering the question "Do you wear fragrance?" in Serge Lutens: Createur Deluxe at Women's Wear Daily.
I am so intrigued by his comment! Well, Lutens’ perfumes are expensive enough to be worn as jewels. I couldn’t wear them for everyday mundance activities, they are too beautiful. I’m going to Paris in September and can’t wait to visit his Salons au Palais Royal. I’ll finally try Iris Silver Mist!
Funny! The first application of my bottle of Iris Silver Mist accompanied me to the beach. Now they are somewhat linked. But I know what you mean; I wouldn’t want to do chores in it. Washing dishes while wearing Serge Lutens would be so traumatic.
On a tangent: Tubereuse Criminelle was what I wore when I passed my kidney stone and it reminds me of laying on the couch watching TV! Thankfully, not the pain, though. I hope to have such an earth-shattering time next time I wear it as to upset this association.
Hope you’ll love ISM, it is one of my favorites
For me, perfume is more a foundation garment than a jewel. You look your best when wearing good foundations, and feel your best when you know you smell good. I think, anyway.
Well put – I agree absolutely. And there are so many great fragrances to wear! Why miss out on any occasion?
I guess if you are Serge Lutens, beautiful fragrance is laid out for you as a daily experience. For someone like him it’s not a case of ‘This is the only bit of Chanel that I’ll ever be able to afford so I’m going to go for it’. And I guess you can understand someone wanting to spend his leisure time not thinking about work.
Still, I spend a good bit of my spare time pursuing aspects of my profession, because it’s not really a job but a way of living … Oh well. Each to her/his own.
Agree!
That’s so interesting! For me, perfume is the ultimate accessory. I can wear jeans and a white tee, or a black turtleneck, or something really standard like that, and I feel the perfume I choose changes the whole outfit and gives it life and personality. It’s the icing on the cake. Like choosing the fun shoes or scarf to wear with your classic pantsuit.
But on second thought, there are days when I could start with the perfume and choose my outfit to go with my scent!
I can understand this. In some ways perfume was more of a mysterious special thing to me when I knew I liked it but didn’t really have any knowledge of it. Now that I engross myself in knowing all about it, there’s so much out there that there’s no one special one – or even 3 special ones, although I do ruthless cleanouts and right now am down to 5 bottles. It’s funny – I think my best memory of perfume is when I was 15 and asked for Coco for Christmas – my parents got me a bottle of parfum, and I was so disappointed because to me, saying I wanted a bottle meant, I want a big honking bottle – I didn’t know the difference between EDT/EDP, etc. But once I got over it, it was the best smell – really grownup. And the funniest part was I had never smelled it before – I asked for it because I thought the black and white ads with Ines de la Fressange were so wonderfully elegant. That’s what I wanted to feel like, and that’s what it made me feel like.
That’s so cute that you were let down by the Parfum! And nice of your parents, too.
I remember the Coco ad with Vanessa Paradis from back when I read YM magazine. The one where she’s tilting the bottle to the side over her head and the juice is splashing out.
Yes, it is an interesting comment but lucky for him though that many people choose to wear fragrance more frequently – otherwise his profession probably wouldn’t exist. Well, to a much much smaller extent anyway.
And I also feel that if he doesn’t dane to wear his own creations, why should I? (I am a Lutens fan BTW).
Yes, quite lucky for him, LOL…I’m a fan too, even a huge fan, but his pronouncements usually make me chuckle.
I would never save a much loved perfume for a special occasion! Special occasions may never come…..I’d hate to be looking at my perfume collection from the Hereafter, regretting leaving completely full bottles of favorites! I’ll where Amouage while I’m cleaning house, going to the grocery store or wherever! Now is what you have, enjoy it.
Yep.
Yes, Daisy I agree completely with this attitude. Nothing better than Amouage Gold for a lazy afternoon by the fireside with a good book.
If a lazy afternoon by the fireside with a good book isn’t a special occasion, what is?
That to me would be the ideal time to wear “the good stuff”, because the rest of the time, I’m too busy rushing around to even notice, much less enjoy, what I’m wearing.
Oh I so agree with you! I’ve taken to putting on my favorites (at least the quieter ones) right before bed, it’s the time of day when I appreciate them the most. I’ll sometimes go all day without (I’m a SAHM now) and then put some on before bed.
I agree with Daisy. I got over the “special occasions” issue when my aunt and uncle lost many beloved antiques in a fire. I always admired that they used many of them in every day fare and allowed me to handle them (at 15 years old). It helped to cultivate my love things vintage and old and that they should be used and appreciated.
As Daisy said if you save it for a special occasion, that special occasion may never come or it may be taken away from you unexpectedly and you never got to enjoy it!
I don’t know that SL meant he was “saving” for a special occasion though, so much as that he didn’t see it as a necessary part of a normal day? Who knows.
I couldn’t agree more. One must seize the moment. Life can change completely in a split second. I love to wear my “special” fragrances for every day use–whether I’m at work, at the gym (although I try to use lighter scents for when I work out), or going out with friends. Use it or lose it…if I would only wear my perfumes for special occasions, I would never wear them. Every day is special in its own way.
Happy Scented Weekend to all!
Happy weekend to you too!
Well, he is an odd bird, but in his defense, I believe that Jean-Claude Ellena has also said he rarely wears scent. I think he said it was because he is smelling things all day long, it would interfere with his work and fatigue his nose too much.
Yes, that makes sense. Somehow doubt SL is constantly smelling aroma chemicals though, but who knows.
Yes, that’s what I initially thought–that wearing scent during the day would simply interfere with his doing his job. When he goes out, he’s not expected to try a hundred scents, so he’s free to wear what he wants.
He goes out for the evening only three times a year? Poor Serge, you need to get out more!
He seems like one of those people that doesn’t go out because people come to him.
Ah, yes — to kneel at his feet, kiss his ring, and receive his Delphic pronouncements of inscrutable wisdom!
LOL!
I’ve been at a training all day, and was having withdrawal symptoms from not being on here….
Anyway. I’ve always said I wouldn’t trust a tattoo artist who didn’t have any tattoos, and I don’t know that I would trust a perfumer who didn’t love to wear perfume.
Yeah, what Kitty said!
HA — good point. But hey, the man makes brilliant perfumes, no doubt about it.