In fact, in 1997, when [Nicolas] Ghesquière took the helm, “the house was existing because of the perfume license,” he says. “But what they were doing was not really corresponding to what I was doing. It was not my Balenciaga, not my vision.”
To ensure that the new fragrance captured his futuristic yet feminine aesthetic, Ghesquière sniffed his way through about 100 blends before narrowing down his choices to two. He left the final decision up to [Charlotte] Gainsbourg...
— From Charlotte Gainsbourg: Flower Girl at W magazine. The article discusses the new Balenciaga Paris fragrance. Many thanks to Tomoe for the link!
The title of the article alone caught my eye, and it’d be interesting to see what sort of fragrance Charlotte Gainsbourg decided on and a good place to start with the brand.
See below. Sounds pretty standard.
I tried it last weekend (it’s already sold at Harvey Nichols, both in store and online) and found it a fairly safe, fresh green fragrance. It’s not unpleasant and not as functional-smelling as some other recent releases but, in my opinion, a bit boring.
It seems that Balenciaga decided on a similar approach to Marc Jacobs – quirky clothes but very commercial fragrance. It’ll probably sell well.
Figures.
Hmm, I was excited after reading the article (love violet leaf), but now a bit less so after Abyss’s summary. “Fresh green” makes me think it might resemble DSquared He Wood. Still, Balenciaga is one of the design houses even close to being on my radar for their quirkiness.
If Gainsbourg likes unwashed hair, someone should get her a bottle of L’Air de Rien toute de suite. I also now want to see “Prête-moi ta main.”
Presumably she’s already smelled it, right, since she’s Jane Birkin’s daughter?
HA! I hadn’t even made that connection. Of course!
Ha…I love it when I finally know something about famous people that at least one of my readers doesn’t…usually everybody is having to explain everything to me.
Well, it’s funny… I’ve read more than once about LAdR having been made with/for Jane Birkin, and I even noted again in this article that Charlotte is Jane’s daughter, but when I wrote the above, I wasn’t connecting the dots.
Now I’m just wondering: What is it with that family and their love of unwashed hair? Eww.
You gotta wonder! But from everything I hear, the Balenciaga is very clean & fresh.