CB I Hate Perfume has launched #106 Invisible Monster, a new fragrance in the Secret History series:
An afternoon spent on the banks of the Susquehanna River in rural Pennsylvania is the inspiration behind the latest Secret History Scent – all of which signify an important memory in Christopher Brosius’ life. This moment comes from childhood, where a lazy day traveling on a boat near the river banks left Brosius feeling like one of his favorite TV characters on an adventure, Johnny Quest.
“I remember the boat slipping slowly down the channel between the islands. I was perhaps eight. The feathery fronds of the sumac trees and the wild vines overhanging the water made it easy to imagine we were deep in the jungle and we prepared ourselves at every moment for attacks by dinosaurs, wild animals or hostile natives. Villains wielding machine guns and lasers might spring from the underbrush on high-tech hovercraft only to be repelled by our own incredible technology.
I thought often of Jonny when I was a child. I longed to share his adventures through exotic lands and always in my mind, I did. By living always in a fabulous imaginary world, I became a rather distant child. In the real one, I took to wearing black turtlenecks on every possible occasion and I yearned for my Hadji. I was certain I would be a famous scientist like his father when I was grown. I would jet around the globe constantly exploring.”
[...] INVISIBLE MONSTER is the scent of a rare Chinese orchid with a brisk lemony perfume balanced against a green jungle riverbank. Some of its notes include: Sumac, Vetivert, Oakmoss and other specially-designed accords that capture the smell of the islands in the Susquehanna River.
CB I Hate Perfume #106 Invisible Monster is available in 15 ml Absolute ($95) and 100 ml Water Perfume ($85).
(via press release)
Hmm. I thought this was going to be a tribute to Invisible Monsters, a 1999 novel by Chuck Palahniuk, (most famous for Fight Club). As I recall, one of the themes of Invisible Monsters, was that the protagonist’s true nature is invisible to the world, both when she is such a beautiful model, no one really looks at her, and when she becomes disfigured so no one looks at her. Its been a while since I read it, and Palahnuik fans feel free to correct me on the book, but it seems that these themes could be an inspiration for a fragrance.
Interesting…wonder if that was another source?