...I love what Serge Lutens has done – Feminite du Bois, for instance, is a great perfume. There are not that many at the moment. I don’t want to sound like a grandfather but when I started in this business I remember going down the stairs to Les Bains Douche, a nightclub in Paris – it was the first time that I smelled Angel. I remember thinking, “Holy shit, what’s this? This is very interesting.” So I went up to the girl that was wearing it and asked her, which I always did, but now I don’t...There are not many head-turners anymore.
—Frédéric Malle, quoted in Frédéric Malle on the History, Future and Misconceptions of Perfume at AnOther.
La de dah,
La de dah,
la, la, la
🙂
He’s even more cynical than I am and he swears even more than I do. Great read.
Was a really good interview.
” Baccarat Rouge 540 perfume. I think it smells like a Kardashian,” made me laugh. Not long after R540 was released in the US, I was in Neiman Marcus smelling perfumes. A woman working at the MFK counter demanded I try R540, assuring me that I would LOVE it. I thought it was a pleasant and novel scent, but I had zero interest in buying a bottle–I didn’t even want to test it on my skin. The woman quite genuinely was shocked. I think I must have been the first person to be totally uninterested. I know that can’t be right, so no doubt others were simply cowed into enthusiasm.
I do not love BR 540 either. Doesn’t matter–it was just a funny statement.
I was laughing at that comment too!
It was a great interview. Enjoyed the article. Thanks Robin
That comment made me cringe for MFK but I’m sure he’s laughing all the way to the bank. My non perfumista coworkers were discussing BR540 and how they wanted it /wanted to smell it. I don’t get the hype but somehow it really go people talking!
I like how he describes his perfumes as specific. He’s right and l really appreciate that! So ya, l need to try Synthetic Jungle.
Fun interview to read! Thanks for posting the link, Robin.
Excellent interview. I agree with what he said about diffusion being “a bit frightening” nowadays–there are so many people who think that wearing perfume is actually rude and inconsiderate of others.
“Excuse my English,” Malle says. “But I said ‘F*ck that, they’re not going to have it, I’m just not going to sell it there. Australia is going to hate me for the rest of my life.’”
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Enjoyed this! Interesting comments on why there aren’t any head-turners these days.