..this project was sparked six years ago when I gave away my cousin at her Indian wedding, which was my first traditional Indian wedding. This fragrance was about capturing the idea of an Indian bride, rather than just the wedding and I called it Flowerhead, because it was really the fictional memory that I can imagine from my own Indian wedding. The idea of marrying someone you don’t know was very interesting. There’s anxiety and excitement, and I described this person as a ‘flowerhead’, because the bride is completely covered in floral hair arrangements. — Ben Gorham of Byredo1
Flowerhead is the latest from niche line Byredo, not a brand known, I don’t think, for their florals, although they’ve done a few, including La Tulipe and the newer Inflorescence. Flowerhead got my attention in particular because it’s centered on rose, jasmine and tuberose, three floral notes I adore. Plus, the Flowerhead visuals are lovely, and the idea of a fragrance inspired by flower garlands at an Indian wedding, what’s not to like? So I tried not to be dissuaded by Gorham’s statement that it was “done in a modern way” in contrast to most floral fragrances which are “old-fashioned and not modern and smell like grandma”2 — not exactly words to warm a perfumista’s heart.3
Fear not, Flowerhead is modern, but it’s not too modern…
