The passing of Karl Lagerfeld

Posted by Robin on 19 February 2019 8 Comments

It is with deep sadness that the house of Chanel announces the passing of Karl Lagerfeld.

A prolific creative mind with endless imagination, Karl Lagerfeld explored many artistic horizons, including photography and short films. The house of Chanel benefited from his talent for all the branding campaigns related to fashion since 1987. Finally, one cannot refer to Karl Lagerfeld without mentioning his innate sense of repartee and self-mockery.

— A statement from Chanel on Karl Lagerfeld, who has passed away at the age of 85. Read more at Karl Lagerfeld Dies in Paris from Women's Wear Daily via Yahoo! Lifestyle.

He enjoys the challenge

Posted by Robin on 4 February 2019 3 Comments

1957 is a fragrance project that would terrify most perfumers; like a painting created almost entirely in shades of white, it is a perfume composed mostly of white musks; a reinterpretation of US musk-based fragrances, but articulated in Polge’s voice. He enjoys the challenge.

— Perfumer Olivier Polge talks to Irish Times about Chanel 1957, which goes into wider distribution this month. Read more at 1957: Chanel’s new fragrance is as subversive as Coco herself.

5 Perfumes for Palm Springs

Posted by Angela on 21 January 2019 37 Comments

February in my home town is dark and rainy. Smart Portlanders book flights for Mexico and other parts south. My budget usually keeps me home with stacks of novels and something braising in the oven, but this year I’m going to spend a week at a friend’s house in Palm Springs. I’ve never been there, and my brain is loaded with visions of the desert, palm trees, old steakhouses, and, hopefully, a good thrift shop or two.

I’ll be traveling with a modest carry-on suitcase, so I’ll probably take only a decant of a good all-purpose vintage fragrance with a warm-day, cool-night feel, like Rochas Audace. But if I were to pack a steamer trunk, here are five perfumes I’d include…

Read the rest of this article »

Mandarin Smackdown: Chanel Paris-Deauville vs Prada Infusion Mandarine

Posted by Kevin on 16 January 2019 18 Comments

As I strolled in downtown Seattle at Christmastime, the cold, moist air was scented with pungent whiffs of “fragrance” — a fragrance I would buy if it came in a bottle. No, I wasn’t smelling snickerdoodles baking in ovens, espresso, chocolate or evergreen trees; all around me floated the scents of thousands of sweet box flowers, horse sweat and…yes…horse merde. A mounted police officer’s horse relieved herself right next to the blossoming plants and created a superb floral musk bomb. (Parfum d’Empire: get on the case!) While relishing this “street accord” I thought to myself: “How many people would enjoy this scent as much as I do?” Maybe you have to come from horse-loving, plant-loving Virginia? Or England? Or just notice the floral notes in horse manure and the fecal facets of certain flowers?

When I smelled this enlivening perfume I was headed to Nordstrom to get a whiff of Paris-Deauville by Chanel — a cologne in the new Les Eaux de Chanel line…

Read the rest of this article »