First up, two videos (one is below the jump) about Frédéric Malle’s new boutique in the Marais district of Paris. The boutique was designed by the architecture firm of Jakob + MacFarlane (and there is an article with lots of pictures at designboom).
Below those, first, a video telling the story behind the brand. Below that, perfumer Michel Roudnitska talks about Le Parfum de Thérèse, created by his father, Edmond Roudnitska.
Frédéric Malle’s second designer collaboration (after Dries Van Noten par Frédéric Malle, which debuted in 2013), will be with Alber Elbaz. Elbaz was the designer at Lanvin until last year, and was awarded the Légion d’Honneur today. The fragrance will be called Superstitious…
Mother’s Day (in the US, anyway) is coming soon — this Sunday. We posted one list of scented gifts already, here’s another.
From Bella Freud, a votive set with four 70g candles (Signature, Ginsberg is God, Je t’aime Jane and 1970) in a black presentation box. $120 at Nordstrom…
I am vocal about disliking spring. Where I live, there are always a few days in late February that feel like an elaborate set-up from Punk’d. Like newborn babes, they come: the office mates, friendly neighbors, the recently retired. They peer up into the warming blue and wonder aloud, trying to remember which way a hapless groundhog waddled weeks ago. Please don’t take spring’s bait. This year it snowed in April in the colder areas of Europe and North America and fans and news writers seemed to blame poor departed Prince. Let’s face it, in Minneapolis anyway, it usually snows in April. And snow can be the least of our worries. I am a fan of heterogeneity — I like mixed drinks and mixed company, for example — but few phrases freeze the heart faster than that euphemism “mixed precipitation”. Spring also brings wind, rain, seasonal allergies and skies the color of dead fish. Yes, the vernal months provoke a rare ire in me.
And yet, looking over my April 2011 Top 10 and Robin’s post from last year on pretty spring florals, I’ve realized I have little cause to be so sour while wearing some of my favorite fragrances. Clutching roots and branches may grow from stony rubbish, as Eliot wrote, but I have hyacinth, lily-of-the-valley, magnolia, violets and iris to console me until mid-May…
Frédéric Malle talks to Neiman Marcus (briefly) about the importance of fragrance. Then below the jump, he talks to Barneys about Cologne Indélébile, and below that, perfumer Dominique Ropion talks about Carnal Flower.