Never alone: the world of fragrances is like a novel or a TV series
Two ways of approaching the choice of fragrance. You can opt for a complete collection, with a cohesive range of variants, or create your own personal style by layering different notes.
There are stories that follow a specific narrative sequence; there is a ‘before’, a ‘after’ and a ‘during’ that cannot be swapped around. If you want to follow the story, you have to read it in order, without skipping pages or events, otherwise you risk losing the thread and not understanding it. Conversely, there are stories where the character is always the same, but each episode is self-contained. The series works no matter where you start watching. In one case, reading and viewing proceed along the horizontal line of time; in the other, along a vertical axis of space, which allows for jumps, forwards and backwards.
In a way, the fragrance industry is moving towards the two extremes of the narrative possibilities offered by the multifaceted world of scents. On the one hand, there is an ever-expanding range of collections, conceived as veritable olfactory volumes – distinctive sagas with a coherent and progressive storyline – and there is the equally widespread phenomenon of layering, that is, the personal blending of multiple fragrances, not always designed to be worn together, yet capable of forming a unique and expressive relationship on the skin of the wearer. So, two paths and two emotional tones. Those who choose the first opt for the security and reliability of a mapped-out path, conceived by a professional perfumer (rather than by spontaneous subjective taste), yet varied enough to accommodate their own freedom. It is somewhat the equivalent, in fashion, of a bespoke suit or a fashion house whose style one identifies with: stepping into a trusted boutique is the quickest way to find what we are looking for. It is no coincidence that many of the fragrance collections bear the names of brands such as Zegna, Bottega Veneta and Maison Margiela. Those who prefer the latter have time to devote to a slower approach, one of experimentation and trial and error, guided by a keen sensibility for combining styles, nuances and moods. There is a playful and uninhibited element in having fun with layering, just as there is an imaginative consistency in oscillating between subtle, imperceptible, yet coherent variations of oneself. In this first part of the article, we follow the thread of the sequence, to make room, in the second part, for a series of episodes.
Psychoanalysis explains that no single piece in a collection is ever enough to complete the series. Otherwise, the collection itself would cease to exist. And if the substance is as ethereal and intangible as an essence, a collection is open-ended, temporarily defined, yet destined to continue. To the range of six eau de parfum concentrés in The Merchant of Venice’s Murano Exclusive collection, two new fragrances have been added this year: Reinaissance, featuring a unique processing of iris essential oil, rough on the earthy side, soft and woody on the oily side, and Rococò 26, lively and spicy, whilst the Murano Collection comprises six fragrances, all inspired by raw materials imported by Venetian merchants from the East.
To date, there are six ‘Memorie di Zegna’, a journey through the life of the founder, where each entry captures a moment or an object, from the Inkwell to the Wool Mill, from the Undergrowth to the Panoramica, the famous Route 232 which, with its creation, shaped the history of northern Piedmont. And there are six more—a multiple of three and the perfect number for the contemporary scent library—in the Scentsorium Collection: six genderless emotions crafted like the stages of a journey into the depths of passion, from tranquillity to rebellion, from euphoria to madness. The Mezzanotte collection by Bottega Veneta unfolds across three moments that punctuate an ideal twenty-four-hour narrative, and Bulgari has introduced three pieces of jewellery to transposePolychroma high jewellery and its chromatic exuberance into the olfactory prism of fine perfumery. A tale of life, fortune and stars that moves at the pace of a mythological fable rather than a novel, including the talismanic jewel that detaches from the glass of the bottle and can be worn as a brooch or a necklace. Finally, the very metaphor of collecting that becomes a collection: Secret Garden by Amouage. From lily to tuberose, a true anthology of the garden, a collection of flowers, as the word itself suggests. The olfactory composition is complete.
