Next up from Frédéric Malle will be Dries Van Noten par Frédéric Malle, a new fragrance made in collaboration with the Belgian designer, and the first of "a series of fragrance portraits of highly creative, interesting people".
The modern oriental was developed by perfumer Bruno Jovanovic; the notes include “soft, sweet, creamy and milky” sandalwood, plus saffron, vanilla, jasmine and musks.
Dries Van Noten par Frédéric Malle will be available in 50 ($185) and 100 ($265) ml. It will launch this month, but will not reach the US until April.
(via wwd)
Update: Additional notes include bergamot, lemon, nutmeg, clove, patchouli, violet wood, sacraosol (sulfurol) and Peruvian balm. (via fashionmonitor)
Another update: see a review of Dries Van Noten par Frédéric Malle.
w a n t.
It sounds nice — look forward to trying it.
i’m happy he did this in collaboration with Malle rather than having a go at fragrance on his own with a license. And it sounds lovely!
Would think that was wise for both parties.
Yeah, I definitely see this as burnishing the high-brow credentials of both parties. If anything I’m surprised that more designers don’t want to go this route–to do fragrances that match/enhance their high-art brand. I realize mass market fragrances offer fast cash, but luxury brands tend to make a lot of choices that aren’t immediately lucrative, for the sake of establishing or preserving their cachet. It’s curious to me where they think it’s ok to do things with more mass-appeal and where it’s def not (mediocre fragrance, yes; size 14 dress, no.)
I kind of doubt many get the chance…doubt anyone turns down Frederic Malle unless they have bigger plans.
Hahaha, well yes I suppose there is that! But he’s not literally the only high-brow perfumer who could plausibly lend cachet to design houses– and vice versa, as actually sometimes the reverse surprises me as well, that fairly exclusive fragrance lines collaborate with much wider-market partners. Feels surprising to me that Le Labo has collaborated with Anthropologie and Fairmont Hotels–it strikes me that they could have positioned themselves instead as, say, a Band of Outsiders and SoHo House partner (i.e. more exclusive art-y brands.)
I mean, I am certainly happy some of their work is more widely available, and I am sure the money was very good on both of those deals! Just interesting to me, as a matter of brand strategy.
This is my kind of celebrity scent – for once, “highly creative and interesting” is indeed an accurate description. I’m really curious to see how van Noten’s vision translates into fragrance. Hope it’s not too sweet, as sweet is usually problematic for me and I would never describe Dries van Noten’s style as sweet either. It would be interesting to compare this one to the new Marni, as I think of those designers as occupying similar territory – no obsession with “sexy”, refined use of color and print, a general thoughtfulness. Not that their stuff looks the same, of course, and while Marni can be described as “quirky”, van Noten is more of an intellectual.
well said, I fully agree – and I love my vintage van Noten overcoat, so that makes me an intellectual? 🙂
You’ve got excellent taste in designers and comments, so of course you are an intellectual ;)!
Ooh, envious of your overcoat! Favorite scent to wear with it?
You know way more about both brands than I do 🙂
As I well should, considering the absolutely ridiculous amount of time I have spent following (and occasionally writing about) fashion 🙂
Such an interesting question–is this best understood as a celebrity scent or is it a design house scent? Because it’s certainly true that “soft and sweet” is a pretty long distance from how I would describe the Dries Van Noten line, but maybe that’s what Dries Van Noten the person is actually like?
Gosh, I’m thinking of it as a designer fragrance, niche. I don’t think he qualifies as a celebrity in any usual sense.
Yeah, I’d definitely expect it more to be a fragrance for the design house, but it seems striking that it’s advertised as part of a “series of fragrance portraits of highly creative, interesting people.” Potentially more along the lines of ELDO’s Tilda Swinton or the Alan Cumming fragrances from CB I Hate Perfume? (I realize it may not make that much difference, in the end, for what the fragrance will smell like–it’s of course not like all design house fragrances smell one way, and fragrances associated with a particular personality smell another way. I’m just sort of curious about how they’re thinking about it.)
Yes, I am curious about that as well. I was only partly joking when I called it a celebrity scent, as the focus seems to be on the person rather than the brand, although in the case of DVN it’s of course difficult to separate the two. We’ll probably learn more when it comes out and the choice of next partnership will also clarify the concept. Not that all this matters in terms of the scent, I just find the communication/marketing angle interesting as well.
Yeah–also, while I realize the world in which Dries Van Noten has name recognition is a relatively small one, within that world he’s a MUCH bigger star than lots of actors who have a fragrance are in their world. He’s really an A list designer while lots of B and C list actors get fragrances!
Of course I do realize the profitability of celebrity fragrances probably depends on name recognition in absolute rather than relative terms! But just to say that to some, Dries Van Noten is a kind of celebrity 🙂
Aha! So FM has named Rem Koolhaas as another example of the kind of person he’d like to add to this series. That makes it sound like it is at least partially about people who are stars within their field rather than necessarily or solely about using clothes and perfume each to help sell the other.
Interesting analysis – thanks, Annikky!
Oh this sounds nice. Does anyone know if it’ll be sold as a part of Malle range or will it have some annoying, exclusive distribution?
I’m assuming it will have the same annoying distribution as the regular Malles…they say “a global distribution of specialty stores numbering less than 100”, which sounds about like what they already do, right?
Ha, yes! Sounds like the standard annoying distribution rather than the extra-annoying one (e.g Outrageous).
Ah, yes, Outrageous. I never understood that one — the scent OR the distribution. It was like they were ashamed of it.
Outrageous is a Malle scent made specifically for the retailer Barney’s New York. There’s even a small Barney’s Co-Op logo on the Outrageous label. Why Barney’s? I think that Barney’s was the very first US door for the Malle line – so perhaps it was ‘thank you’ from Malle himself.
Right, I know, but it was an odd, not-Malle-like thank you (thanks guys, and here’s a scent I’d never put in my regular line), and a waste of Sophia Grojsman’s time, IMHO.
This sounds lovely. I honestly doubt I could pick out the Dries Van Noten outfit from a line-up, but this scent is going on my must-try list.
This could actually be pretty interesting. It’s two great brands, that goes together to create someting creative, interesting. I can’t wait.
Great simple bottle 🙂
How long ago was the last FM new release? I feel like this may be the first one for me since I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole. I’m happy to think I could sample a new Malle–and I wonder how long before it gets added to that coffret I’ve been pretending I don’t know about?
Will have
Saffron is delightful this time of year. Late summer too. Good for weather extremes !!!
I am intrigued about the “sulfurol” …. for me when somethings smells of sulfur, it means it has gone bad!
Shivering with anticipation (and cold) I tried this yesterday from a pre-pre sample in a specialized perfume shop.
Generic chemical wood.
And I am a Dries van Noten fan.
Our Seattle Barney’s had a tester bottle this past weekend, so I was lucky to get a sample. The opening *was* all about the milky sandalwood, I loved it! Then it became ambery and a mix of things … vanilla, a hint of violet? and something like leather? The “Additional notes” above sound right, with the sandalwood still very prominent. I think I’m going to enjoy this one 🙂