In Miss Tranchant, I found my fragrance. At first spray, it smells like a stick of Land O’ Lakes marooned on a beach at low tide. Over 10 minutes it mellows into a mesmerizing cloak of spicy vanilla with just a hint of sex-under-a-pier. I’ve received zero compliments on it and two pieces of forceful negative feedback. Miss Tranchant is perfume as not only a personal aesthetic experience but also apparently an indefensible one. The scent is diaphanous, nasty, transformative. I believe it to be a masterpiece.
— Molly Young on the Hilde Soliani fragrance. Read more in The Mad Perfumer of Parma at The New York Times.
Thanks for this, Robin — I’m only halfway through the article (time to get to work!), but it’s very interesting!
It’s an unusually good (and fun) article.
My all-time favorite perfumer–the QUEEN of gourmand!
I am just now learning about her. She has so many perfumes! Any recommendations on where to start to get a sense of her work?
Tulipano is her red tulip scent, an older offering that is still a fan favorite. As for gourmands, my personal favorite and probably her most popular is Crema di Latte.
🙂
“Just a hint of sex-under-a-pier” – brilliant!
I love that whole paragraph 🙂