mercredi 16 juin 2010

Reporting on my "Decoding Fragrance" course at the London College of Fashion




Knackered doesn’t even begin to cover it. That three-day intensive at the London College of Fashion – tacked onto meetings with my agent, my editor and the team at HarperCollins and a series of dinners – pretty much left me in a condition to be MEDEVAC-ed, instead of which I boarded a Eurostar carriage that seemed mainly inhabited by howling toddlers.

How was it? Well how could it be anything but great? Once more, ages ranged from 21 to 60+, nationalities were all over the map and the participants were a blend of perfume lovers and people who simply thought it would be interesting to attend. What surprised me most was that this time around, not only was an anthropologist interested in putting together a project on perfume in attendance, but that there were several people from the industry (distribution, retail, home fragrances, cosmetics), as well as a biochemist and aromatic oil distiller from India and an image consultant from Hong Kong who flew all the way to London for the course! The mix made for lively discussions, abundant questions, fascinating input and frequent cross-exchanges between participants.

I’d rather not disclose the exact contents of the course since that would kind of ruin the fun for people who’ll be attending the next sessions. I can say that, as usual, it was divided into three themes, one a day, each providing a different approach to fragrance appreciation:

- The Building Blocks is an exploration of the vocabulary and basic grammar of scent: learning to read the facets of raw materials; digging under the skirts of jasmine, decomposed into its most salient molecules; creating olfactory illusions; finding out the first principles of accords with an olfactory daisy chain linking one material or base to another, and teasing those accords out of finished compositions.

- The Templates takes a totally different approach: we studied major historical fragrances (including several samples from my vintage collection, for instance the Cotys), placed within their social, cultural and sartorial contexts. We also did a vertical section of fruity chypres throughout the decades, starting with Mitsouko (in the reference formula) and ending with Jubilation 25.

- The Trailblazers is a study of different contemporary trends that seek to push the language of fragrance further, with an emphasis on niche and author perfumery, and more particularly on people like Jean-Claude Ellena, Isabelle Doyen, Olivia Giacobetti, Mathilde Laurent, Bertrand Duchaufour and Sandrine Videault.

This is a chapter I’d love to develop further because there were a few cutting-edge houses/authors I couldn’t cover. Comme des Garçons, Christophe Laudamiel, Etat Libre d’Orange spring to mind, but also what I feel is very interesting work done in home fragrancing, particularly by Frédéric Malle and Cires Trudon…

I can’t possibly summarize either all the interesting things that were said over the course of those nose-wracking 20 hours.

Kelly and Laylal’s endless curiosity and questions; Kit’s perspective as both an anthropologist and perfume connoisseur; Philippa’s generosity in explaining her activity as the head of a scented candle-making company and in distributing the ones she’d brought; Vera’s kindness in helping along Krishna, the Indian gentleman sitting next to her, who may have been having trouble with all those unfamiliar French names; Maciej’s and Virginie’s knowledge of fragrance customers and no-nonsense approach; Tina’s social skills, charisma and enthusiasm; Matthew’s focused comments and occasional biting irony; Davina’s input as a fledgling organics cosmetics entrepreneur; Dennis’ and Cleo’s quieter, yet unflaggingly graceful attention…

There were comedic moments, for instance as I was expounding on the accuracy of Olivia Giacobetti’s rendition of the smell of carrots, everyone frowning over their blotter in a way I found a bit puzzling, until Maciej ventured that perhaps… this had a coconut facet? I’d sprayed Love Coco instead of I love les Carottes, and seized on the mix-up to make a pedagogical point about the suggestibility we experience with scents, before gently wiping the egg from my face.

But the most moving moment came during the course wrap-up, when I asked all the participants which scent they’d been most struck by over the past three days. I started with the Indian gentleman, Krishna. He’d made some comments about the raw materials: he knew the naturals since he distils them, and was surprised at the synthetics which he didn’t know. Then he’d fallen silent when we moved into compositions, a field he wasn’t at all familiar with. But once I’d asked him what he’d preferred, he said Sandrine Videault’s Manoumalia smelled just like the Night Queen which blossoms overnight in his country and wilts in the morning; that this was his dream come true… And he just couldn’t stop talking, so deeply had it touched him.

That’s pretty much what perfume is all about, in the end, isn’t it? Mission accomplished.

My warmest thanks to all the participants, as well as to the perfumers and houses who supplied samples and materials, and to Basia Szkutnicka, Hannah Svensson, Reid Aiton and Karin Johansson of the London College of Fashion.


23 commentaires:

  1. Congratulations, Denyse. Sounds like a wonderful course. I hope to be able to attend, one of these days.

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  2. I too almost teared up when smelling Manoumalia for the first time, not only because it was a profoundly moving scent, but because my sample arrived in smithereens, as if it had been stomped by some perfume-hating postal worker.

    Half-joking aside, congrats on another great job! I'm not at all surprised the course was a success and would love to have been a part of the experience.

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  3. Sounds wonderful, Denyse! Someday I will have to get there. Besides enjoying your blog, I've heard so many people comment on what encyclopedic knowledge you have in real life, too.

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  4. The look through the window at your class was quite enjoyable...thank you.

    Dusan, how interesting...my Manoumalia arrived JUST THAT WAY. I saved the packaging for a couple months, as it did waft quite well. But I, like the vial, was crushed.

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  5. Jarvis, I hope so too. When we setting up that course in the US?

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  6. Dusan, that's such a pity! Did it come directly from LesNez?

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  7. Pitbull friend, no, Octavian has encyclopedic knowledge. I've got the abridged version. ;-)

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  8. Scentscelf, what a pity... Anything I ever got from LesNez always arrived in good condition, but some postal workers are vandals.

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  9. D, it came like that directly from LesNez, which I found surprising as nothing similar had happened to me before. I blame it on the post office and its bad handling.

    ScentScelf, I feel your pain. I too haven't been able to part with the scented shards, but think it's high time I let go :-)
    ... and order a proper sample, lol.

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  10. Sounds like a wonderful course! I can relate to the feelings for Manoumalia, I miss my home's tropical gardens so much, smelling Manoumalia takes me back there when I'm stuck in Europe for another dreary winter, but then the tears freeze to my face....
    -Marla

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  11. Dusan, have you written René though? He should know about the packaging...

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  12. Marla, Manoumalia is indeed a fragrance that awakens deep emotions. I also got quite a lot of reactions from vintage Shocking, Nuit de Tubéreuse, vintage L'Origan...
    One of the interesting things I forgot to mention is that when I study classics like Shalimar and N°5, and situate them within their context, this always prompts a re-evaluation of them.

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  13. what a delight Denyse. And I was already on my way there...it will have to be postponed once again. I even had a precious place to stay overlooking the Heath...but reading the Carottes/Coco experience makes me laugh so much, so much indeed, that I am beginning to reconcile with the fact that I wasn't there. I must attend, and will.

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  14. EEM, when you didn't get back to me i suspected you wouldn't be there but as i typically discover the final list on the morning of the first day, with always 2 or 3 last minute registrations, i was still hoping you'd make it. Next fall, i hope...

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  15. I get chills thinking about how wonderful it must have been . Thanks for sharing !!

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  16. If you are planning a class in the US , I would love to help in any way I can . I have a large home , and the beach is close by...*GRIN*

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  17. If ever you do it in the US, I'm in! Not only would it be fun but challenging as well. Of my 50 or so bottles, I always seem to reach for the same ones. A course like this would be perfect to get me out of a rut.

    Normand

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  18. D, I'd already chalked the "accident" up to lousy postal service and anyway, my sample was a freebie so I felt that writing to René to complain about what most likely wasn't his mistake would be in poor taste.

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  19. Carol, Amy, Normand, the LCF isn't planning for the time being to set up a partnership with a US fashion school and I'm not mentally equipped for dealing with that on my own... But stuff happens.

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  20. Dusan, I understand perfectly well. I wouldn't have done either.

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  21. Bravo! And I'm sure the mistake over the coconut/carrot was quite entertaining. :-)

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  22. Tara, and, as I said, I quite deftly landed on my feet by using it as a pedagogical point! I think...

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