ALL ORDERS SHIPPING STARTING JULY AS A RESULT OF NYC LOCKDOWN DELAYS.
"On this day each year, I soak the previous year's calendar in my mother's favorite perfume and then set it ablaze. Here's to a fresh start." -Karl Lagerfeld on his New Year's Day tradition Be sure to follow us on Twitter @Nomaterra and on Facebook!
I was doing some fall cleaning, and came upon my old fragrance collection, which I started in my early teens. Some are classics, and some I'm slightly embarrassed for even buying, buy hey, I was experimenting! I think I may have even had a Gap fragrance at one point, but I threw that one out a while ago. It's amazing how my taste has evolved from fragrances like CK One and Tommy Girl, to indie perfumes, to creating my own fragrances for Nomaterra. One thing that hasn't changed though, is my joy for exploring different perfumes. There's nothing wrong with trying it all, from completely obscure brands that only ever came out with one scent, to best-sellers. Even with my own brand, I still enjoy exploring what's new, what's out there. One scent that sticks out in this collection is CK One. CK One debuted in 1994, and was revolutionary for its time due to its forward thinking ad featuring Kate Moss and LGBT activist model Jenny Shimizu, and most importantly, for the fact that is was a unisex eau de toilette, a first of its kind. It now smells like nail polish to me, mostly due to the fact that its been aging in a box for over 10 years. What's interesting though is that CK One really started a movement in the creation of unisex fragrances, that is still very much alive now. You name it, and almost every designer and niche brand has at lease one unisex fragrance. The last one in these row of oldies is Acqua Di Gio. Another renowned classic that's won its fair share of awards including a Fifi Men's Fragrance of the Year Nouveau Niche in 1998 and had been entered into the Fragrance Hall of Fame last year. This is what my husband used to wear, like many men. He's now moved on to wearing our Brooklyn Violet Leaf Cologne. What fragrances do you remember experimenting with from your childhood/teens/early years? Do you still wear them? What do you wear now?
Coco Chanel[/caption]
“Where should one use perfume?" a young woman asked. "Wherever one wants to be kissed.”-Coco Chanel We love this quote from Coco Chanel. Where do you wear perfume? Be sure to follow Nomaterra on Twitter and Facebook!
introduction to the exhibit
Today the Nomaterra team ventured up to Columbus Circle to check out a fragrance-focused exhibit at the Museum of Art and Design. The exhibit, called the Art of Scent, features twelve scents laid out chronologically. The exhibit's brochure explains that "olfactory arts have historically been overlooked as a significant creative practice. New materials and technologies that have appeared since the 19th century have transformed the medium and have been used by scent artists to achieve previously unimaginable works." The exhibit highlights some of those new materials and technologies in the perfumes on display, such as Olivier Cresp's Light Blue, who used olfactory holograms of his ingredients to this favorite. His modern process also allowed each of the key notes to stand out as separate entities while being in equilibrium, which is unlike the traditional form of composition where the blend was created to be seamless. The usage of synthetic ingredients is also on full display in all of the perfumes highlighted at the exhibit, including Jicky, created in 1889.
Our favorite were among the newer fragrances; we enjoyed the final two scents, produced in 2006 and 2010, the most. Osmanthe Yunnan (loaned by Hermès) was a very fresh, clean scent that "achieved an amazing effect, suggesting the diaphanous quality of light in a scent." We also enjoyed Untitled (loaned by Maison Martin Margiela, L'Oréal and Givaudan), which was very green and smelled both grassy and earthy at the same time. The bulk of this perfume comes from galbanum, which is a plant resin with an intense green scent. Our only dissappointment: no natural fragrances on display.
Along the rear wall at the end of the exhibit was a series of five scents on a card, all different versions of what ultimately became the popular Lancôme fragrance Trésor. Each step was more complex than the last. In the first, the notes of rose otto, orris, heliotropin, geranium leaf, musk ketone, ionone alpha, and vetiver were all characteristically distinctive. The second modification gave off poweder-y, woody accents, while the third was completely different, with a hint of nuttiness. The 4th version had green, metallic, and lavender accents, and the 5th and final version, well, is Tresor. What's cool about the final Tresor is that it's impeccably quite different than any of the preceding versions. You can tell the perfumer, Sophia Grojsman, made many adjustments between the 4th and the final version.
version three of Lancôme's Trésor
The exhibit only runs through March 3rd, so be sure to get up to the MAD and check out this great exhibit soon!
Art of Scent, 1899-2012 at the Museum of Art and Design
The Museum of Art and Design is located at 2 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10019. It is open Tuesday-Sunday from 11 am until 6 pm, and on Thursday and Friday from 11 am until 9 pm.
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