A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE: CELINE HAUTE PARFUMERIE

Celine, the 75-year-old French prêt-à-porter and luxury goods maison, has always been recognised as the French brand doing things a little differently. Its perfume tradition, or lack thereof, speaks to this. Yes, there was Vent Fou – a green floral perfume of galbanum, jasmine and rose released in 1964 – then a few short lived fragrance forays in the early 2000s, but all the while its contemporaries like YSL, Dior and Chanel were riding the profits of global perfume sales, Celine simply said “non”.

In 2018 though, after the perfumeless ten-year tenure of creative director Phoebe Philo, the brand was set for an almighty shakeup helmed by its new artistic, creative and image director, designer Hedi Slimane. Fresh from Saint Laurent, Slimane injected the deliberately understated image of Philo’s Celine with a dose of ‘80s sex appeal, took scissors to the CÉLINE logo and in doing so removed the accent, and hinted at a perfume collection – a hint that sparked considerable excitement given Slimane’s olfactory pedigree which includes the likes of Eau Noire and Bois D’arget for Dior Homme.

Titled ‘Celine Haute Parfumerie’, Slimane delivered on his perfume promise late last year with the release of 11 “masculine-feminine perfumes for day and night” (two of which are due to debut in 2020), and which have recently landed in Australia exclusively at Celine’s Collins Street boutique in Melbourne.

Housed in monolithic and luxuriously hefty art-deco inspired bottles, each fragrance is inspired by an experience from the designer’s past with evocative names that include Black Tie, Reptile and Nightclubbing. Expectedly then, the collection speaks to Slimane’s undeniably moody design aesthetic. More surprising though, at least to me, is the fact that all 11 of the perfumes share a single base accord of orris, vanilla and moss – a sort of powdery olfactory signature – which, according to the brand, “provides each perfume with an enveloping patina and the French elegance of a couture trail”.

Having spent the past six months wearing the collection in its entirety (well, the nine currently available fragrances), I have found that belying their edgy names and inspirations, this is a supremely elegant, at times vintage feeling collection of fine French perfumes which betters the Maison Christian Dior offering and rivals that of the Les Exclusifs de CHANEL.

So, without further ado, here are my thoughts on each of the fragrances:

Black Tie – Slimane describes this as a strict interpretation of his style in fashion, “a sharp and dark composition, completely androgynous,” and it is all of that with a heavy-handed dose of delicious vanilla. The sharpened darkness comes by way of a complementary cedar-moss-musk accord, while orris lends a dusty powderiness to the composition’s big vanillin note. Elegant with a Slimane touch of extravagance. Notes: white orris butter, cedar, tree moss, vanilla, musk.

Cologne Française – With the sparkle of its neroli and fig tree accord measured by the graceful complexity of orris and moss, Cologne Française is Celine’s oh-so-chic ode to the traditional Eau de cologne. More sophisticated than most though, this is the cologne of linen-suited playboys toasting suntanned socialites in silk jumpsuits and heavy framed sunglasses on gleaming white yachts. A treat to wear in warm weather. Notes: neroli, fig tree, white orris butter, moss, musk.

Dans Paris – One of the standouts for me, Dans Paris is about as sophisticated as modern perfumery gets. This is very much a vanilla fragrance, but one no less layered nor nuanced than the mille-feuilles you might find in Paris’ finest pâtisseries. Layered with the decadent vanilla, bergamot lends brightness to the opening, coriander seeds a fresh green spiciness, and laurel blossom a powdery almost caramelised honey character. Slimane calls it “a form of purely French neoclassicism”, and I could not agree more. Notes: bergamot, coriander seed, laurel blossom accord, musk, vanilla.

Eau de Californie – A solar, woodsy Eau de cologne whose pretty and quite literal composition belies a few surprising notes: California’s native Palo Santo, and Celine’s signature orris/moss accord. Past the usual citrus suspects, the Palo Santo lends a sweetly mint and citrus nuanced pine presence, while the orris/moss imparts that ineffable olfactory sense of nostalgia that ties the entire Celine Haute Parfumerie collection together. Notes: bergamot, white orris butter, Palo Santo, tree moss, patchouli.

La Peau Nue – A big lipsticky orris-rose composition à la CHANEL Misia, La Peau Nue is infinitely elegant, but not for me. Cold floral iris riding atop beautifully natural rose absolute on a dry, earthen vetiver base dusted with rice powder, La Peau Nue is very nostalgic, feminine too. I would love to meet the woman that can pull this off with aplomb. Notes: bergamot, rose absolute, white orris butter, rice powder, vetiver.

Nightclubbing – Her slender, sequin-sheathed frame wrapped in his dinner jacket, patent stilettos in hand, Gucci Rush emanating from her tousled hair; his bowtie unknotted, hanging under his lipstick-stained collar, cigarillo burning between his thumb and index finger; Rue Jean Mermoz’s asphalt, wet with autumn rain, glinting under the nightlights of Paris. That is how Nightclubbing smells. A suave cocktail of bitter galbanum, earthy woods, tobacco, vanilla, orris and amber, Nightclubbing is decadent and evocative, and my favourite of the collection. Notes: galbanum, white orris butter, patchouli, tree moss, vanilla, musk.

Parade – Pretty in the androgynous way of the dandies that inspired it – think Oscar Wilde, Rudolph Valentino or a young David Bowie – Parade offers a fresh, very Slimane take on the done-to-death vetiver genre. Here embellished with bergamot, neroli and oakmoss, Parade’s vetiver does away with any dusty earthiness to act instead like a study of the light and dark characteristics of its woody mainstay note. N.B. Parade will not be carried in Australia. Notes: bergamot, neroli, vetiver, musk, oakmoss.

Reptile – Perfume critic and author, Chandler Burr, described Reptile as smelling of “black pepper and crystal meth.” Now I don’t know about all that, but Reptile does have a certain poisonous edge to it. Supposedly the reference leather in the collection, I get more peppered patchouli and very rough-edged cedar than anything that even remotely resembles leather, though maybe at a stretch you could say this smells of a shoebox that once housed a new pair of leather boots. Reptile is dark and moody – very Slimane – but it also feels like the most generic perfume in the collection. I suspect this might prove the bestseller of the collection. Notes: cedar, pepper, tree moss, leather accord, musk.

Saint-Germain Des-Prés – Named for the chic Saint-Germain-des-Prés of Paris’ Left Bank 6th Arrondissement (Slimane’s favourite part of Paris), Saint-Germain Des-Prés is as elegant as the boutiques and cafés that line its namesake’s streets. The green woodiness of petitgrain is the star here and paired with the sweet brightness of neroli cuts the density of the supporting vanillin-heliotrope accord. Saint-Germain Des-Prés is sparkling and clean in a way that some might call soapy, but it is much more than merely soapy. Notes: neroli, petitgrain, white orris butter, heliotrope, vanilla.

Rimbaud – Coming 2021.

Bois Dormant – Coming 2021.

---

Celine Haute Parfumerie is available exclusively at Celine Collins Street in Australia, and www.celine.com internationally, from $310, 100ml.