Beau Paris: Celine's First Fragrances Since 1964 Will Transport You To Paris
It's an exciting day in the world of Celine, as the brand is launching its latest fragrance collection. After 55 years without a new scent (the last was 1964's Vent Fou), the French house is re-entering the olfactory sphere just in time for the holidays. And making things all the more monumental, it's doing this in full Hedi Slimane fashion, starting out with not 1 but 9 gender-neutral scents, with 2 more on the way.
Since taking the helm in 2018, Slimane has made headlines by steering Celine in drastically new directions. After adding menswear to the brand's portfolio, promising a couture collection in the future, and re-designing the New York flagship with a minimalist architectural concept, the designer is exploring yet another sector of the house.
The Haute Parfumerie collection is entirely androgynous and features options for both day and night - although with so many scents to try, you may just want to mix a couple to go from a lunch meeting to an evening soirée (the powdery notes throughout, as well as repeated elements like vanilla and musk, ensure this is a cohesive idea). The names, inspired by a combination of French culture and nightlife, are true to the brand and oh so fun. Dans Paris bottles up the city's modern romanticism, and we can confirm that Nightclubbing will evoke rose-coloured memories of a wild evening out. Plus, who wouldn't want to try out scents like Parade and Reptile?
Of course, the scent comes in an exquisitely sleek bottle to match. Featuring a black varnish cap and Grand Siècle mouldings, the rectangular glass packaging asserts Slimane's modern, art-deco influences. Inside, the product itself has a warm neutral tint, with slight variations that become all the more apparent (and aesthetically pleasing) when one views the collection as a whole. The new endeavour is a timeless take on Celine's storied modernity, and it surely satisfies our haute parfumerie cravings.
While this might be Slimane's first perfume collection for Celine, fragrance is nothing new for the creative. While serving as the artistic director of Dior Homme 15 years ago, Slimane did a lot more than create the skinny suits that famously inspired Karl Lagerfeld to change his entire physique, as he released a number of scents that established the maison's presence as a leader in the cologne market. Today, the designer's olfactory sense is bringing his current house to fragrance prominence as well.
Making the new fragrance launch all the more exciting, Celine is also celebrating with a dedicated haute parfumerie boutique at 390 Rue Saint-Honoré, which opened this past weekend. Coordinating seamlessly with the fashion flagship while creating its own special identity, the space features marble surfaces, creative shelving arrangement for the bottles to float upon, and a variety of minimalist art collaborations.
The new collection may be the most powerful way yet to take Paris around the world, so you can add a European flair to your days and nights with just a few spritzes. Get ready to indulge in this modern opulence, because beauty fades but not when it's fragrance.
