<h1 class="left">The pursuit of finding beauty in imperfection is famously a Comme des Garcon motto. A trip down Rei Kawakubo’s archives will tell you as much. When Christian Astuguevieille and Kawakubo met 30 years ago, she found the perfect medium in him to translate this vision into scent. “The initial concept was to be different from other perfumes on the market, to be specific and free, not to follow trends, and to stay as close as possible to Comme des Garçons,” he says, recalling his first meeting with the designer when they first began brainstorming how scent would translate within the brand’s universe. Celebrating three decades since its inception, the brand debuts a new book cataloguing its trajectory along with its new perfume Odeur 10, which follows its radical ethos.</h1>
<h1 class="centre">The idea? To disrupt traditional bubbles of pleasant and unpleasant. The lingering scent of petrol, petrichor and wet cement becomes part of a nostalgic trip down memory lane which acts as triggers to incidents ingrained in peculiar scents. Thirty years down the line, the olfactory experience follows the CDG spirit but with remarkably diverse sets of scents. “The difference is in the choice of components. The overdose of materials. Short perfume formulas. And to propose unique perfumes with the same rigour and commitment,” explains the creative director.</h1>
<h1 class="centre">Q. After 30 years, what is the key to reinventing the wheel?</h1> <h1 class="centre">A. “Freedom! The freedom to search for new materials, and then to compose them using our olfactory language.”</h1>
<h1 class="centre">For Astuguevieille, the inspiration comes from lived experiences. “We wanted to explore new olfactory paths with different materials—everyday materials—and to combine them in order to create fragrances that embody the idea of "odour", by using new ingredients,” he says. Odeur 10, takes from the sharp antiseptic note of hydrogen peroxide, the smell of disinfectant or bleach, layered with white mint, aldehydes, and ambrette seeds. Its predecessors, the Odeur 53 channels the afternotes of a well-groomed home—the comforting smell of freshly laundered cotton blowing in the wind. Odeur 71 replicates the metallic afternotes of still-hot welded metal, or that semi-dried ink as you angrily scribble a tirade of that toxic pick-me that comes to the neighbourhood bar.</h1>
<h1 class="right">Astuguevieille’s playground is capturing memories with chemicals. Dopamine in chemical form. It may sound like an alchemist’s laboratory that sits starkly away from the idea of brewing potions that provide coverage meant to shroud the stench of alcohol, to score your Friday night hook-up, to diffuse the stuffy office atmosphere as you make your way to the bar around the corner from work, but it instead acts as the antithesis. It reigns free with poignant thoughts, and emotions that are sentimentally attached to objects, places and people. It is what remains ingrained in the bleach-inspired anti-perfume Odeur 10. “People who will embrace this fragrance will undoubtedly have a strong personality, audacity, and a love for “a perfume for oneself,” adds Astuguevieille.</h1>
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<h1 class="centre">Q. From the first Eau de parfum to now, what principles or philosophies have remained constant, and what is the future? “The difference in the choice of components.</h1><h1 class="centre">A. The overdose of materials. Short perfume formulas. To propose unique perfumes with the same rigor and commitment.”</h1>
<h1 class="centre">The creative director has explored the idea of building associations through an olfactory experience and excavating inspiration from deeply personal moments through his decades-long perfume portfolio series. It’s interesting where you will find CDG’s world colliding with India’s cultural landscape as well. The brand’s ‘Incense’ series was a roadmap to adventures across bustling cities across the globe, where Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, finds a space in the lab as well amongst, Kyoto and Avignon. Incense sticks from temples are bound to do a much better job of making you spiritual than the pilgrimage your mum dragged you to five years back. It’s the brand’s own foray into exploring different religious holdings. And perhaps instead of holy water, consider CDG’s bottled version of the Biblical paradise in Avignon to effectively remind you of the laundry list of past sins.</h1>
<h1 class="centre">With the new book published by Simonett & Baer chronicling past lines, including ‘Incense,’ ‘Leaf’, and ‘Red,’ Astuguevieille’s vision remains on expanding the nooks and crannies of imperfection with the idea of the anti-perfume. “Freedom! The freedom to search for new materials, and then to compose them using our olfactory language,” he divulges, is the key to reinventing the wheel.</h1>
<h1 class="left">Photography courtesy of Comme des Garçons</h1>
<h1 class="full">The pursuit of finding beauty in imperfection is famously a Comme des Garcon motto. A trip down Rei Kawakubo’s archives will tell you as much. When Christian Astuguevieille and Kawakubo met 30 years ago, she found the perfect medium in him to translate this vision into scent. “The initial concept was to be different from other perfumes on the market, to be specific and free, not to follow trends, and to stay as close as possible to Comme des Garçons,” he says, recalling his first meeting with the designer when they first began brainstorming how scent would translate within the brand’s universe. Celebrating three decades since its inception, the brand debuts a new book cataloguing its trajectory along with its new perfume Odeur 10, which follows its radical ethos.</h1>
<h1 class="full">The idea? To disrupt traditional bubbles of pleasant and unpleasant. The lingering scent of petrol, petrichor and wet cement becomes part of a nostalgic trip down memory lane which acts as triggers to incidents ingrained in peculiar scents. Thirty years down the line, the olfactory experience follows the CDG spirit but with remarkably diverse sets of scents. “The difference is in the choice of components. The overdose of materials. Short perfume formulas. And to propose unique perfumes with the same rigour and commitment,” explains the creative director.</h1>
<h1 class="full">Q. After 30 years, what is the key to reinventing the wheel?</h1> <h1 class="full">A. “Freedom! The freedom to search for new materials, and then to compose them using our olfactory language.”</h1>
<h1 class="full">For Astuguevieille, the inspiration comes from lived experiences. “We wanted to explore new olfactory paths with different materials—everyday materials—and to combine them in order to create fragrances that embody the idea of "odour", by using new ingredients,” he says. Odeur 10, takes from the sharp antiseptic note of hydrogen peroxide, the smell of disinfectant or bleach, layered with white mint, aldehydes, and ambrette seeds. Its predecessors, the Odeur 53 channels the afternotes of a well-groomed home—the comforting smell of freshly laundered cotton blowing in the wind. Odeur 71 replicates the metallic afternotes of still-hot welded metal, or that semi-dried ink as you angrily scribble a tirade of that toxic pick-me that comes to the neighbourhood bar.</h1>
<h1 class="full">Astuguevieille’s playground is capturing memories with chemicals. Dopamine in chemical form. It may sound like an alchemist’s laboratory that sits starkly away from the idea of brewing potions that provide coverage meant to shroud the stench of alcohol, to score your Friday night hook-up, to diffuse the stuffy office atmosphere as you make your way to the bar around the corner from work, but it instead acts as the antithesis. It reigns free with poignant thoughts, and emotions that are sentimentally attached to objects, places and people. It is what remains ingrained in the bleach-inspired anti-perfume Odeur 10. “People who will embrace this fragrance will undoubtedly have a strong personality, audacity, and a love for “a perfume for oneself,” adds Astuguevieille.</h1>
<h1 class="full">Q. From the first Eau de parfum to now, what principles or philosophies have remained constant, and what is the future? “The difference in the choice of components.</h1><h1 class="full">A. The overdose of materials. Short perfume formulas. To propose unique perfumes with the same rigor and commitment.”</h1>
<h1 class="full">The creative director has explored the idea of building associations through an olfactory experience and excavating inspiration from deeply personal moments through his decades-long perfume portfolio series. It’s interesting where you will find CDG’s world colliding with India’s cultural landscape as well. The brand’s ‘Incense’ series was a roadmap to adventures across bustling cities across the globe, where Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, finds a space in the lab as well amongst, Kyoto and Avignon. Incense sticks from temples are bound to do a much better job of making you spiritual than the pilgrimage your mum dragged you to five years back. It’s the brand’s own foray into exploring different religious holdings. And perhaps instead of holy water, consider CDG’s bottled version of the Biblical paradise in Avignon to effectively remind you of the laundry list of past sins.</h1>
<h1 class="full">With the new book published by Simonett & Baer chronicling past lines, including ‘Incense,’ ‘Leaf’, and ‘Red,’ Astuguevieille’s vision remains on expanding the nooks and crannies of imperfection with the idea of the anti-perfume. “Freedom! The freedom to search for new materials, and then to compose them using our olfactory language,” he divulges, is the key to reinventing the wheel.</h1>
<h1 class="full">Photography courtesy of Comme des Garçons</h1>