Prada fragrance — long whispered, even mythical, in beauty circles — was finally made real. And what a powerful exhalation it is, in hot, pungent and suggestive contrast to the tedious legions of innocuous perfumes that currently line beauty counters.
“There’s a tiredness with transparency,” asserts Carlos Benaïm, the nose who created the perfume. “Women are tired of wearing fragrance and then not being able to smell it on the clothes in their closet.”
But don’t think Miuccia Prada wasn’t closely involved in the process. “She is always close to the artisan,” says Benaïm.
The edicts of designers to their perfumers make for fabled anecdotes.
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Yves Saint Laurent famously proffered a piece of pink silk to Sophia Grosjman, the perfumer plucked to create Paris. Issey Miyake demanded something that “smelt like water” from his nose.
“Miuccia’s instructions were that it had to be extremely natural and of the highest quality,” says Benaïm. The fragrance was produced under exacting conditions in Grasse, where a Prada fragrance for men is also being developed.
As with Prada’s ever-desirable clothing, where there are layers of meaning — irony, humour, intellect and a resolutely abstract sexuality — this fragrance turns on its own rapturous axis. It is classified as an “amber”, which in fragrance terms has nothing to do with the fossilised resin of the same name, but refers to ambergris, a substance produced in the intestines of the male sperm whale.
“The idea of the amber was one of the proposals made to Miuccia, and she loved it,” says Benaïm. “Then we added the addiction of patchouli, the softness of benzoin and the creaminess of sandalwood.” The result is a complex, full-bodied and sonorous scent. Quiet, ambient perfumery this is not.
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Prada eau de parfum costs £40 for 50ml and is available from selected stores nationwide from November 1