March 18, 2012 |
FROM THE VAULT (WINTER / SPRING 2012)
Saturdays, every Saturday, bar two in August and two at Christmas (we’re on holiday, gorge – we lock up the office, throw away key, drink ourselves under the table at the Bear Bar and crawl home to spend the next two weeks recovering), we can be found in Topman at Oxford Circus. We usually arrive around noon and spend the next few hours sniffing the air while browsing the rails. The stronger a garment smells of the certain something that makes our nostrils ping, the more likely it is to make it into our changing-room selection. Once hidden behind our curtain of solitude with an armful of strong-smelling fashions we proceed to rub them all over our bodies. This usually takes a while. We never try on. We never purchase. We only rub. Why? So that we can infuse our skin with the scent of Topman. Have you ever smelled that shop floor? Really sniffed the air in there? Smells great. We’ve often wondered why they don’t bottle it and sell it. It’d sell by the boatload and mean we wouldn’t have to face any more embarrassing forced evictions by security guards. But now they have. And not just one either. There are two: Parfums No 16 and 27. Named after that time-honoured tradition of lining up a few samples and naming them after whatever number they were in said line. To quote the press release “No 16 gives a sense of cool fresh air on top using three keys notes, bergamot, poivre and a woody/ozone accent which is amplified by the heart and edgy base of amber, labdanum and musks which leaves a unique signature that plays with body temperature. No 27 had to have ingredients that would be addictive and distinctive – clarysage, anise and neroli with a magnetic character of vetiver and nutmeg for the heart and added tenacity to the end composition with four notes of oakmoss, frankincense, cedarwood and skin penetrating musks.” To be totally honest, we have no idea what half of what we’ve just quoted means. Clarysage? Wouldn’t know what it was even if we’d bought it ourselves and put it in a vase. Penetrating skin, though, we’re well versed in. The idea of being penetrated by Topman has blessed us with many hours of blissful sleep. The idea of being penetrated in their scent at will, 24/7, anywhere we might be, well, that’s like Christmas and Hanukkah rolled into one.
by Natalie Dembinska
