August 2, 2019 |
“Do you remember that smell?” If I got a penny for every time I asked my friends this question… Well, I’d probably have enough to get myself a Gucci bag. Trying to remember and therefore explain a certain scent is such a difficult task in a world without smell-a-vision. But luckily there’s people like Alessandro Michele – visionaries who can take something mundane and ambiguous and bottle it up. Literally. In the wake of the house being named the no.1 hottest brand by the Lyst Index, the latest fragrance to come out of Gucci’s laboratory is called Mémoire d’Une Odeur, French for “memory of a scent”. Playing with perception and his personal memories, Michele imagined this perfume as the smell of nostalgia. Without an exact time and place, the vintage-looking green flacon can take you wherever you want to go.
“When we began to work on Gucci Mémoire d’une Odeur, I tried to imagine the recollection of a scent that couldn’t easily be identified; a hybrid scent that resembles memory as much as possible,” describes Michele. In terms of notes, this fragrance introduces a whole new family of scents – the mineral aromatics. Rich florals of Roman chamomile and Indian coral jasmine nature print (a note exclusive to Gucci) collide with some airy tones, adding in a more enigmatic combination of woods and vanilla. It’s part sea, part nature, part artificial – as complex as the mind of Alessandro Michele, expertly blended by master perfumer and Gucci’s long-term collaborator Alberto Morillas.
Just like it sees no place or time, Mémoire d’une Odeur is dedicated to whoever is up for the ride. As demonstrated in the campaign video directed by Glen Luchford and starring Harry Styles, Harris Reed, Zumi Rosow and a diverse group of characters, the scent is unassigned to a specific gender or age. That’s exactly what modern-day beauty is about. Who needs a time-travelling machine or some special superpowers? A few spritzes will do the trick.
The Gucci Mémoire d’une Odeur is available to shop online and in selected stores.
