March 24, 2025 |
Designed to revolutionise the way we engage with fragrance, 10 spotlights the four fragrances that make up Infiniment Coty Paris’s I Am Dawn collection. The revered fragrance writer Tony Marcus indulges in each scent’s distinct moods, while we turn to creative partnerships from the worlds of music, fashion, poetry and dance to respond to the aromas.
In a melancholy moment, Jorge Luis Borges noted, “there is a mirror that has seen me for the last time”. The great Argentinian wrote beautifully about time. Just as Cézanne painted a clock that has no hands. There is no shortage of work that has a feeling for all that disappears or dies. And perfume is also part of this. It can only fade. There is no never-ending rose outside of heaven. Many love perfume the best when it fades to a subtle outline. When it is just close to the skin and no longer public.
To Coty. At the beginning of its story, Coty, founded in 1904, was a great and refined French perfume house. Now 120 years later, Coty Group has introduced a new niche fragrance collection. Its Infiniment Coty Paris range of 14 perfumes focuses on the future of perfume. Crafted by two of the most passionate innovators in the beauty world, Sue Nabi and her creative partner Nicolas Vu, the perfumes have shared traits. They are not aggressive. They are not old-fashioned.
The range is future-oriented with refillable bottles are packaged in plant-fibre cases that have a sci-fi look. This is the first collection to be manufactured with 100 percent alcohol from recycled carbon emissions. And a new (patent pending) Coty scientific innovation, called molecular aura, which extends the fragrance’s signature up to 30 hours, transcending the ephemeral aspect of top and heart notes that have dictated fragrance expression up until now. The perfumes do not move like other scents. I didn’t find it easy to detect, for example, a startling top note that vanished. Instead, the perfume emanates, glows or modulates. In some ways, the perfume is always itself.
Historically, perfume is said to have a structure. There is a top, a middle and a base note. Everyone calls this the ‘pyramid’. The Infiniment Coty Paris perfumes, Nabi says, are “spherical”. The notes radiate outwards, disrupting the pyramid. But the actual notes and accords are the ones that have always come from Paris and, more recently, the niche houses. The palette is the one of perfume: powerful vanilla, musk, fragmented petals, glassy citrus and transparent tea. There is also a modern ‘cut’ or edit to the perfumes. How do you make a modern-feeling perfume out of jasmine, ginger, bergamot, white flowers and tangerine? What is suppressed is as important as what is enhanced.
The Infiniment Coty Paris perfumes are long-lasting and fade to heart-tugging fragility. But how long can anything last? I suddenly had an idiotic thought. “Wouldn’t it be a great if a perfumier made an infinite perfume?” But you only have to walk into a garden.There is always a dawn and a rose. Great perfume is never just a rose, it is always a cloud of interference and edits. And the longevity of these perfumes may carry some extra meaning or resonance. The flower is a mirror of time. And perfume is the image of the flower. The“fragile globe”, as Borges once described a rose. The following four perfumes are from Infiniment Coty Paris’s I Am Dawn collection, an “agelessly fresh” new fragrance range.
Matin De Jade I thought of Corinne Day and those early Kate Moss photographs in The Face. Matin is grassy, pale and transparent. I kept getting an image of something effervescent and golden, like champagne. To find the ‘Jade’ I tried Buddhist temples in rural Japan. But those temples smelt of dust and cedar. This perfume is more like a beach house. The wood is blond and the house sits on stilts above the waves. At times there is a little heat, perhaps from the sun or a spice. The notes are ginger, bergamot and tea. And if tea then a blue tea, as it appears to combine a delicate black tea with the sweet scent of green tea (such is the way of blue teas). Coty say it’s based on daybreak in Asia – it is certainly early in the day, close to the dunes. Somewhere lovely.
Atomes Crochus From the first note this is a ravishing floral. But not a white flower. And not even so obviously floral so much as fleshy and wet. The perfume is astral as the sensual flower is shot into weightless space. It becomes a flower that has no earth. I tried to detect some notes and struggled with ‘whitened patchouli’, but something dry and disciplined closes around the flower. It’s like disco and Glenn Gould in the same breath. Coty say the notes are honeysuckle, green tea and smoky leather. The leather is far away. Like a fading photograph of a great writer from the 1920s, suitcase in hand.
J’ai Trois Amours This perfume has something that is deeper than sugar and transparent. It is almost a colour.And the perfume soars. It produces a field of flowers that reaches the horizon. But there is no floral note, it’s more like a picture of infinite petals. An image of Eden or the sparkling vision of a medieval saint overwhelmed by radiance. I was thinking about walled gardens, palaces and Lucas Cranach’s Eve painting. Or the following line from Kim Gordon’s Girl in a Band that describes walking barefoot in Hawaii. “The grass was dewy and the fragrance in the air was an ideal backdrop for my pre-adolescent sexual feelings.” The notes are banana flower accord and a triple-origins jasmin extract.
Les Mots Doux From the first moment, it has a startling tenderness. White flowers – jasmine and rose –float in suspended conversation. It’s intimate and recalls the delicious, fleeting feeling of whispered breath on your neck. Rose petals are more fragile than skin and yet so defiant in bloom. Among the notes Coty lists is rose absolute, which draws you in with the luxurious intensity of its velvet softness. There’s nothing heavy-handed. Instead, there’s a touching daintiness to the way the floral ingredients tenderly graze each other, backed by a note of patchouli Indonesia essence, which introduces an intriguing sensuality and a rich depth to this heart to heart.
I also want to give special mention to Entre Genres. It sits within the I am Day collection but you can find it in the I am Dawn Discovery set. Entre Genres opens like a Burt Bacharach number, either Dionne or Dusty’s version of The Look of Love. It is very smooth and has a feeling, almost an homage to late ’50s or early ’60s masculine scent. What follows is luxurious as furs. There is a feeling of near unimaginable warmth. Notes are musks and tangerine. The latter forms very beautifully from the citrussy opening. This is one of those ‘masculine-feminine’ perfumes (in perfume terms) as the silk ties and evening jackets are melted into gauzy peignoir and robes. It is not retro, but I do get flashes of Thomas Crown and David Niven and Ursula Andress in the first Casino Royale. Musks do that. Tony Marcus
CALEB FEMI
Caleb Femi, writer and poet
Matin de Jade
There’s a freshness to the scent of Matin de Jade that aligns with the skills of poet, director, teacher and writer Caleb Femi. The 31-year-old has injected a sense of modernity into Britain’s literary canon. A former Young People’s Laureate for London, his debut poetry collection Poor, released in 2020, focused on his childhood on a Peckham estate, which was praised by influential figures like Michaela Coel. Last September brought the release of his sophomore outing, The Wickedest, an exploration of the impact of house parties within working-class communities – it’s a love letter to London’s enduring spirit. A keen fragrance enthusiast, Femi was drawn to the bergamot-infused Matin de Jade for its seize-the-day spirit.
What was your first reaction when you smelt Matin de Jade?
Caleb Femi: It was intense, in the best of ways. I was getting sharp citrus notes, which was quickly followed by more of a full-bodied floral scent. I love an unapologetic fragrance that wants to fill a room, perform really well off the bat and then settle as the day and time goes by.
Tell us about your poetic awakening?
CF: It was actually through music, reading the lyrics of some of my formative albums like The Streets’ Original Pirate Material [from 2002]. That was the first time I wanted to participate in the art of putting words together and expressing myself through that.
How do you bring a fresh approach to poetry?
CF: Thinking about the newness and how I can find new ways to contribute to that discourse and present my perspective. I always want to contribute something new, something brave, even if it doesn’t work now, maybe in a hundred years’ time it might.
What’s your morning routine?
CF: I roll out of bed and thud my body on the floor. That’s my alarm. That’s the only way I can get out of bed.I drink water, go to the gym and then I start my day. I give myself two hours before the day hurtles towards me.
How do you create intimacy through words?
CF: By leading with vulnerability. It’s the only way to generate that sense of intimacy, draw someone into your perspective and find commonality within that.
What does the smell of ginger mean to you?
CF: It transports me back to my childhood, [having a] lemon and ginger tea when I had a cold. When you’re ill, you want to feel safe, and ginger allows me to feel that.
How do you take your tea?
CF: I’m a tea enthusiast, especially loose-leaf. I like to have my tea set out, brew it properly and wait for it to settle. The movement while you’re pouring it looks like a waterfall. It looks cool as hell.
When have you experienced pure creative freedom?
CF: During lockdown. We didn’t know what was happening and that released me from inhibitions and worries. I wanted to examine my creativity with no expectations. I felt free and it redefined me as an artist.
YOMI SODE
Poets Yomi and Caleb became friends after Yomi gave a poetry lecture at Caleb’s school
Yomi Sode, writer and poet
Matin de Jade
Nigerian-British writer and poet Yomi Sode, 40, uses his work to explore the experience of being Black and British, with a particular focus on family and identity. Like the qualities at the heart of Matin de Jade, his work has humanity and warmth. With a background in social work, his debut poetry collection, 2022’s Manorism, examined the pressure Black British men and boys feel and how they need to have multiple identities. Having attended the same school, Sode and Femi have been providing support for each other as they thrive.
What was your first reaction to Matin de Jade?
Yomi Sode: Something warm and sweet, like warmer times than the season we’re in right now. Tell us about your poetic awakening?
YS: There was a moment where I realised I could write my thoughts on paper and it felt freeing. Reading it aloud takes you on a different journey. There were different points when I reached this ‘awakening’ sweet spot because as I grow, the work and thought grows.
How do you bring a fresh approach to poetry?
YS: I read collections, but not just that. I love films, music and art. Each one talks to another in beautiful ways. A painting, for example, won’t necessarily have all the words, but [you can] interpret what you see. [This is the same] within poems. There’s a deeper meaning.That’s how I always approach poetry with a fresh view, by always engaging with different forms of art.
What’s your morning routine?
YS: I’m trying to be part of the 5am club. Five am club people, let me in! I try to wake then, drink water, have no phones near me, ease myself into the day, go to the gym in the morning and do this before I do the school run.
How do you create intimacy through words?
YS: I think it won’t go as planned if it’s forced.There’s great strength in sharing a personal experience.Something that means something to you might mean something to someone else. That’s where intimacy grows.
What does the smell of ginger mean to you?
YS: I’m a fan of the benefits of ginger. It’s a very striking scent but also has that added effect.
How do you take your tea?
YS: You might get me in trouble. I can have it two ways: black tea, no milk, no sugar, or brown sugar and semi-skimmed milk. Don’t give me tea that’s to the brim as well. Give me a nice level of tea and I’m happy.
When have you experienced pure creative freedom?
YS: The adaptation show of Manorism. We had three nights at the Southbank Centre. I had a vision of how I wanted it to happen and was thankful the folks I had chosen got this vision. We sold out three nights in a row and launched the book the same night we kicked off the show. It was incredible.
from left: Dottie and Ben of Deary create ethereal dream pop
Deary, musicians
Atomes Crochus
London-based dream-pop duo Deary is comprised of Ben Easton, 30, and Dottie Cockram, 27. Their sound, like the notes at the heart of Atomes Crochus, is both ethereal and packed with emotion. The pair’s recent EP Aurelia, released last November, was met with much critical acclaim. Focused on providing listeners with the chance to transcend their stresses into a more peaceful place, like the perfume and its honey suckle-laced formula, the pair are creative, kindred spirits.
What was your first reaction to Atomes Crochus?
Dottie Cockram: I was transported back to a summer holiday in Sardinia.
Ben Easton: It brought me back to my childhood in the countryside, when everything was humid and there’s that vibrant natural smell of wildfires in the air.
How do you create music with resonance?
DC: I’m a big daydreamer. Whenever I listen to genres similar to our music like shoe gaze or dream pop, I transcend to this space. I think many people feel that and use our music as an escape.
BE: It has to come from a place of authenticity. There’s a lot of anger in the world and music nowadays, and although we share that anger, we find ourselves making music that escapes it. I think there’s a lot of people who listen to our music who are also looking for that.
Tell us about your most blissful musical experience.
DC: I remember being in the studio in Andover [in Hampshire] and recording a selection of beautiful songs composed by my friend. It’s a lot of inner criticism came out. Later, we moved to a pub and there was a folk jam and everyone was just so engaged. It reminded me that music is such a beautiful thing to share. That was blissful and made me remember why music is so important.
How deeply do you respond to music? Does it go to the molecular level?
BE: Music is the language of human experience and every person is fluent in that language. Everyone can engage with it. Music does go down right to your bones and soul, especially when it’s something that resonates with you. It’s part of being human.
DC: I’m a deep feeler and I can connect with a lot of music, even the ones I don’t necessarily listen to a lot of heavy metal or something. I can really engage with the emotion of the performers and the writers and connect with that as a creative as well. I feel music is so engaging and it can get so deep under your skin, it sits with you for days and weeks.
How kindred are your spirits?
DC: We have a great bond where we can provide something the other person is struggling with, especially in an industry where there’s a lot of anxiety. We can provide support for each other, which is reflective of our spirits.
BE: We’re not childhood friends. Our working relationship and friendship only started during the end of the lockdown. So, we’ve had a quick turnaround in terms of connecting our two spirits together. Luckily, it’s all fallen into place. We’re always on the same page.
What does the scent of honeysuckle mean to you?
BE: It brings back my youth in the countryside. Those areas of woodland or unkempt countryside where you get those vibrant wafts of sweetness.
DC: I find the name itself comforting. There’s something about those two words together which has a sweetness and softness that feels comforting and nurturing.
How would you describe your aura?
BE: A 50/50 split of tranquillity and anxiety. I’m always balancing that tightrope.
DC: I feel my aura is orange. I hope that’s because there’s a warmth there that I hope other people feel.
How do you fuse your individual creative visions into one sound?
DC: We met at a crucial point in our lives when we were both struggling to find our musical voice. Ben’s trust has encouraged me to develop my voice, forming into what it is now.
BE: We fuse our separate creative visions through trust we’ve built up over the years. Each of us can work independently as well as together but knowing that we’re always going to come back into a room or a live performance and fuse [our creative visions] together is what our working relationship is built on.
from left: Cameron and Jebi, the design duo behind Nuba, create subversive designs inspired by their mums’ wardrobes
Nuba, designers
Les Mots Doux
Designer Cameron Williams, 30, and his co-creative director Jebi Labembika, 25, are the talents behind London-based label Nuba. There’s a tenderness to Les Mots Doux that can be applied to the duo’s own creative process. Rooting itself in investigating the ultra-feminine dress codes of their respective Caribbean and African mothers and the nuance of a cross-cultural experience, Nuba use tailoring and drape work to convey this through subversive silhouettes. In parallel to the floral-laced Les Mots Doux, there’s a delicacy in their approach.
What was your first reaction to Les Mots Doux?
Jebi Labembika: I thought about spring. It feels like the first rain, just as spring starts and you go outside. It has that floral, dusty pull.
Cameron Williams: It reminded me of my mum. She wears quite floral and woody fragrances; it has a nice, warmth to it but it’s also quite fresh.
How do you bring tenderness into your designs?
JL: I think we do that through our fabric choices. We really care about how it feels on the body and because our references are from our mothers, aunties and women that we see on the street, we’re obsessed with making it feel warm and cosy. Fabric is a huge part of inviting you into this tender world.
CW: About one of our previous collections, someone said, “Oh, all of the clothes feel like a big hug.” That’s something we try to continue.
How have you used your work as a declaration of love to your mums’ wardrobes?
JL: By looking at how they use clothing, inhabited cities with their style and navigated the world through clothes.
CW: We try to approach it with a certain romanticism, but at the same time we pay respect to the elegance and experience of that natural, beautiful way of covering the body that mothers naturally have.
JL: I’m obsessed with the idea of leaving the house and going somewhere. It’s that movement and how they present themselves outside of the house space. I think it’s quite beautiful.
What two words sum up your style?
CW: Sophisticated inbetweener.
What do the scents of jasmine and rose trigger in your imagination?
JL: A fab, jasmine rice on a Sunday evening with a fab lamb next to it. It’s very fragrant.
What does power dressing mean to you?
JL: Power is comfort. Those who have a lot of power are very comfortable – not only in themselves and who they are but in what they believe and how they present themselves. I would say the power of dressing is if you believe in it and if you feel fab in what you’re wearing.
How do you balance delicacy with power in your work?
CW: It comes quite naturally from our references to mothers. There is a delicacy and a sensitivity that mothers and motherhood have. At the same time, there is a stern energy as well. Sometimes your mother doesn’t even have to say anything, you just know you have to get in line. I think our clothes work that way as well because there is a lot of structure to the cuts, but it’s balanced with the way we use soft fabrics.
from left: Saul and Jordan have collaborated on the movement direction of Saul Nash’s dance-infused catwalk show
Saul Nash and Jordan JFunk, designer and dancers
J’ai Trois Amours
J’ai Trois Amours, a fragrance that embraces “a dance of elation”, plays into these creatives’ joint passion for their craft. Saul Nash, 32, is a dancer and designer who founded his eponymous brand in 2018. With a focus on functional, utilitarian garments that have a distinct flair, Nash’s take on menswear is also heavily coded by his background in dance. At the heart of his pieces is the ability to move freely, manifested through silhouettes and fabrication. This theme extends to his shows, which are often part runway, part dance performance. Jordan JFunk, 29, is a dance artist and choreographer who has worked with Nash as a co-movement director on multiple projects. There’s an unquenchable desire to J’ai Trois Amours that translates to the duo’s joyous collaborations.
What was your first reaction to J’ai Trois Amours?
Saul Nash: When I smelled the fragrance, I thought of the summer I spent in Grasse, the perfume capital in the south of France.
Jordan JFunk: That makes a lot of sense. It is quite summery, light and fresh.
How do you bring a sense of elation to your work?
SN: Dance and movement are naturally elating. Working together, it’s always been about movement and expression within your own identity, so to some degree that’s quite elating.
JJF: Having movement with Saul’s clothes makes sense. We’ve done shows where things are being unzipped and moved and you feel that elation and lift. Visually, it’s been shown over the years. With dance and movement, you do naturally reach this crescendo towards the end of the show. Saul comes out, does his run at the end and it does feel like elation pretty naturally.
What’s the importance of colour in your collections?
SN: Colour is everything in collections because it portrays mood and has the power to change it. In my collections, colour is often an expression of the mood I’m currently in or what I want people to feel for the season I’m designing for.
What do scents of tangerine and lemon mean to you?
SN: When I first smelt the perfume, I thought of floral notes, but what’s interesting is as it develops, you start to smell the sweet notes. I start to smell the citrus notes as they lift off my skin.
JJF: I think going back to that summery vibe that we were talking about. That’s what’s evoked for me.
When do you feel most free?
JJF: When I’m dancing. It’s where I feel the safest and most at home.
SN: Similar to Jordan, dance has always been a source of self-expression and freedom for me. I think, more recently, I feel most free when I’m away travelling and put my phone away.
What’s the most selfless thing you’ve ever done or has been done for you?
SN: I’ve always believed that you should be kind and live your life in a kind way. I think one of the most selfless things I’ve done recently was in Shoreditch, where there was a guy who didn’t have anywhere to stay for the night and I spent a few hours trying to convince him that he needed to go and find a hostel. My friends are also all very selfless with all the help they’ve given me towards my brand.
JJF: I have a lot of students and I think the most selfless thing is trying to provide an affordable space where they feel safe to be themself. There are a lot of people who have tough weeks and can’t afford it financially, so I try to let them do sessions for free. It’s bigger than money; it’s just trying to help people.
Why is collaborating so essential for your creativity?
SN: Nobody can do anything alone. It’s not sustainable. When you collaborate, you really learn a lot from others because they present ideas you’re not necessarily thinking about. Work is stronger when you’re collaborating.
JJF: Collaboration is a way of birthing things that would never be made otherwise. It’s important to collaborate with the right people. When you get the right people, great things can be made.
Taken from 10 Magazine Issue 74 – MUSIC, TALENT, CREATIVE – on newsstands now. Order your copy here.
INFINIMENT COTY PARIS: I AM DAWN
Portraits JOSH HIGHT
Collage Artist PATRICK WAUGH
Text TONY MARCUS
Interviews BELLA KOOPMAN
Talents SAUL NASH, JORDAN JFUNK, YOMISODE, CALEB FEMI, BEN EASTON, DOTTIE COCKRAM, CAMERON WILLIAMS and JEBI LABEMBIKA
Production SONYA MAZURYK
