The interface between literature and perfume has never been exploited fully by perfumers until very recently. Perhaps it was only natural that Frederic Malle, who has always described himself as a perfume ‘publisher’ and his noses as authors, would be one of the first to exploit the connection. His latest fragrance ‘Portrait of a Lady’ (nose: Dominique Ropion) is just the sort of elevated, elegant and cultivated oriental that the heroine of Henry James’ 1881 novel, Isabel Archer, might have worn as she undertook her grand tour of Paris, Florence and Rome. Malle describes the smell, a composition including rose essence, cinnamon, clove, patchouli and incense as, ‘aristocratic’. And it certainly has an archness, a transcendence, a haute couture poise about it.
Compare and contrast with Byredo’s ‘Baudelaire’, inspired directly by the olfactive ambience of LesFleurs Du Mal, which has juniper berry, black pepper, incense, leather, patchouli and black amber in its saturnine pasticcio. Like Malle, Byredo’s Ben Gorham comes across as something of a bibliophile – he has a scented candle in his collection called ‘Bibliotheque’ with peach plum, violet, leather and vanilla numbered in its accord. A gorgeous scent to waft around in the environs of your old books.
Frederic Malle ‘Portrait Of A Lady’ is £115.00/50ml from Les Senteurs (020 7730 2322), lessenteurs.com and Byredo ‘Baudelaire’ is £115.00/100ml from Liberty (020 7734 1234), liberty.co.uk
Left off the highway and
down the hill. At the
bottom, hang another left.
Keep bearing left. The road
will make a Y. Left again.
There’s a creek on the left.
Keep going. Just before
the road ends, there’ll be
another road. Take it
and no other. Otherwise,
your life will be ruined
forever. There’s a log house
with a shake roof, on the left.
It’s not that house. It’s
the next house, just over
a rise. The house
where trees are laden with
fruit. Where phlox, forsythia,
and marigold grow. It’s
the house where the woman
stands in the doorway
wearing sun in her hair. The one
who’s been waiting
all this time.
The woman who loves you.
The one who can say,
“What’s kept you?”
Forget everything your parents told you about not talking to strangers. Just one click in the world of ‘Chatroulette’ spins you through a virtual roulette of strangers ready for a webcam chat with you. Of course, we participated for research purposes only. Among the 5426 people on-line at the time we met a gang of four rowdy college students from New York, three over-friendly guys from Tunisia and a guy called Ryan who serenaded us on his guitar. And this could be a virtual fantasy, but we swear we also saw a mid-spin flash of the Jonas Brothers. The people we engaged with were less weird than expected, but that said – there was rather a high proportion of over enthusiastic men with a penchant for exhibitionism. ‘Chatroulette’ is a chancers’ game. Approach with caution.
We’re super happy to announce that Twin is now available at Berlin’s best magazine store – Do You Read Me? Situated in the heart of the Mitte district, it’s home to all the world’s coolest and most covetable reads. We’d just like to say – thank you for having us!
Twin’s art editor Francesca Gavin has been busy working alongside artist Jonathan Yeo co-curating a permanent collection of artworks for the Dean Street Townhouse, the latest addition to the Soho House Group, which opens tomorrow.
In the style of Colmbe D’Or artists Tracey Emin, Sam Griffin, Fiona Banner, Tim Noble and Gavin Turk – to name just a few – were all given credit at the hotel, which was once the notorious Gargoyle Club, in exchange for their artworks. So visitors know they will certainly be in good cultural company.
When in Covent Garden stop off at Crazy Pig Designs. Oddball name aside, we love their mind-blowingly detailed jewellery – take the miniscule spinning bullet cylinder on their trademark revolver earrings. Popular with the great and the good of the rock world, their work has been worn by Ozzy Osbourne, ZZ Top and Metallica. Oh, and Alexa Chung. This solid gold skull ring is top of our Christmas wish lists.
Just got back from the Matches press day…My belly is full from the delicious tea and biscuits… However I also spotted this AMAZING little number! Yes 60s-70′s vintage Chanel.. There are a few special pieces in there… Get them fast!! This one is in the 87 Marylebone high street branch now!!!
This week we went to Wahaca in Covent Garden to sample some ‘Mexican market’ food in honour of The Day of the Dead. The restaurant was in all-out festive mode with brightly coloured ‘papel picados’, hand-painted masks and energetic environmental art as far as the eye could see.
As I left – after masses of freshly cooked Mexican loveliness (and countless tequilas) – I grabbed a handful of what I thought were matches. They were in fact ‘grow your own Serrano chillies’. Sweet touch.
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