Scent And Sentimentality

A new fragrance collection from the house of Herrera pays homage to the memories of the founding family, and one very luxurious flower. Arati Menon catches the first whiff at their atelier in New York.

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It’s about sex,” says Rodrigo Flores-Roux. “And seduction. Rose whispers, but jasmine shouts. It’s outspoken.” Flores-Roux, a guest of the House of Herrera and creator of a slew of famous perfumes, is at his animated best,

coaxing us to explore the olfactory peculiarities that shape jasmine’s unique personality. The carriage house attached to New York’s Palma restaurant is a bouquet of frisky scents—leafy greens, orange blossoms, velvety grass. “Egyptian jasmine is grassier,” Flores-Roux explains, “but [the] Indian sambac is fresher and fruitier. It’s also the more modern ingredient that wasn’t extracted for perfume making until 1979.”

If there were a single flower that the House of Herrera identifies with the most, there’s absolutely no doubt it’d be the jasmine. The white flower has been part of the brand’s narrative since its debut fragrance, Carolina Herrera, was launched almost 30 years ago. “That perfume was designed to be identical to the scent my mother has always mixed for herself—a blend of jasmine and tuberose,” says Carolina Herrera de Baez, daughter of Carolina Herrera Sr and creative director at Herrera’s House of Fragrances. Jasmine was also at the heart of the runaway success that was 212, and the more recent 10-piece Falling Jasmine line of jewellery. And it plays protagonist once more, as the pillar scent Blond Jasmine in the all-new Herrera Confidential Eaux de Toilette collection.