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Oscar del La Renta's Not One, but Six New Fragrances
We have to agree with Oscar de la Renta, fragrance is not much different than fashion, which is why we completely adore his new sextet of women's scents. Essential Lxuries, a collection of fragrances referenced for his most loved people, places, launches September 2012, this month!
Photo: George Chinsee, OSCAR de la RENTA
So why six, not just one?
“We don’t change the way we look on a daily basis, but we may want to change the way we smell,” said de la Renta during an exclusive interview at his Manhattan offices this week. “A woman now wants to represent herself in many different ways, at different times. There is a world that is wide open to women, with a lot of choices. I no longer think a woman is married to one fragrance.”
According to WWD,
Each of the Essential Luxuries fragrances have important meanings to de la Renta.
Santo Domingo, a tabac-based scent named for the designer’s birthplace in the Dominican Republic, opens with citrus notes, which blend into notes of sweet and spicy mandarin, coriander, patchouli and tobacco.
Granada, inspired by the gardens of the Alhambra in Spain, is what the designer calls a romantic citrus floral, with key notes of bigarade and bergamot, supported by jasmine, orange and rose. “It’s a magical place that has great romantic memories for me,” de la Renta said, adding that he proposed marriage to his wife there privately, after the gardens were closed for the day. The neck of the fragrance bottles have a intertwined symbol which is based on a tile at the Alhambra, he added, and it is used throughout the de la Renta design universe.
Oriental Lace, a dark oriental with gourmand elements, references his ready-to-wear collection. It has notes of hoya carnosa, a chocolate-scented vine which de la Renta grows in his Punta Cana home, as well as honey, bitter almond, dark cacao, clove and patchouli notes.
Mi Corazon, inspired by the designer’s daughter Eliza (the company’s creative director of licensing) and their shared love of ylang ylang, is a floral juice with a lush accord of tuberose, hand-picked ylang ylang and peach.
Sargasso, named for the deep blue-green sea surrounding the beach of the designer’s Punta Cana home, has juniper, lemon and cucumber notes, referencing the beachy scent of the abundant marine vegetation which washes up on his beach there. “You can extract a lot of different, really good things out of it,” he said, suggesting it could form the base of a future skin-care line.
Coralina is a ladylike floral named for a coral-colored stone indigenous to the Dominican Republic, which is used in abundance in the designer’s home there and in his boutiques. It is a blend of violet, mimosa and orris, with woody green notes.