THE TOP 10 PERFUMES THAT HAVE CHANGED THE GAME
1 MARK BUXTON – COMME DES GARÇONS 2 (1999)
Buxton was given a one-line brief by Comme des Garçons to create the smell of a swimming pool of ink. It was meant to be glossy and wet but also dark and metallic unlike the traditional florals, ambers and powdery fragrances to which people were accustomed. The bold new accords used in the perfume – he used metallic-smelling and smoky ingredients – became acceptable scents after this.
“It was the perfume that gave the industry permission to be braver and to tell a story,” says Catterall. “It changed the way perfume was made.”
2 GEZA SCHOEN – MOLECULE 01 (2006)
The first perfume that committed to using synthetic ingredients, rather than using them to mimic natural ones. In fact it contains just one material, an ingredient called Iso E Super, which had only previously been used in perfumery to enhance other scents, rather like salt is used in cooking. What wasn’t known before was that it would also become the first fragrance that was bought as much for the effect it had on people as it was for its scent.
“As soon as he did it he realised he was onto something because he got a friend to wear it and in one hour so many people had hit on his friend.
“It still has this reputation as being a big sexual magnet,” explains Catterall. “At Liberty’s, it’s the number one selling product in the whole store.”
3 ANTOINE LIE – SÉCRÉTIONS MAGNIFIQUES (2007)
“The perfumer in this case was asked to create a perfume that smelt of sex, and semen was one of the things he was asked to recreate,” says Catterall. “For him, relationships aren’t just about sex, they’re about the whole arc of a relationship, and so he wanted to put that into it as well.
“So there’s a faint blood and sweat accord (from cumin oil) and a milky accord (from a synthetic ingredient called Sulfurol) to hint at the smell of mother’s milk.”
4 OLIVIA GIACOBETTI – EN PASSANT (2000)
En Passant is supposed to represent “an atmosphere in a bottle”. That place is a flower shop in Paris on a rainy Spring morning. “The particular floral in this is lilac,” says Catterall. “Florals are quite traditional, but the way she has done it, it’s really modern.”
It’s also an example of how the perfumer is now increasingly brought into the foreground. “It’s for the Frederic Malle range. He was the first person to actually put the perfumer’s name on the bottle.”
5 DANIELA ANDRIER – PURPLE RAIN (2015)
The most traditional of all the scents. Created for Prada, Purple Rain is sophisticated and luxurious, like their clothes. The predominant scent is iris, which “is designed to prompt a sense of déjà vu by smelling distinct, yet familiar,” says Catterall.
6 DAVID S MOLTZ – EL COSMICO (2015)
A cutting-edge scent created by one of a growing number of self-taught perfumers and an example of the growing trend for people wanting a scent that will evoke different moods or times of year.
“David is very good at creating perfumes that can transport you to a place in space and time,” says Catterall. “This is the smell of a West Texan town called Marfa, specifically a place called El Cosmico, a very trendy campsite where you get to stay in vintage trailers.
“He’s taken the scents of the landscape, all the indigenous plants, shrubs and pine trees, by using ingredients like black pepper and Texas cedar. The main scent that comes out to me is the creosote, which doesn’t come from slump oil but a plant which smells of that so it has that dry tar element to it.”
7 LYN HARRIS – CHARCOAL (2016)
Charcoal was created specifically for a client by perfumer Lyn Harris, one of very few perfumers who uses almost entirely natural ingredients.
“We had this whole discussion about how to translate this feeling of nostalgia onto your skin,” Harris tells me. “He was saying woodsmoke brings up all sorts of memories for him. He wanted it to be imported onto his skin.
“But it’s personal for me, too. It went back to my grandfather, and how he used to make the fire every day. It has this smoky, whimsical feel to it.
“I worked with tree bark, and then I worked with another part of the tree which is much greener and cleaner, then I added patchouli but in a clean way.
“And vetiver was very important. And then a little bit of birch tarn and leather.”
8 ANDY TAUER – L’AIR DU DÉSERT MAROCAIN (2005)
“This perfume is a massive cult hit on the internet,” says Catterall. “Tauer has this crazy fan club and this perfume marks the rise of the self-taught perfumer.
“A lot of classically trained perfumers smell it and go ‘it’s hideous, there’s no balance to it’.
“But when you compare that to music – some of the best things ever written were not written by classically trained musicians. You can point to punk and say ‘well they don’t even know how to play their instruments’ and yet that kind of music means so much to people.”
9 BERTRAND DUCHAUFOUR – INCENSE: AVIGNON (2002)
Avignon is arguably the most evocative perfume on display. When you smell it, you feel as if you are sitting in a cold, ancient cathedral thanks to Duchaufor’s use of Frankincense, Sandalwood and Iso E Super.
“It’s the smell of Catholic mass,” says Catterall. “It’s a Comme des Garçons scent and they are the pioneers of pushing perfume to its absolute limits. Bertrand is one of the most prolific perfumers in niche perfumery.
“It’s actually Morrissey’s favourite perfume.”
10 KILLIAN WELLS – DARK RIDE (2015)
The most controversial of all the perfumes, this is a scent made by a perfumer who is also a singer-songwriter and record producer.
At $65 (£51), thousands of people buy this perfume, but not necessarily to wear.
The inspiration was a log flume ride so “it smells of chlorine, stagnant water, pyrotechnics, and mildew,” says Catterall.
“It absolutely stinks, but people really love it.”
Perfume: A Sensory Journey Through Contemporary Scent is at Somerset House until Sep 17. Tickets: somerset house.org.uk, 020 7845 4600