FLOWER POWER

Alessandro Michele’s touch reaches from fashion to fragrance with another striking creation for fall: Gucci Bloom (100ml for $124), a confident and complex floral scent that reinvigorates the house’s storied fragrance heritage. Jasmine, one of Bloom’s most prominent notes, is complemented by rarer aromas, like that of the flower of the Rangoon creeper, which has never before been used in a SHUIXPH B*URZQ LQ VRXWKHUQ ,QGLD WKH EORVVRP RSHQVBDW dusk, gradually deepening in FRORU IURPBZKLWH WR SLQN WR D GHHS UHG *XFFL %ORRP similarly evolves as you wear it, from an initial floral scent to a more intense, earthier tone that’s especially suited to fall. The fragrance is bolder and less delicate than the brand’s other women’s RIIHULQJV OLNH (DX GH *XFFL (which debuted in 1993 with its mix of citrus, tuberose, and lily of the valley) and Envy (a fresher, grassier fragrance introduced in 1997). Bloom is, essentially, a perfume for Michele’s modern woman: feminine and beautiful but never predictable or shy. (Appropriately, actress Dakota Johnson, artist Petra Collins, and model Hari Nef are at the center of Bloom’s DGBFDPSDLJQ While the company introduced its first perfume, *XFFL 1R LQ DQG KDV had international success in the arena ever since, it has increased its focus on fragrance over the last decade, unveiling more scents than ever before, like 2009’s clean, youthful Flora DQG LQ WKH EROG *XFFL *XLOW\ %XW %ORRP LV WKH RQO\ perfume with Michele’s thorough input and imprint. To create its powerful floral blend, he worked with revered perfumer Alberto Morillas, whose résumé includes Calvin Klein’s CK One DQGB&DUWLHUŌV 3DQWKªUH GH Cartier. The result, like most RI *XFFLŌV RIIHULQJV VHHPV WR bridge a gap, appealing as much to a sophisticated VRFLDOLWH ZKRŌV EHHQ D *XFFL fan for decades as it does to a young woman, newer to *XFFL KHDGLQJ RXW IRU D QLJKW on the town.