Thierry Mugler Les Parfums de Cuir (2012): When Artisanship Means Edge & The Affirmation of a Materialistic Perfumery {New Perfumes}
Leading perfume brand Thierry Mugler are launching a collection of four perfumes this fall of 2012 in a limited-edition series called Les Parfums de Cuir. After last year's The Taste of Fragrance, their iconic scents Angel, Alien, Womanity and A*Men all receive the leather treatment in a renewed way by mixing tradition and modernity.
Known for their research spirit and innovative techniques in perfumery, Thierry Mugler this time are experimenting with strips of so-called "vegetal leather" made to be steeped in and infuse the legendary quartet of fragrances rather than by having recourse to the habitual creation of leather accords...
In so doing, they are reinstating in this way what one might call "a materialistic perfumery", a sort of early, exploratory perfumery which believes in the transformation of natural matter, coming from horizons other than that of perfumery, instead of relying on the sleight of hand that it is more often than not as an art of the abstract and the illusory. Like Jean-Baptiste Grenouille in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, they seem ready to lay their hands on anything which might get picked from the ground be it a dead pigeon or broken shards of glass, and transformed into its quintessential self.
We can see that this time, they are combining insights gained from their first foray into technique-borrowing from cognac-making together with the antique tradition of leather glove-making, the latter which is very closely associated with the development of the history of fine perfumery in Europe.
The "vegetal leather" mentioned by Mugler is not exactly for Vegans but actually real leather treated with a vegetal method of tanning so as to preserve the scent of the leather in an authentic fashion.
The brand formed a partnership with the Centre de Technique du Cuir (CTC). Each perfume was made to be macerated in custom-made Inox vats by Orfèvrerie d'Anjou with this custom-designed leather during 4 weeks.
Angel Les Parfums de Cuir offers new nuances of leather, iris and apricot; Alien Les Parfums de Cuir now smells of sueded leather with nuances of dry fruits; Womanity Les Parfums de Cuir develops a leathery facet which is subtly ambery, echoing the labdanum note it already contains; The leather in A*Men Pure Cuir is almost animalic while the patchouli is said to have become rounder and more mysterious.
The bottles are 30 ml of eau de parfum each, except for A*Men Pure Cuir which is an eau de toilette.
Via press release
