The New Acne Studios by Frederic Malle Fragrance Smells Like a Warm, Cozy Scarf
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How does one bottle the comforting feeling of wrapping yourself in a warm, cozy scarf on a frigid winter day? Acne Studios, whose mohair scarf has become a quintessential winter accessory, aimed to find out with its brand-new scent, Acne Studios par Frederic Malle. The answer: aldehydes, synthetic notes that emit a fresh, almost soapy scent.
Created by perfumer Suzy Le Helley, Acne Studios par Frederic Malle pairs aldehydes with florals including rose, violet, and orange blossom, along with gourmand hints of vanilla and peach, and grounding notes of sandalwood, white musk, and frankincense. Aldehydes are particularly a focal point for perfume “editor” Frédéric Malle, who has honed in on these chemicals for much of his career, almost as if they were an olfactive obsession. Aldehydes’ dazzling qualities also mesmerize Le Helley, who is known for her ability to blend natural raw materials (thanks to a lifetime love of botany) with synthetic notes for a whole new olfactory experience.
Despite graduating from renowned French perfumery school ISIPCA just a few years ago, Le Helley has been earning praise as an “olfactory prodigy.” With a handful of fragrances under her belt already, including scents for Courrèges and Hugo Boss, the Acne scent is the biggest launch of her career thus far.
“Personally, this is my first great solo launch, and I salute Frédéric’s boldness in entrusting such a project to a young creator,” Le Helley says.
“Suzy was trained by very great perfumers, Annick Ménardo and Maurice Roucel,” Malle notes. “When we met … the current flowed immediately. Everything she presented to me was audacious and highly distinctive. To be able to highlight great talents like Suzy is exhilarating.”
Acne Studios by Frederic Malle Eau de Parfum
Neiman Marcus
$295.00
Exhilaration, as well as a sense of nostalgia, was also on Le Helley’s mind when she created Acne Studios par Frederic Malle. “I hope that this fragrance will appeal to a new generation who are less familiar with the great classics, and who may be curious to discover a great floral aldehyde, seen through a new prism, a new look,” she says. She describes the scent as a “neoclassical fragrance,” with a modern, cozy twist. “I always kept in mind the signature Acne Studios scarf, which is a key accessory for wintertime in Paris,” she says. “It’s interesting to imagine a fragrance that you would want to wear on your neck for a long time, just like a comfortable and soft scarf.” Of the scent, she observes that the combination of vanilla, musk, and sandalwood gives it a “comfortable and powdery texture, creating a previously unseen contrast between clean top notes and an addictive soft background.”
While this is Acne Studios’ first foray into fragrance, Malle and his namesake brand are no newcomers to the industry. Since its founding the brand in 2000, Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle has been a champion of total olfactory artistic freedom, giving each of its noses complete creative license and access to the most extensive selection of raw materials, with no constraints on time, marketing, or budget. This unheard-of approach has allowed for some of the most inventive masterpieces of perfume art in the 21st century, including Portrait of a Lady and Carnal Flower, both by Dominique Ropion, and Musc Ravageur by Maurice Roucel. At the helm, Malle acts as a modern-day patron of the perfume arts and a defender of the industry’s aesthetic values.
Is that level of absolute creative freedom more daunting for a perfumer, though? According to Le Helley, no—but only thanks to Malle’s “caring and attentive” nature.
This partnership with Acne Studios is surprising, but not out of character for Malle, who previously created scents with Dries Van Noten and the late Alber Elbaz. But the collaboration is a bit shocking for Acne Studios, as it is the first-ever fragrance from the Swedish fashion brand. When it was founded in 1996, it was known as ACNE (an acronym for “Ambition to Create Novel Expression”) and debuted with a line of unisex jeans. (Fitting, then, that Acne Studios par Frederic Malle is unisex and as comfortable as your favorite pair of jeans.) Today, the label is known for a vibe Malle describes as “creative, classical, and irreverent.”
“For years, when I thought of Acne Studios, I thought of Scandinavian minimalism,” says Bazaar senior fashion editor Tara Gonzalez. “In recent years, though, it’s totally shifted and feels more maximalist and futuristic—it’s more elaborate, less pared down, and feels transformative. A couple of years ago, wearing Acne Studios could transport you to Scandinavia without a plane ticket. Now, it’s way louder and bold—the clothing looks like what you’d wear on another planet that’s way cooler than Earth. The over-the-top Y2K-ness of the brand still feels entirely of the moment.”
While the new fragrance’s parent brands are markedly different, they do share a few things in common, including a deeply artistic sensibility and a steadfast commitment to absolute creative freedom. “For [Malle], creativity always comes first,” says Acne Studios founder and creative director Jonny Johansson. “Nothing is dictated by marketing, [but] simply by the desire to make beautiful things.”
On the perfume house’s olfactive map, Acne Studios par Frederic Malle lands distinctly on the “soft” side, firmly planted between “crisp” and “warm.” That softness is also present in the bottle, whose pastel gradient glow is reminiscent of artist James Turrell’s work with light. The bottle’s look is the result of a neat, simple trick, Malle says: “The base of the bottle is painted and, using an optical system, the color is diffused in shades through the fragrance.”
But no such tricks are needed for the scent itself, which Le Helley describes as “soft and caressing.” The emotion it evokes for Malle? “Tenderness.” As for Johansson, he says it—aptly—reminds him of “immaculately clean jeans, straight out of the dryer.”
Acne Studios par Frederic Malle ($295 for 50 mL, $470 for 100 mL) is available now at fredericmalle.com and at Frederic Malle and Acne Studios boutiques.
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