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· January 17, 2008 1:58 AM by
Colleen Shirazi
· January 17, 2008 7:58 AM by
Dain
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Posted by Dain, Wednesday, January 16, 2008 7:00 AM (Eastern)
Like the violently cast down and vehemently defended Muscs Koublaï Khan, Chêne was a perfume, at first, that smelled puzzlingly of nothing whatever. It must be noted that my chemistry just swallows up all the animalic funk in Serge Lutens (an effect I have also noticed with Vetiver Oriental and Miel de Bois). It is not quite the disappearing act of Muscs Koublaï Khan, I smell enough to get a sense of its conceptual grace.
You know when you are watching the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring, and Cate Blanchett's marvelously judged voiceover relives some of the bleak and melancholy history of Middle Earth? All of a sudden, there is a shock of green, shocking because it is so lush and peaceful, as the camera moves into the forests in Hobbiton. I was expecting something rather similar. Instead, I got the pastorals of the great English Romantic, John Constable, and in particular, Boat-Building.
After Gainsborough, Constable is probably the greatest figure in classic English country charm, except that one specialized in portraits, the other in landscapes. Nevertheless, Constable never really idealizes nature, and he tends to see nature in direct relationship with mankind. He prefers canals to rivers, men at work, broken and imperfect trees, and lots of miscellaneous muck and junk. And that is the image above, in a nutshell.
I get a similar sort of mucky imperfection in Chêne: that queer, bitter aroma of acorns, the unfriendly meat inside, a hint of old oak leaves and fresh loam, and the trademark of the Eaux Boisés, cedar. It turned me off at first, "nature, but so what?" I sniffed again. Is that... Booze? Herbs? Flowers? Spice? Very subtle and soft, like opening up an old hope chest and getting a whiff of something... lost. Maybe the earlier association with The Lord of the Rings was not misplaced after all. I wouldn't say that this is that difficult to appreciate, compared to say, Caron. Serge Lutens, on the whole, is not structurally complicated, which makes them more accessible, but Chêne is one of the ones worth doing a doubletake on.
I appreciate-but-no-further, it is quite cool and unusual and not at all loud (astringency notwithstanding).
Labels: perfume reviews, serge lutens
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January 17, 2008 1:58 AM,
Boat building! How cool is that?
I'm wondering if this would be something I'd like. Although it sounds kind of musty. But Coco Mademoiselle smelled a tad musty on me, and I liked it.
January 17, 2008 7:58 AM,
Hm, Coco Mademoiselle seems very sweet and rather fruity to me, so they're not much alike.
It's interesting... It smells like acorns at first, and then becomes this kind of very soft, forest-y scent that's quite translucent on the skin, so a light-dappled forest, presumably.
In any case, you'll be able to see soon enough. : )
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