bla CK pepper Comme D es Garçons

Hadag talks with renowned artist and Creative Director for Comme des Garçons, Christian Astuguevieille, and the perfumer Antoine Maisondieu, about the creation, inspirations and composition behind the scent Blackpepper…

What first inspired Blackpepper?

CA: The original concept for Blackpepper was somewhat inspired by perfume history, by a very well known black pepper fragrance by Caron. So we had a little bit of inspiration, but then we wanted to construct a pepper fragrance that was very distinct to us, with our own style.

How did you describe the perfume that you had in mind to the perfumer, Antoine Maisondieu [AM], who is also here today?

CA: He’ll tell you if I’m wrong, but I think that I asked to smell some pepper scents in order to get a feel for them and see which ones would be the best. I wanted a pepper of the highest quality, and I wanted to enhance it, but stay true to the pepper.

AM: What’s funny is that, when you’re asked what the pepper should be like, you often say “Magnificent”.

What makes Blackpepper stand out from other spicy perfumes?

AM: It’s really nothing like other spicy perfumes, so explaining the difference is almost complicated. The construction and the overdose of pepper are incredible; no other perfume has anything like it. As far as the construction goes, it’s very simple, and you would normally expect a spicy perfume to have a much more complicated construction with a lot of vanilla, or a lot of flowers. This one doesn’t have either of those elements. It’s so different from standard spicy perfumes.

CA: That’s what makes us distinct; in any case, it’s kind of our philosophy to try to do things a bit differently. That’s what gives Comme des Garçons perfumery that special style.

What makes the structure of a Comme des Garçons perfume stand out from more traditional perfumery?

CA: I think that our perfumery is often about the substances that are overdosed. We try to keep the structure quite simple but, in reality, if you really analyse the perfume, it gives an impression of simplicity that actually hides a highly sophisticated construction. It’s that style of composition that interests us.

AM: With this composition style — for instance, take the pepper fragrance we are looking at today — what makes it distinct is its very obvious scent of pepper; as soon as you smell it, you think, “that’s pepper”. But that pepper is combined with many other things that enhance its character and make it more sophisticated, even within this very simple structure. The formulas are always simple — generally speaking, I think that’s what Comme des Garçons has brought to the perfumery market, very simple, straightforward formulas. But despite that, there are two very interesting things here: Blackpepper has a contemporary sophistication, yet it never loses sight of the history of perfume.