Suddenly Richie was back.
Maybe he had been in Amsterdam, sleeping in the sleep-in
slept in. If that still existed. Or even at the Krasnapolsky.
Who knows?
Or he was somewhere else entirely.
Anyway - he was standing in front of me.
"Shall we go over there?"
He pointed to the terrace of the café on the other
Side of the street.
"Okay."
"We need to talk about perfume..." he said, while
we waited for our cappucino.
"Please, shoot..." I didn't expect any
Explanations about his whereabouts, I knew him
too well.
"More specifically, about Allure Homme, which we both
own. I discovered the common thread that makes it so
special. And incidentally also what about fragrance perception
perception in general.. "Do things..."
"Please take this seriously, you'll see..."
"I'm not saying anything..."
"Well, I've known him for at least four or five years now and
but this realization came to me only yesterday, no
I don't know why. It's like the brain has to sort through all those notes for so
to sort through all the notes to get some kind of hierarchy in there a coherent overall picture..."
"Now I'm curious after all..."
"So - the differentiating building block, even if it's not
directly in the foreground, comes about 70% from a
Peach juice note, say Granini with that typical
overripe character, and 30% from sweetened coconut milk."
"Well, that's special. But please remember that
our chatter here usually ends up on Parfumo somehow,
and there we owe the people maybe bit more
Information, at times some may not yet
know the perfume..."
"You're weird!"
"Oh come on, like you don't know," I interjected.
"Alright - quick recap. Allure Homme is the
Urduft of a series that is quite successful. Starts in
Principle with mixed freshness from bergamot and lavender
in which quickly lightly spiced florality radiates in.
Later then sandalwood, vanilla, some tonka, a little
hinted leather. Everything soft-fresh, slightly creamy, for the
Year '99 definitely with some novelty value."
"And quite put down by many, with quite sub-
different reasons..."
"That's right - Chanel-unworthy was said, because of the main-
stream commercial character. Funny. As if they didn't also
as if they didn't want or need to sell..."
"Mr. Turin, whom we actually both appreciate, didn't
not to call it a crude copy of Cool Water.. i remembered "Right, in some kind of educational zeal to teach Chanel
to give Chanel a lesson, so he does sometimes
sometimes quite like, even at Guerlain..."
"As if Chanel would be impressed by such a thing, the
tick completely different..."
"Anyway, in the Allure is neither an apple note nor what
Aquatic or even dihydromyrcenol balling..."
"But really, no!"
"Others accuse him of a giant jumble of notes
that don't add up to a proper composition..." "That's more understandable, there's a lot in it
really," I replied, eager to hear what Richie
would have to say about it.
would.
"A lot, actually. But that's what gives it its character.
Especially since there's that organizing accord of peach juice and
Coconut, the red thread, which is so woven that he sometimes
to be noticed and sometimes just supportive in the background..."
"Which YOU discovered..."
"Well, not just that, many already mention, but just
not what structuring significance he has..."
"You deserve a monument..."
"Bullshit! I don't want to. Although..."
"I can see it now, 4 meters high, made of Carrara marble or
or better still, carved out of oud wood.. chiseled, "Richie, discoverer of the peach-coconut complex."
"I'm too modest for that, you know - modesty
is the beginning of all reason..."
"Oh, come on. Only the lumps are modest. Brave ones rejoice
of the deed."
"Gibberish. Modesty is the fence of wisdom."
"If you're too modest, it's only by the devil's help
will get to court!"
"What shall I do at court?"
"Maybe spray around with Allure...?"
"O.k, now ma' something else. Today I wear the fragrance again and in focus I see more the mixture of sandalwood
with lavender and only muted peach... coconut only as
little creaminess interruption or something. Well, this
mentioned chord is still there, but not quite
as prominent as I thought it was yesterday..."
"Interesting..."
"But still nice, and definitely not boring..."
"Quasi a fragrance, which from its ultimately refined
Variety of materials always reinvents itself
reinvents - or something like that...?"
"Or better, a fragrance that always creates a different
Fragrance emerges in consciousness..."
"Sounds good. Very good, even..."
"Maybe even too good...?"
Nope. Democritus says it too - in fact we
nothing, for truth lies in the depths."
"Maybe he's right. Or maybe he isn't. But anyway..."
"Do you remember once, after a Fluxus performance
after a Fluxus performance
by Ben Vautier and about seven deep shots
art?"
"Sure - art is asking the question, what is art."
"Exactly. We just have to think the phrase further. That's
the good thing about it is that it allows for that..."
"All right, then. That would be - perfume art..."
"...or rather, let's just say "perfume"...
"O.k. So perfume is asking the question, what is perfume."
"Cool."
"You know what, Richie...?"
"Nope, what?"
"I think we got it again!"