There is probably nobody hotter than Pharrell Williams right now. His song “Happy” was the song of the last year. He is one of the new coaches on “The Voice”. It only seems natural that he would want to make a fragrance, too. Except he hasn’t gone to the usual suspects to collaborate with. He has chosen Comme des Garcons to be the brand which he will share his name with. From the moment this was announced I was actually looking forward to see how Comme des Garcons and their Creative Director Christian Astuguevieille would approach their first celebuscent.
First choice was to bring in perfumer Antoine Lie. M. Lie is as close as there is to an “in-house” perfumer at Comme des Garcons. He has an intimate understanding of the Comme des Garcons aesthetic and this would allow Mr. Williams to give his input to lead to the best kind of collaboration. Now that I have Comme des Garcons Pharrell Williams Girl my faith was confirmed. This is a celebuscent done the CdG way.
Antoine Lie
Girl opens on a fantastic duet of lavender and white pepper. Lavender is about as safe a note to use in perfume as there is. The white pepper makes it a bit less safe. What is also nice about the white pepper is it enhances the herbal quality of lavender and keeps it from being boring. This leads to a heart of iris and violet together with styrax. This is a good example of what you would not find in a typical celebuscent. The iris and violet, sure. The styrax, not likely. Just like the white pepper with the lavender on top the styrax adds a contrasting foundation to the more common notes. This is what you find in other Comme des Garcons fragrances regularly. The base of Girl is almost becoming a Comme des Garcons trademark as a woody cocktail of vetiver, cedar, and sandalwood provide the finishing touches.
Girl has 8-10 hour longevity and average sillage.
There is nothing as pleasing as having one’s faith in creativity confirmed. M. Astuguevieille is one of only a few creative directors who could have seen this through. M. Lie was able to create something which feels modern and kinetic. Mr. Williams has something with his name on it of which he can be proud. I also need to mention the bottle by artist KAWS. When you take the whole package together this is as good as it gets for a celebuscent. It makes me clap along because I know what makes me happy and can’t nothing bring me down.
Disclosure: This review was based on a sample provided by Comme des Garcons.
–Mark Behnke
