I have written a lot about my affection for the different leather accords and fragrances. As I move further in to my second decade of writing about perfume the whole concept of leather in perfumes has yet to become uninteresting to me. One reason is there are so many versions of leather in the world to use as inspiration.
Ben Gorham
Ben Gorham the owner-creative director behind Byredo also is inspired by leather in the latest releases for the Night Veils collection. In the first trio released last year it was night-blooming flowers which were the raison d’etre. This trio is all about the difference in leather from the glove, Le Gant, to the saddle, La Selle, and the boot, La Botte. All were composed by perfumer Jerome Epinette. La Selle does a fantastic job of capturing the tack room bracketing the leather accord with black tea and birch. The one which captured my attention was La Botte.
Dita von Teese (Not Mistress Stephanie)
When I was a young man I was doing what callow young men did; I let it be known I was exploring my sexuality. I wanted to try everything on the spectrum. In hindsight, I know that the whole attitude was pose more than real introspection. In that arrogantly stupid frame of mind I cajoled an invitation to an underground S&M club. On the night I attended I received an education from one Mistress Stephanie who did not use anything to lash me but her tongue. She derisively called me a tourist more repressed than someone afraid to come through the door. She continued to take out my hypocrisy and examine it until I understood it. What does this have to do with perfume? Well Mistress Stephanie was powdered and wore a many layered coating of vermillion lipstick. As she spoke to me the scents of the powder and lipstick mingled with the leather of her knee-high brilliantly polished boots. As with so many times in my life that co-mingling of smells is attached to that moment of education. La Botte is that perfume.
Jerome Epinette
M. Epinette uses a mixture of jasmine and violet to form that powdery cosmetic accord. Then M. Epinette uses Civettone to make the bridge to the leather accord. Civettone is the chemical in the highest concentration in natural civet. When isolated it imparts a cleaner animalic character. M. Epinette takes advantage of that to lead down to his highly polished leather accord. This is high gloss leather and it is made to sparkle with the addition of mahogany wood. It forms a fascinating animalic effect that I could not get enough of.
La Botte has 12-14 hour longevity and below average sillage because of its extrait strength.
Even though I fell for La Botte I think highly of the other two in this trio of Night Veils. As a collection, they allow for M. Epinette to offer you three different perspectives on leather. I just preferred the one which took me back to a teachable moment in time.
Disclosure: this review was based on a sample provided by Byredo.
–Mark Behnke
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