Big Fashion has long dominated the fragrance industry, with fluted flacons and crowd-pleasing scents offering an entry-level route into the most elite design houses. You can typically sniff out a fashion fragrance from a mile off: saccharine, soapy florals for the girls, leather and cigars for the boys. Throw in a budget-busting telly ad and you’ve got a Christmas bestseller sorted.
Diverting from the perfume prescription may make shareholders nervous, but boy does it excite the fragrance heads. While most brag-worthy blends come from pureplay names – think: Le Labo, Byredo – there’s one designer that has embraced the fragrance world without compromise to creativity. Since taking the helm almost a decade ago, Jonathan Anderson has reinvigorated the heritage-steeped Loewe perfume line, creating a sprawling spectrum of scents that never veer into predictable territory.
The Botanical Rainbow collection doesn’t rely on a single blockbuster bottle or A-list face to draw in fans: this is a line for the true olfactory nerds, not the gift-set shopper. In an increasingly risk-averse industry, it’s one of few that stays stubbornly out of the mainstream.
Earth is the latest fragrance to join the 28-strong line-up: a floral, musky accord with autumnal warmth from amber and violet. House perfumer Nuria Cruelles found inspiration in “the elements that connect nature and life above and below the earth." Mimosa brings a floral lightness without feeling traditionally feminine, while balsamic, herbal elemi lends woody depth.
Learning into the line’s focus on the natural world, Cruelles used white truffle from Northern Italy to highlight the muddy, organic feeling of the scent. “In my memories, truffle is connected with wine and, being an oenologist as well as a perfumer, I wanted to create the universe of Earth around ingredients from the winery world. It’s an ingredient that gives the perfume its own personality, and transports us to the depths of nature.”
The notes of Earth don’t exactly add up to obvious bestseller, but that’s exactly what keeps the Loewe wearer loyal. It’s tapping into our current desire for scents that transport, rather than transform: where mens’ fragrances once promised textbook sex appeal, the best ones of today offer intrigue and subtle allure.
“At Loewe, we want to eliminate certain barriers in perfumery, which is why we create our perfumes to represent feelings or atmospheres: the calming air, the sparkling water, the mysterious outer space, the sunset. We don’t create for a type of person, but for different moments,” says Cruelles. Earth is a deft example of this, an homage to the facets of nature often left out of fragrance, and a clever way to court a new generation of fragrance fans.
