Venice Dreaming

When creative director, Matthieu Blazy began to mastermind his first fragrances for the brand that famously champions leather artisanship he looked close to home and to the fabled city of Venice. The collection of five scents draws on the city’s heritage as a port where artefacts, spices, precious fabrics and metals were traded over centuries. That rich history gave Blazy license to blend rare organic ingredients from world over. French Angelica oil blends with Moroccan orange blossom in the bright Colpo di Sole, while Acqua Sale, taking its cue from salty sea water, combines Spanish labdanum absolute and Macedonian juniper oil. Geranium from Madagascar is juxtaposed with Guatemalan cardamom in Déjà Minuit, and in the divine Come With Me sees Italian bergamot mixed with French orris butter. Meanwhile, the seductive Alchemie, has notes of piquant Brazilian pink pepper and myrrh from Somalia.

We all appreciate the tactility of Bottega Veneta Intrecciato bags, new feathered evening skirts and the rows of squishy animal shaped bean bags that formed the seating at the most recent show, so expectations for the bottle design were high. Here Blazy draws on the tradition of Venetian glass blowing in the bubble-like flacons with wooden caps that sit on a noble plinth cut in green Verde Saint Denis marble. After all, perfume deserves a proud place in our boudoirs.