Remember, like, three years ago when fragrances could only be clean and fresh? Citrus was king and everyone wanted to smell like the beach, mountain air, or rain. I love the smell of rain as much as the next person, but that is so over. The cool note right now is oud, which comes from a hard resinous wood in southeast Asia that’s infected with mold. “They’re dirty,” said Alexander Vreeland, describing the new collection of deeply intense fragrances for Diana Vreeland, the former editor of Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, who doused herself liberally in perfume and always kept a Rigaud candle burning on her desk. “My grandmother’s living room smelled dirty. Things happened there.” He meant that in an entirely positive way.
Accompanying the brand’s newest fragrance, Vivaciously Bold, the scents — Outrageous Simply Divine, Outrageous Outrageously Vibrant, and Outrageous Daringly Different — besides being adjective-heavy, are potent to the point of polarizing. As in NSFW. “My daughter, who is 13, was wearing an early version of Outrageously Vibrant and I thought, something’s wrong here. This scent should be too scary for a 13-year-old. We have to make it stronger.” He did, and it could bring you to your knees. The perfume has good old oud plus not-grandmotherly rose. Unless your grandmother was Diana Vreeland.
