L’Orchestre Parfum/behind the scenes: Anne-Sophie Behaghel x Flamenco Néroli
Pierre Guguen's collaboration with Flair goes back to the very beginnings of the brand, whose first fragrances were designed by the studio. Anne-Sophie Behaghel is responsible for Flamenco Néroli. A fragrance bursting with sunshine, perfect for forgetting the first signs of autumn, whose genesis we reveal to you today.
Flamenco in a bottle
L'Orchestre Parfum was launched in 2017 with its first five fragrances. While Cuir Kora is the fruit of a 4-handed collaboration with her accomplice Amélie Bourgeois, Anne-Sophie Behaghel signs Rose Trombone and Flamenco Néroli for the brand. “The creative exchange with Pierre is very fluid,” explains Anne-Sophie. “He talks to us about a musical theme, which we then transpose olfistically. The brief always seems clear to me, since it draws on our musical experiences,” she continues.
Here, Pierre Guguen wanted to translate the world of flamenco into a fragrance. Neroli - the iconic flower of Spain, the birthplace of flamenco - was a natural choice.
[As we explained in our focus article, neroli and orange blossom are one and the same flower, with only the extraction method differing. Distillation of the flower yields an essential oil known as neroli, while extraction with solvents produces an orange blossom absolute].
Orange blossom, the keystone of the fragrance
Anne-Sophie Behaghel was just back from Andalusia when Pierre Guguen introduced her to the Flamenco Néroli brief. “I'd just come back from Granada, where I visited the Alhambra,” she recounts. “It was this vision of orange blossom gardens, cradled by the sound of a flamenco guitarist, that I wanted to retranscribe. Orange blossom was an obvious choice for me”.
Anne-Sophie Behaghel has sublimated every facet of the orange tree: the wood, the flower, the fruit, the leaves. “I explored the tree from every angle. I enhanced the floral dimension with jasmine, to amplify the effect of light. A bouquet of white flowers enhanced with citrus and petitgrain at the top to restore the freshness of neroli. To express the warmth of summer in Spain, I played with the syrupy, fruity notes of davana. The whole is set on a woody bed that suggests the wood of the tree, as in the guitar”.
Pierre Guguen's collaboration with Flair goes back to the very beginnings of the brand, whose first fragrances were designed by the studio. Anne-Sophie Behaghel is responsible for Flamenco Néroli. A fragrance bursting with sunshine, perfect for forgetting the first signs of autumn, whose genesis we reveal to you today.
The wood of a flamenco guitar
The fragrance's woody facet hints at the presence of a flamenco guitar in an orange garden. A wood tinged with Virginia cedar, Atlas cedar and cypriol. “Atlas cedar dominates. A softer, leatherier variety than Virginia cedar, it evokes the scent of cedar in the souks,” explains Anne-Sophie Behaghel. Cypriol, with its animalic notes, adds a touch of mystery and depth to the fragrance. It's this warm, Andalusian dimension that she wanted to capture, rather than the vibrancy of guitar strings. Instead, the fragrance's vibrancy comes from the aldehydes and ginger in the top notes, which enhance this floral, woody score.
From top to bottom, Anne-Sophie Behaghel has chiselled a sunny neroli. An orange blossom imbued with the scorching sun of the Andalusian summer. An exhilarating, twirling fragrance, “like a swirling orange tree”, says the perfumer. A neroli dancing to the rhythm of flamenco.
Article written by Sophie Normand for L'Orchestre Parfum