May 29, 2011
Behind The Bottle with Christopher Chong: Amouage Honour Man and Woman + Memorial Day Draw
Christopher Chong, the creative director of Amouage, has given CaFleureBon an exclusive look at the newest fragrances from Amouage, Honour Man and Honour Woman. Before I get to my review Mr. Chong was gracious enough to answer a few questions about Honour Man and Honour Woman and take us Behind the Bottle.
Christopher, can you tell me about the newest releases from Amouage, Honour Man and Honour Woman?
CC: The final act of Madame Butterfly is the inspiration behind both fragrances. They are not about the Japanese culture. They are about the elements of love, betrayal and reconciliation.
In the Honour fragrance story, I authored a sequel to Madame Butterfly in which it is a filial elegy to the memory of her suicide. Her son who is now the same age as her when she killed herself revisits the scenario in his mind by forming a narrative with her spirit in order to reconcile the conflict that he has had with himself and her death.
The inspirational music is Madame Butterfly’s final aria “Con Onor Muore —”To Die with Honour”,—Composer Giacomo Puccini and that is where the name of the fragrances came from.
This story I authored is a continuation from the previous one, which is Memoir.
Honour Woman – White Floral
Top: Pepper, Rhubarb Leaves, Coriander
Heart: Jasmine, Tuberose, Gardenia, Lily of the Valley, Carnation
Base: Vetiver, Frankincense, Amber, Opoponax, Leather
Honour Man – Spicy/Woody
Top: Pink Pepper, Black Pepper
Heart: Geranium, Elemi, Nutmeg
Base: Patchouli, Frankincense, Cedarwood, Vetiver, Tonka Beans, Musk
Who is the nose for Honour and as Creative Director how do you go about choosing a nose to realize your vision?
CC: Nathalie Feisthauer is the perfumer for Honour Man. Alexandra Carlin and Violaine Collas are the perfumers for Honour Woman. As Creative Director, I am very much hands on. I set the mood, theme and story for the perfumers. We select ingredients, construct accords, formulate and reformulate together. I am very demanding. So, as long as the perfumers can understand my passion and obsession, then we know it would be a productive collaboration. It also helps tremendously when the perfumer goes that extra mile to try to understand my mind and thinking. For example, Alexandra Carlin went to the Opera Bastille to see the current production of Madame Butterfly in order to get a much more in-depth understanding of the story and music. In short, communication is my key criteria when it comes to selecting a perfumer.
Madame Butterfly is about the clash of culture between East and West is there anything in Honour which reflects that or is it meant to be a more personal reflection?
CC:The most obvious connotation of Madame Butterfly has to do with imperialism. I could spend a long time discussing this geopolitical and historical discourse between East and West, which makes a very interesting and challenging forum. The semiotics of Madame Butterfly obviously have many layers of meanings and interpretations. Sometimes we try to over analyze too much and forget about the simplicity and beauty of the object or music.
Are you an opera fan and is Madame Butterfly one of your favorites if you are?
CC: I was trained as a classical and opera singer before I entered the perfume industry. So, you can say that I am an opera buff. I love most of Puccini’s and Verdi’s works. Yes, it is one of my favorites because of its ‘verismo’ style that it still remains relevant today with regard to themes such as falling in love and getting abandoned. It is the universal elements of love, suicide and betrayal in the opera that inspired both Honour fragrances.
How has the construction of Honour Woman and Honour Man been influenced by those themes?
CC: Honour Woman is a white floral fragrance inspired by the tragic predicament of Madame Butterfly. The white floral is used to signify the discourse of Butterfly’s love. Tuberose is used to represent danger. Jasmine is attachment. Gardenia is secret love. Lily of the Valley is purity of heart. White carnation is innocence and faithfulness. On another level, the white floral represents a tragic love in which honour, fidelity and innocence have been betrayed – the death of the soul. A resin base of frankincense, amber and opoponax is used to represent the tragic end of Butterfly’s “To Die with Honour”.
Honour Man is a spicy and woody fragrance invoking memories of the past signified by a mixture of disturbing and conflicting accords starting with a spicy burst of pink pepper and black pepper. Geranium and elemi are used to represent a filial elegy to the honour and memory of Madame Butterfly. A woody base evolves with a musky allusion to this story of reconciliation.
Christopher, thank you for “Honouring” us with a chance to see behind the bottle on these brand new fragrances from Amouage.
Now it is my turn to go inside the bottle and review both of these new Amouage releases.
Honour Man
As Mr. Chong states above Honour Man is a woody spicy fragrance full of contrasting accords.Perfumer Nathalie Feisthauer chooses to use a set of orthogonal notes to realize the vision of Mr. Chong. The spicy opening is all pepper in both its pink and black forms. It is joined fairly quickly by elemi which adds a resinous vector before the green aspect of geranium and the sweet spiciness of nutmeg add conflicting olfactive disonnance. The first time I wore Honour Man on a very hot day this disonnance was a little off-putting. It reminded me of my first trip to the opera as a young man and finding it a little off-putting, as well. In the case of Honour Man, and opera, it took a second examination to find it more interesting. The second time around it was a cooler day and the different facets of green, resin and spice melded more effectively while still imparting a bit of conflict. The base has no such problems as the well-known fragrant harmonies of patchouli and frankincense along with cedar bring Honour Man back into more common territory. As the drydown continues the musk lightly present early on take a more prominent role adding a nice rounded ending to Honour Man.
Honour Woman
Perfumers Alexandra Carlin and Violaine Collas take Mr. Chong’s charge to present the “tragic predicament of Madame Butterfly” as a story of white flowers which we get to in the heart of Honour Woman. Prior to the appearance of the florals Mmes Carlin and Collas choose an unusual opening of rhubarb, coriander and a pinch of pepper as an olfactive overture to get our attention. The rhubarb and coriander add an almost vegetal nature to the early going. The white flowers start arriving forthwith in rapid succession starting with tuberose, then a fully indolic jasmine, the sharper floral facets of gardenia, the metallic tang of lily of the valley, and finally the clove-like nature of carnation. One after the other they arrive and build to a white flower crescendo, like a coloratura soprano hitting her high note after building to it. If you love white flowers the heart of Honour Woman is for you as Mmes Carlin and Collas have skillfully combined them into an aria containing all that I love about these notes. Honour Woman lingers on this high note for quite a long time on my skin before, almost begrudgingly, giving way to allow opoponax to usher Honour Woman to the base of frankincense, amber, and vetiver. I know according to the note list above there is supposed to be leather in the base but try as I might it never seems to appear on my skin.
Honour Man and Honour Woman have outstanding longevity over 24 hours on my skin. They also both have above average sillage, people around you will know you are wearing these fragrances.
After knowing the inspiration as Madame Butterfly it was hard not to see Honour Man as the very conflicted Lieutenant Pinkerton who wants to live a life forbidden but is always trying to keep control. In the same way Honour Woman presents Cio-Cio San as a person of great honour who lives true to her heart and in that living chooses “To Die with Honour”. Thankfully the tragedy of Madame Butterfly has led to the triumph of both Honour Man and Honour Woman.
Thanks to the generosity of Christopher Chong and Amouage we have FIVE SAMPLE SETS of both Honour Man and Honour Woman to giveaway. To be eligible for the draw leave a comment “Honouring” someone or something , in general or for this past Memorial Day or your favorita opera or Amouage fragrance. To DOUBLE your chance to be selected go to our Facebook Behind the Bottle CaFleureBon Q&A page.and Like the page. Draw closes June 1, 2011 EST
Disclosure: This review was based on samples provided by Amouage.
-Mark Behnke, Managing Editor
(Michelyn Camen, EIC and Art Direction; all artists are Japanese)
Amouage Jubilation XXV is my favourite from the brand . Years ago Amouage seemed to me to be too heavy and oriental, now the offer is full of wonderful and truly unique creations. Thank you for the interview and Ch. Chong's input!
Nice review and very interesting interview. It is always interesting to get the story behind artistic creations.
I’d like to honor not only the men and women who serve; but also all the folks they leave at home. Here’s to all of the moms, dads, brothers, sisters, husbands, and wives abiding until their loved ones return.
Having visited the Bronx Zoo today with my family (one of many visits over the years) I would like to honor the people who work so hard in the Wildlife Conservation Society to preserve habitats so that many endangered animals may continue to live in the wild.
I would like to say thank you to all the people in the US military that serve and the families that sit home waiting for them. I can only imagine what it's like to not know if this is the last time you will say goodbye to someone.
I love Amouage and anxiously await these as well..great draw and thanks to Amouage.
I would like to honour all the troops around the world who fight to keep us all safe. We are forever thankful!
As for Amouage scents, I personally love Jubilation 24 and Memoir Man but I still have many to try!
I'm not American, but I would like to honour all the people who help to rescue other people when hurricanes, earthquakes, twisters and floods happen. They are angels in Earth.
My favorite opera is Puccini's Turandot. I love Verdi's Aida too.
Thank you very much!
I would like to honor my grandfather, Col. Ray Allen, who served in WWII. He was a true hero.
My grandfather and godfather who proudly served our country. I honor them for their bravery. I am very fond of Amouage Lyric.
I'd like to honor my mother who passed away earlier this year. She taught me many wonderful things and perhaps best of all, was always supportive of my sometimes strange interests, hobbies and passions, of which perfume is a huge one that definitely falls into all three categories.
.
She wasn't huge into scent herself, but did own a few bottles. On one of the last occasions where I saw her in good health, she was telling me she had absolutely fallen for the scents I had left for her. I was confused, as I hadn't – to my knowledge – left any samples on the last visit. What had happened was a few Amouage samples fell out of my sample bag that was in my backpack while I was in her car. She had totally fallen for Lyric Woman and Jubilation XXV (she didn't know it was intended for men, and after I told her, well, she didn't care! She still wanted a bottle!
Fond memories. Thank you for this opportunity to reminisce.
I commented or so I thought, but it did not appear. I wanted to honor those who have served in the armed forces (a cousin who lost his life years ago in the Vietnam war, and all the rest) … along with those who stand for us now in roles of rescue and protection – police and firefighters… Thanks for the draw!
I thank all the males in my family for their service. Nearly every male in the family as far back as my great grandfather on both sides of my family were military men and most of them served our country in times of war. Most recently, my uncle served multiple tours in Desert Storm and also in Afghanistan. I appreciate that there is still a desire from Americans to band together reguardless of their personal feelings toward the reason of war and military to take the time to remember them for their selflessness and sacrifice. "All gave some and some gave all."
As for the scent, I have not yet experienced this fragrence but in the details of this review, it is comprised of many of my favorites tuberose and gardenia. I am familliar with some opera, my favorite being the Phantom Of The Opera…the soundtrack is both frightening and elegant. It sounds like this fragrence fits that discription as well.
I have never imagined tuberose to represent danger and I am highly interested to smell the blend of notes to achieve that! I can imagine gardenia, as a secret love scent. Because I was secretly in love when I wore it as a teenager. I guess that goes without saying isnt every teenager secretly in love with someone all the time?
Thank you all for these elegant drawings and for the opportunity to get the backstory of the creators and the scents that we adore.