I just got back from Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York and one of the conversations I have often with people about the fashion that comes down the runway centers around the concept of whether “real people” will wear that. My answer is always that in any collection of 25-40 looks there are some that are meant to be commercial and there are others that are editorial where the designer is allowed to show off a bit. I conclude by saying even the editorial pieces, when done well, are wearable by real people and the commercial pieces, when done poorly, find the clearance rack their home. Paris Fashion Week seems to have a higher percentage of designers who work on the editorial plane over the commercial. One of the designers known for his editorial work is Hussein Chalayan.

One of the edgier perfume houses is Comme des Garcons. Particularly over the last couple of years as they have undertaken co-creative ventures with a number of different artists and translated it into fragrances. Both of the Monocle co-productions and the Daphne Guiness one were good examples of how this can work quite well. For the collaboration with Hussein Chalayan they chose to take inspiration from his Autumn/Winter 2007 collection titled ‘Airborne’. The most buzzed about look at that show was the dress shown below which was covered with LED lights and that gave the effect of flying through the clouds as it shifted and flowed.

One of M Chalayan’s consistent themes is transformation as it seems in each collection he has a dress that once it reaches the end of the runway unfolds like a pop-up book to reveal a completely different look. It is that kind of transformation that Airborne the fragrance is trying to achieve. In the press materials M Chalayan spoke of the fragrance emulating his travel from his native Cyprus to London:

“After selecting different elements such as neroli, lemon and lentiscus from Cyprus, I proposed an imaginary scenario as to how these ingredients could incur change during and after an air journey from Mediterranean Cyprus to a London urban setting.”

I think Airborne does indeed undergo a transformation in its trip on my skin from M Chalayan’s Mediterranean memory to something wholly recognizable as a Comme des Garcons style by the time it lands in the UK.

The early going of Airborne is all about the bright notes. Zesty lemon, lively bergamot, sweet neroli, and spicy lentiscus all mix together evoking Cyprus. Over the course of the trip to Heathrow the bright top notes are left behind and the deeper notes take precedence. Juniper berry and its gin-like presence provide the bridge to the trademark incense and wood that seems to ground many Comme des Garcons fragrances. In Airborne it is a clean frankincense and an even cleaner cedar which thankfully have a little musk added in to make sure London doesn’t come off too unnaturally clean.

Comme des Garcons X Hussein Chalayan Airborne has excellent longevity and above average sillage.

I, once again, have to applaud Comme des Garcons’ creative team for creating another successful collaboration. In Airborne the fragrance they have managed to capture the sparkle of the LED lights which eventually transform into something more urban and yet no less interesting. Airborne the fragrance lives up to the high standards set by Airborne the couture collection.

Disclosure: This review was based on a bottle I purchased of Airborne.

–Mark Behnke, Managing Editor