Etat Libre d’Orange Rien, edit by Nicoleta
“I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you – Nobody – too?
Then there’s a pair of us!
Don’t tell! they’d advertise – you know!
How dreary – to be – Somebody!
How public – like a Frog –
To tell one’s name – the livelong June –
To an admiring Bog!”
One of my favorite commercials, back from 2000, for Sony’s PlayStation 2, was called “the flea circus”. In a cold, lab light setting, a voice narrates the flea training experiment: the fleas were placed inside the jar and the lid was sealed shut. They were left undisturbed for three days, then, when the jar was open, the fleas would not jump out. The experiment showed that the fleas will never jump higher than the level set by the lid, their behavior being set for the rest of their lives, and when these fleas would reproduce, their offsprings will automatically follow their example. Then the voice would prompt us to “escape the circus and live beyond the limits of the imaginary lid”.
Etat Libre d’Orange founded in 2006 by Etienne de Swardt was one of the pioneers of the niche fragrance houses, who managed, through innovative concepts and a fearless approach to push the lid of customer’s expectations regarding what artistic perfumery can bring to the table.
ETAT LIBRE D’ORANGE ad
A note from the brand: “Do not believe what you first see… under the demureness of the name, the spicy savour of blackcurrant bays and the musky notes of blonde suede. Rien is a second skin perfume, a perfume that clings to the body and perseveres in the mind. Like venial sin on the verge of becoming mortal, irresistible and resolutely pervasive. As light as mohair and as precious as cashmere, the fragrance envelops skin with a powdered caress. It has the meticulous elegance and hypnotic beauty of a modern Dorian Gray, in a feminine/masculine version.
The connection to Dorian Gray immediately springs to my mind Mr. Wilde’s words: “It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.” I think the same can be (loudly) said about fragrances. Rien (nothing in French) is so far away from anything intimate, quiet, demure or skin-scent that I have always read the name as an ironic response to the “what are you wearing” question. Etat Libre D’Orange Rien is a nocturnal beast with cushioned steps, eyes reflecting in darkness, fogged breath held in, long muscles sprang in tensed anticipation. That is, until (or IF) you tame the beast.
Some are Born to sweet delight. Some are Born to Endless Nights. On my skin, Rien paints a low contrast, benighted picture of things that bloom with joys of a dark hemisphere. Irreverent, personal, introspective, complex, with a nod to past classics and a wink to modern, urban vices, Rien is a polarizing fragrance that you either love or hate.
ETAT LIBRE D’ORANGE Rien, photo by Nicoleta
Like a young vampire that has feasted on his elders, there is an undercurrent of old-world nostalgia flowing in Rien’s bloodstream, that brings to my mind the bitterly seductive old leather note of Piguet’s Bandit, and an overall elegant tailoring of a vintage pattern in the mixture of non-austere incense, dark green oakmoss and unapologetically feral animalic notes.
Anomalie Art Club Berlin, via official facebook page
Wearing this redingote with a rigid backstitch, Etat Libre D’Orange Rien smirks and flashes us with a surprisingly modern-leaning-futuristic dry-down. It feels like traveling forward in time, to a post-pandemic roaring ’30 (2030’s that, is), somewhere in the basement of an industrial dance club, hidden deep below a neon-lit Berlin. Warm latex, smoke machines, sweet-smelling rubber toys, faux leather whip tassels, and a tongue-in-cheek juxtaposition of artificial cleaners wafting right on top of the human-animalic low hanging cloud.
Echoing from the speakers, behind closed doors, a classical tune from almost half a century ago comes into the DJ’s rotation. The crowd cheers.
“It’s always tease, tease, tease
You’re happy when I’m on my knees
One day it’s fine and next it’s black
So if you want me off your back
Well, come on and let me know
Should I stay or should I go?” The Clash
Top notes: Black Pepper, Safraleine (Saffron & Leather Accord), Incense essence Orpur®; Heart notes: Leather, Iris Absolute, Cistus Absolute; Base notes: Patchouli essence Orpur®, Vetiver essence Orpur®, Treemoss
Nicoleta Tomsa, Editor
Disclosure: Bottle kindly provided by Etat Libre D’Orange, opinions are my own
ETAT LIBRE D’ORANGE Rien, photo by Nicoleta
Thanks to the generosity of Etat Libre d’Orange we have a 100 ml bottle of Rien for one registered reader in the USA, EU, UK or Canada. You must register or your entry will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what sparks your interest based on Nicoleta’s review of Etat libre D’Orange Rien and where you live. Draw closes 5/21/2021
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Be sure to read Etienne De Swardt’s personal choices for “the three Etat Libre D’Orange fragrances you should be wearing” here
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