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There’s not a summer in Sydney spent without Venroy’s signature linen lounge skirts, popsicle-coloured caps and high-octane dresses. These piquant wardrobe staples are rife in the arsenals of balmy jet-setters who follow the modus operandi of Slim Aarons: “attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places.”
For ten years now, Venroy’s creative director, Sean Venturi, has been peddling his sartorial interpretation of this perfect coastal reprieve to all corners of the globe. With Venroy outposts in every glamorous seaside destination, including Bondi, Byron Bay, Capri and Montauk, the brand’s endless summer lifestyle is more than just capturing the essence of a leisurely sojourn. It’s a procession of elegance and a deep-rooted commitment to the joie de vivre found only in hot climates.
Venroy has long encapsulated these elements—the endless inhibition of long days and the sensuality of hot skin—through their sartorial offering. But in anticipation of the summer of 2023, the brand expanded its universe with its first fragrance offering—an Eau de Parfum titled “Paradiso”.
To conjure the notion of Venroy’s “paradise”, the brand has tapped leading nose Barnabé Fillion, a French perfumer who splits his time between Paris, Japan, Mexico and Australia, to embody the Venroy way of living in one 50mL bottle. For a brand as languid as Venroy, the fragrance is refreshingly cerebral.
The scent is designed to be unisex, serving as a shared totem that can be passed between lovers during a coastal tryst. Notes of tart neroli, tangy shiso, warm sandalwood, frankincense and myrrh evoke a sense of youthful nostalgia for summer’s past. The scent is effortlessly elegant but equally riveting, with an instant depth that feels as if it has been lingering on your sun-kissed skin before you even apply it. Indeed, the final accessory to your resortwear wardrobe.
The scent takes you on a journey, which is fitting considering Fillion revealed to GRAZIA the intention behind the fragrance was to evoke a march from sunrise to sunset and a cross-continental journey from Bondi to Capri. Ahead of the launch of “Paradiso”, GRAZIA met Fillion in the gallery-style space Venroy has curated to introduce the fragrance to the world.
Meeting in a converted surf shop a stone’s throw from the shores of Bondi, Fillion discussed bottling the spirit of the coast, the eroticism innate to the scent and the transportive power of fragrance. It would seem that this is indeed paradise, but if you don’t believe us, read our conversation with Fillion ahead.
GRAZIA: The essence of Venroy is about escapism and leisure. How does the perfume tell that story?
BARNABÉ FILLION: For Paradiso, we wanted something very related to the morning, to the day and the sea. But also something that could work at night. So there is this balance between both.
There’s a cologne heritage, maybe more of that Italian/Capri approach, which is where you smell the neroli. But we twist it with the shiso leaf. It’s a Japanese kind of basil and very rare in perfume. Then you have pink pepper, which is going to bring that stimulation to smell but also brings a little bit of that British kind of elegance and spice.
In terms of the heart note, you have something a little more round which is the Mimosa which gives it the feeling of beeswax and polin. It’s more of an absolute, which is rounder. Mimosa was the main one for me. It’s one of the first blooms in Europe so in terms of visuals, it reminds me of both the morning and the night which was a big element we wanted to recreate. At night in Capri, Mimosa is like stars along the building, and in the morning it just washes everything in yellow.
Of course, a lot of sandalwood from Australia, which you can smell right away in the top note. We also included myrrh which gives it something a bit mineral like the ocean. Also, Frankincense which is related to this idea of different nights in Capri.
GRAZIA: The fragrance is inspired by the shared qualities of Capri and Bondi. How would you define these characteristics and what makes you so drawn to them as a nose?
BF: I spend more time in Capri than Bondi, but each time I come to Sydney I’m here [Bondi] so I know the feeling. I love this place. It’s so cool. I drew inspiration from that. I imagined Bondi a little bit more sunny than it is today in the perfume. And for Capri, I imagined one of my favourite pieces of architecture on the island called Casa Malaparte. It is the house from Le Mépris (Contempt) which is a Jean-Luc Godard film. It is a very beautiful and special house.
Paradiso is naturally rated to the sea. I have so many good memories of Capri of times when nothing was complicated. In Capri, you always find a place to escape, which I find in Bondi too. Bondi is amazing and to be so connected to the city, but to see the elegance of people in their daily lives is very relaxing. They’re very different, but there is this connection to the sea in such an easy way.
GRAZIA: There seems something so sensual about the fragrance. Was this something you were trying to capture in the scent?
BF: We wanted to capture this feeling of crossing the oceans and the continents for holidays. This sense of freedom. People who dare to go far to discover the world, whether that be the Italians coming to Australia or Australians going to Europe and enjoying the Mediterranean in the summer. So I think it’s really about travelling but travelling in a certain field of looking for balance. The story is related to skin and to the pleasure of being in the water.
GRAZIA: Venroy is so entwined with the coast. As a Parisian, was it difficult to capture the spirit of the beach from working in the city?
BF: Sean came to the studio in Paris and we started to smell different ingredients and he introduced me to the brand, the clothes and the whole Venroy universe. The fact that there were stores Capri and Montauk, and a lot in Australia, was interesting, so it was really about diving into this universe. I was very surprised about how cool and elegant Venroy was but also so related to the idea of a holiday. I think what we wanted to capture was luxury holidays, memory and the precision of the weather. There are not so many brands in the world or Europe that translate the idea of luxury holidays well without being too luxurious. Venroy has such an elegancy so we wanted to show that.
But in terms of working, it wasn’t difficult because I was inspired by our dialogue. I’m happy for that reason because I’m not repeating something I’ve already worked on. This is very different because we’re talking about pleasure, leisure, and enjoying the lifestyle of being close to the sea. It’s a very different approach. It’s cerebral in the sense of achieving a memory or the archive of a moment, but it’s also effortless.
GRAZIA: The fragrance is very transportive. Where does it take you?
BF: For me, it’s a journey between morning and night. Sunrise and sunset. A quality that you can not identify, but presents itself at a place during different times of the day. So it’s both something cool and elegant but relaxed too.
GRAZIA: Visually, what do you see when you smell the scent?
BF: The campaign movie captures it well. There’s the juiciness of the fragrance and the minerality of being in the water. The feeling of skin and love. Totally erotic. It’s close to the ideas and feelings we have with perfume and the Mediterranean but it’s so much more sophisticated and modern. There’s so much more love, honesty and transparency. I love the different quality of film. There’s something very used and almost VHS but also very sharp. It reminds me of memory. A nostalgia of summer. Australia also has the capacity to live a long summer, so we wanted to tie that connection of travel and keeping that life of leisure all year round.
GRAZIA: Obviously, the scent is very summer-focused. How can wearers enjoy Paradiso in the depths of winter and set the balmy mood all year round?
BF: There is that opposite cooler quality to it because of the notes of sandalwood and the pepper that I associate with something coldly British and a light reminiscence of gin. Frankincense is also not connected to the summer, so there is this playful kind of introduction to some elements that are not related to the summer, but kind of helps the journey of the scent. It’s summer, but also out of season. It’s Australian and will connect people to Australia. But it’s a timeless, natural aesthetic with lots of elegance that allows you to say a lot.
To mark the launch of Paradiso, Venroy has converted a vacant surf shop on Bondi beach into an exhibition space for clients to discover the fragrance through scent, sound and art. The exhibit, titled Paradiso, will be open to the public from 17 to 26 November. Visit the space at 80 Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach or shop the scent below.
