{"id":13157,"date":"2021-10-24T10:11:46","date_gmt":"2021-10-24T10:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/me\/?post_type=articles&p=13157"},"modified":"2022-04-27T10:20:22","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T06:20:22","slug":"liquid-gold-dolce-gabanna","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/me\/articles\/liquid-gold-dolce-gabanna\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolce&Gabanna’s The One Gold Eau de Parfum is The Definition Of Liquid Gold"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gold has always been more than a precious metal \u2013 a substance prized in almost every nation on earth, valued far beyond its innate qualities of infinite malleability, its unique resistance to corrosion and tarnishing. Frequently attributed supernatural properties, in both folkloric beliefs and religious symbolism through the ages, there\u2019s no doubting that gold digs deep into the human psyche. We speak of someone having \u2018the golden touch\u2019, a favoured offspring being \u2018the golden child\u2019, someone we trust having \u2018a golden heart\u2019 or being \u2018good as gold.\u2019 A deal may be sealed with \u2018a golden handshake\u2019, the streets might be \u2018paved with gold\u2019; while \u2018silence is golden\u2019 and our most treasured memories filed under \u2018the golden years.\u2019 Little wonder that gold has so inspired perfumer Violaine Collas, in her lustrous latest creation for Dolce&Gabbana: The One Gold Eau de Parfum Intense…<\/p>\n

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Dolce&Gabbana The One, photo by Efraim Evidor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the Ancient Greeks, gold was a metal they dressed their deities in, a substance that\u2019s been quested, treasure-hunted, for centuries. The myths are full of gold, from the legend of King Midas, and the Golden Fleece stolen by Jason, to the Golden Apples of Hesperides with their powers of immortality \u2013 gold representing grandeur, wisdom, infinite goodness, and perhaps most of all, a radiant incorruptibility. In Shakespeare\u2019s The Merchant of Venice, we\u2019re presented with perhaps the first reality dating show cliff-hanger in history, when the Prince of Morocco vies for Portia\u2019s hand in marriage by selecting a golden casket, from three possibilities proffered, as the most suitable receptacle of her portrait. Spoiler alert: with a phrase that\u2019s echoed through the ages as a reminder that appearances can be deceptive, the box is empty but for a scroll inside which warns him, \u201cAll that glisters is not gold\u2026\u201d Cut to a close-up of his dawning disappointment to a backdrop of dramatic music. It\u2019s a scene that resonates still because the purity of gold has always been paramount. An early way of telling if a gold coin was real was to sniff it. In fakes, the tell-tale scent of oxides, sulphides and impurities gives them away, as pure gold has no smell. How lucky for us, then, that perfumers work as modern-day alchemists \u2013 transforming such ethereal, unscented, abstract notions into wearable pieces of art that speak to our souls. Because when we think of gold, we can almost smell it. We associate gold with simmering warmth, a lustre of radiating sunshine \u2013 this tangible scent conjured from a shared evolutionary wonderment. I have been wearing fragrance since I was ten years old, writing about it professionally for the past decade; but this language transferring invisible messages, from the perfumer to the person who\u2019s chosen to wear it, will never not blow my mind.<\/p>\n

Wearing Dolce&Gabanna The One Gold Eau de Parfum Intense, there\u2019s a sensation of draping the skin in gilded, gossamer threads, Italian mandarin sparkling atop lusciously ripe plums, juiciness juxtaposed with the subtly spiced piquancy of pink pepper. These notes are hyper realistic, thanks to Jungle Essence\u2122, Dolce&Gabbana reveals, \u201ca revolutionary extraction method, that is respectful to the environment and authentically recreates the olfactory profile of the original raw materials.\u201d As it warms, a joyous floral heart unfurls, rose superessence shot through with a solar jasmine and the luminous delicacy of lily of the valley. Beneath, a burnished thrum of patchouli glimmers mysteriously, rippled through with silken seams of comforting vanilla on a lingering trail of Aurelian white musks. It\u2019s a scent that weaves magic on the wearer, the way a gold highlight grants skin an otherworldly perfection. Now beautifully scented, I was lucky enough to catch up with Violaine Collas herself and discover exactly how she created this liquid gold.<\/p>\n

In my years of interviewing the world\u2019s top perfumers, I\u2019ve spoken to many who didn\u2019t even really consider being a \u2018nose\u2019 as a career until after they\u2019d studied chemistry. For Violaine? \u201cI was quite young, about 12 years old.\u201d She was \u201cfascinated by all the feelings, the emotions you can get from fragrances,\u201d and describes the uncanny moment \u201cwhen you can\u2019t yet see anyone, but you catch the scent of their perfume, so you know they\u2019re nearby. That was something very\u2026 \u2018wow!\u2019 for me.\u201d From announcing your presence to \u201ctheir ability to play with your brain that much,\u201d she describes being determined to find out how fragrances were made, pausing as she almost whispers the wish that followed: \u201cto make people share my feelings, to have the sensation of sharing memories.\u201d Exploring the world through smell at such an early age, Violaine believes, \u201cwas a big gift to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Growing up in a household where gastronomy was key, the smells of cooking are interwoven with her memories of \u201crunning into the garden and smelling all the flowers.\u201d But the earliest smell she can remember \u201cis what we call a doudou [comfort blanket] in French. It\u2019s your own smell, really. Something very soothing.\u201d There are olfactory echoes, too, of her mother\u2019s scarf always being scented with the many fragrances she wore; a golden thread of scent memories, if you will, that spooled all the way to studying at ISIPCA, short for Institut Sup\u00e9rieur International du Parfum, de la Cosm\u00e9tique et de l\u2019Aromatique Alimentaire. The French school where the cr\u00e8me de la cr\u00e8me in perfumery have classically been nurtured. And if any contemporary perfumer can be likened to having \u2018the golden touch\u2019, it is surely Dominique Ropion \u2013 the master perfumer who personally tutored Violaine in fine fragrance.<\/p>\n

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Dolce&Gabbana The One, photo by Efraim Evidor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThat was an incredible part of my life,\u201d she beams. \u201cI was very shy, then. Dominique, is not the type to be talking all the time, so when you speak you must be very precise, take your time to listen when the advice comes.\u201d What Violaine most appreciated in working with Dominique, she says, was the liberty he allowed her. \u201cI was completely free to work on what I wanted, the way I wanted,\u201d she explains. \u201cI\u2019m naturally a very straightforward person, so he said to me, \u2018you need to work the same way. Have a short formula, because strong, precise ideas are your signature, so stay like that.\u2019 It was wonderful to think I could stay true to myself, express myself in fragrances.\u201d As she talks, I think back to the wish that first propelled young Violaine into perfumery. The need to communicate through fragrance. As she elucidates, though, perfumery is the meeting place of art and science. Because \u201cwhen you\u2019re working on creative things, you still need to know the rules \u2013 what works in the top, heart, and base \u2013 but in the end you must choose those raw materials yourself.\u201d And you must choose them with your heart, an intuition only borne of experience. \u201cFor example, the way you smell apple might not be the way I smell apple. Once, we were working on creating the scent of a strawberry, and he said, \u2018I\u2019d never use those ingredients, but you\u2019re right: that\u2019s a strawberry!\u2019 It was an exchange of ideas.\u201d As a perfumer, says Violaine \u201cyou\u2019re still learning all the time. Your skills develop through the years, as you do.\u2019<\/p>\n

Now, having developed her own golden touch over the years, it was time for Violaine to evoke gold itself. I was fascinated to learn how scented sorcery begins in the mind of a brilliant perfumer, and indeed, for Violaine, the exact scent of The One Gold Eau de Parfum Intense already existed in her head, before she\u2019d begun on the actual formula. \u201cOh yes,\u201d she declares, \u201cI had it in my brain. When I create the formula, I then need to make it closer to what\u2019s in my head. If I smell it and it\u2019s not like what I\u2019d imagined, I just have to do other trials until it matches that thought.\u201d But the scent didn\u2019t spring unbidden. There\u2019s a huge amount of research she likes to put in, first. \u201cBefore I start work on a fragrance, I like to spend a lot of time thinking about it beforehand. For this one, my thoughts were all about the notion of gold, and then I had a very particular idea about the golden plum.\u201d I imagine a golden lightbulb suddenly illuminating, cartoon-style, above her head as she first imagined that vital ingredient. For Violaine, it was key to evoking \u201cthe shiny aspect in The One Gold. Golden plum was perfect, because it\u2019s very addictive, you need to smell more of it.\u201d Our voracious appetite for gold \u2013 whether precious metal or expressed in fragrant form \u2013 Violaine likens to \u201cthe same power a lamp has to a moth \u2013 that same attraction, a form of hypnotism.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ingredients for The One Gold Eau de Parfum Intense were, necessarily, selected for their exquisite qualities, \u201cbecause when you think of \u2018gold\u2019, it\u2019s all about richness, luxury, expensive raw materials\u201d Violaine discloses. But they were also chosen \u201cfor that shiny, luminous feeling. For me the fragrance expresses the character of Sicilian people themselves. It\u2019s sunshine-y, warm, with\u2026 maybe a little bit of showing off,\u201d she says, her eyes twinkling. The patchouli was the second golden key that unlocked the door for the finished fragrance, that further step closer to the scent that had previously only existed in her head. \u201cPatchouli oil gives sophistication. And for me, patchouli is golden in my mind.\u201d So, how did it feel to finally smell the fragrance, to know it was right? \u201cIt\u2019s very satisfying when you achieve that!\u201d Violaine enthuses, yet gently nudges me away from exclaiming at her genius, shrugging slightly. \u201cIt\u2019s an intuitive way of thinking, you know? If I need to write a sentence, it takes me absolutely ages because I\u2019m worrying exactly how I should express myself. But in fragrance, it\u2019s a language I naturally understand in my head.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dolce&Gabbana The One, photo by Efraim Evidor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Perhaps we all became a little more attuned to the language of smell \u2013 the true power that perfume can hold \u2013 during the pandemic. Violaine agrees that during various lockdowns around the world, suddenly \u201cpeople became connected to their sense of smell in a differing way.\u201d Far from plummeting the way lipstick sales did, thanks to daily mask-wearing, fragrance sales soared. And that seems natural too, for Violaine. \u201cThey needed to be comforted, to feel reassured with scent.\u201d She speaks of people using fragrance to remind them of happier times, to bring them closer to loved ones they were forcibly parted from, even to travel with their nose and enjoy daily moments of escapism through scent. \u201cIt\u2019s magical, isn\u2019t it\u201d she marvels, \u201chow fragrances can make you feel sunny, can bring such joy?\u201d What must it be like for a perfumer, I wondered, to walk past someone in the street and discover someone had chosen your fragrance to bring them that joy? \u201cWell, I mean I\u2019d never say to someone \u2018I made that!\u2019 because I\u2019m just not like that.\u201d Violaine hesitates, a glimmer of the past shyness she\u2019d confessed to, perhaps?<\/p>\n

At that moment, and I swear this is true, a shaft of sunlight illuminates her face, and she beams while admitting \u201cif I see them trying it in a shop, or recognise it on them, I get this huge moment of pride! You work on a fragrance with a critical eye, searching for faults.\u201d But smelling it on someone else, she says, \u201cis then about pure pleasure for me. It\u2019s satisfaction. You\u2019ve shared an emotion. When I work on something it\u2019s always based in feelings, memories from my own childhood. So, I\u2019m sharing something incredibly personal. I think the only thing that\u2019s similar is an author writing a book, and the way a reader then shares something with them. It always comes back to language.\u201d In the past, wearing a perfume was for going out-out. For luring a partner. These days? \u201cIt\u2019s less about the traditional idea of using fragrances for attraction,\u201d says Violaine. \u201cFor most people, their perception of using perfume has changed. Perhaps,\u201d she suggests \u201cIt\u2019s all about falling in love with ourselves, now\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Dolce&Gabanna: The One is now exclusively available to purchase at Sephora Middle East and online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Words: Suzy Nightingale<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31739,"featured_media":13167,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[],"yoast_head":"\nDolce & Gabanna's The One Gold Eau de Parfum is The Definition Of Liquid Gold<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gold has always been more than a precious metal \u2013 a substance prized in almost every nation on earth, valued far beyond its innate qualities of infinite malleability, its unique resistance to corrosion and tarnishing. 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