The charm of Iris - Parfums Dusita, Paris

Flipping one of the interior design book that I bought almost two decades ago recently, a book about color combinations for creating a stylish and harmonious space, I came across the chapter about violet (the color, not the flower). In the world of colors, each one has its meaning behind, when I read about violet, it said that violet ‘symbolizes privilege, introspection, and internalization.’ It is also a color represents romantic, sensual, cool, ethereal, and power; I also remember, an ex-colleague of mine has told me about violet (or purple), which it associates something imperial, and royalty. Perhaps you may wonder ‘why did I bring all these up?’, well, maybe it reminds me of my career working in Ralph Lauren, in particular, their prestigious Purple Label menswear, when I was starring at my violet and white stripe Purple Label shirt which I got few years ago, or, the fascination from the beautiful campaign that I came across recently from the luxury perfume house, Parfums Dusita Paris, which featuring their ‘Splendiris’ fragrance with a mesmerizing violet florals at the background that caught my eyes. Either way, knowing the perfume house’s glamorous founder, Ms. Pissara Umavijani, is coming to town lately, and having her to present her luxurious and exquisite perfume collection in a private event with other fragrance connoisseurs and aficionado, I was intrigue and thrilled to be part of that during that evening, and greet the gorgeous and talented lady in person.

Inspired by her artistic father who was a poet in Thailand, Pissara is fascinated by the world of art and fantasy when she was young, also inherited the artistic talent from her father, Pissara is also a painter herself and gifted at it, this style-savvy Thai lady always has a heart for fragrance, and decided to pursue her passion about perfume making as a young adult, in 2011, she brought her dreams and creations to Paris, and produce her first collection of exclusive scents with a leading fragrance maison in Grasse, then in 2015, Parfums Dusita Paris was launched, and the brand became one of the modern high end perfumery house, founded by an Asian perfumer, marking the milestone in Paris. Parfums Dusita represents the simplicity and elegance of Parisian chic and glamour, but in the heart of an Asian. The collection literally reflects the poetic and artistic side of this talented perfumer and Founder, who strives to create something elegant, and expresses the quality and excellences through each detail and each bottle of the fragrance, the clean and luxurious bottle design, then of course, the whimsical beauty of the fragrance, each one has their own unique meaning and title.

For this time, I have my two favorite pick which caters for the summer time, the first one, is the iconic ‘Splendiris’, just like what the campaign of this fragrance, the characteristic about ‘Splendiris’ is just resonated to the characteristic of the color from Iris - the charming violet (purple) - which mentioned at the beginning: sensual, romantic, powerful, cool, and imperial. Perhaps it’s the mystique and misty feel from Violet at the beginning, then dries down to a more substantial accord – woody accord actually, that gives certain warmth and power, the toughness of Cedar but not overpowering, which harmonized by the floral notes from the Jasmine Sambac, Ambergris and Vanilla. It is a fragrance that pretty much represents a gentleman that is masculine but suave at the same time, understated yet prestigious, the scent makes you to create a picture about a well-groomed gentleman that wandering in the grand salon of his hotel particulier in a sunny afternoon, with the purple-ish grey and white attire that reminiscent the French aristocratic family back in the Second Empire period, the pale and cool interior with some artistic scroll details that reflects the olfactory accord from the fragrance.

Meanwhile, another intriguing fragrance - ‘La Douceur de Siam’, is something rather distinctive which fabricates the western and eastern culture in a very artistic and unexpected manner. With an opening of a Rose de Mai (for some reason, I do like Rose de Mai smells on a gentleman, something pretty nostalgic and romantic actually) which is quintessentially French, then it evolves to something gentle and velvety, perhaps it’s the white tea and violet leaves that I smelled, but it could be the enigmatic floral accord from the combination of Green Carnation and Ylang Ylang extra, that evokes such feeling, but when it comes to the base note, the harmonious Vanilla starts to ooze, mixing with the floral notes altogether, it literally takes me to the beautiful sunset by the coast in an orange-yellow sky, just before the sun sinks entirely beneath the horizon, but I also have another color in my head when smelling this fragrance – the biscuit khaki, which reflects the slim-cut light-weight cotton trousers of a gentleman would wear with their chocolate brown calf leather car shoes, and a clean, roll-up sleeves white linen shirt that walking along Baie des Anges in Nice.

I then finish my book reading with a spread titled ‘Mozart’s The Magic Flute, which suggested with the color combination of 2 types of Violets and Yellow-Gold for the interior, inspired by the music from Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp in C Major, and I cannot resist to put on both ‘Splendiris’ and ‘La Douceur de Siam’ while listening to this concerto, immense myself into the atmosphere surrounded by those beautiful colors; either if you are a fan of biscuit khaki or Violet, with a splash of an exquisite fragrance, that will certainly evoke your poetic side in the summer.

Image courtesy of Parfums Dusita Paris / Scent Deco

https://www.parfumsdusita.com/