Jeff Leatham – the celebrity florist, the book, and his perfume

Dear readers, Christmas is only a week away, one of the things that delight me the most about this festive holiday, is that it gives you a good reason to decorate your home with some Christmas decorations (if a Christmas tree is not too big for your home to accommodate) and doing some gift-hunting for someone special, even yourself. When it comes to Christmas decorating, a festive and elegant floral arrangement is just as essential as those beautiful Christmas décor and ornaments, bringing certain glamour, festivity, and novelty into one's living space. For some reason, in particular, during this time of the year, it always reminds me of the alluring and spectacular red floral arrangements by the talented American celebrity florist, Mr. Jeff Leatham, and one of his previous book, "Jeff Leatham: Visionary Floral Art and Design"; perhaps it's due to the window display of one of my last perfume which I got the inspiration from that book, also it was launched right before the Christmas holiday, the alluring red color floral arrangement by Jeff always makes me think of Christmas (and even Valentine's day), therefore, I decided to go back to the memory lane today, to talk about the beautiful floral arrangement work by this talented celebrity florist, his book that I have at hand which I mentioned earlier, and lastly, in case if you didn't know, his perfume.

If any of you have visited the luxurious hotel, Four Seasons George V in Paris, you might have heard about who Jeff Leatham is, needlessly introduced, Jeff is the celebrity florist who is famous for his spectacular, elegant, and modern floral arrangement in the Paris hotel that mentioned, besides, his floral work has been sought after by countless Hollywood celebrities and famous. Known for his creative, audacious, and dramatic aesthetic, adding his sensibility over different species of flowers, a pair of tasteful eyes on color combination as well as his unique method to manipulate them together, to create such a stunning and dramatic floral arrangement display that is unquestionably eye-catching and memorable, not only it elevates the aliveness and grandeur on top of the luxurious space, his work somehow embedded with an understated romance into it, maybe that's the reason why I was so intrigued and excited about Jeff's work at the first place.

Back it a couple of years ago when I was visiting Paris, one of the promises that I made to myself was to visit Four Seasons George V, to marvel at this celebrity florist's work in person. Looking at the floral arrangement by Jeff on the site is just an exhilarating and mind-blowing experience for me, especially since that was the first time for me to see it in person instead of merely the photos online or on social media, the theatrical beauty and elegance of his work is just spectacular and powerful, it was almost as breathtaking and jaw-dropping when a Parisian haute couturier sent his model troops down the fashion runway, wearing the couturier's exquisite couture gown made with delicate handwork, embroidery, and beadings, with luxurious fabrics in the heavenly beautiful palette, matching with the elegant and complementing make-up and hair-do.

Although the floral arrangement wasn't exactly the alluring red when I was at Four Seasons George V that day, seeing the spectacular floral setting by Jeff in person was one of the most inspiring and memorable experiences, and I can feel the Parisian chic, modern elegance, luxury lifestyle, and intense romance through his work. I guess I was somehow mesmerized by Jeff's floral work (even his talent and charm), which led me to get a copy of his book "Jeff Leatham: Visionary Floral Art and Design" after that Paris trip; While there are several books about this florist so far, the copy I have at hand, was published by Rizzoli back in late 2014, this luxurious copy is the compilation of this celebrity florist's work, including of course the floral arrangement in Four Seasons George V in Paris, but also a selection of floral decoration projects from luxury private wedding and banquet, enable ones to experience the florist's work visually in a non-commercial space; this book also covers the technique and approach that Jeff used when it comes to creating a modern and tasteful setting, in particular through the close-up of the detail, and the combination of using certain decorating elements and vases, which offers one a wonderful inspiration, especially for those who loves home entertaining and interior decorating. I particularly like to study his technique of combining certain colors and types of flowers, to create a dramatic and romantic ambient, it can be surreal and innocent like entering a fairytale garden in a huge bed of white or pastel pink roses and orchids, or sometimes it can be a dark allure in mysterious yet seductive palette from the deep red roses to the blue and even purple florals, then manipulate them into multiple sphere shapes, placing them in different heights, it is fascinating to see how well-thought and tasteful this celebrity florist is, to execute each beautiful floral setting in such grand scale that looks spectacular and elegant.

Photo source: Pinterest

Some time ago I was fantasizing about how great it would be if this talented florist will develop his very own perfume line one day, perhaps it's the floral effect that makes me associate his work with perfume, yet in my mind, I always have a thought that if he develops his perfume, it will be as breathtaking and alluring as his floral arrangement work, just when I thought that such fantasy was only a dream of mine, only until it became a surprising (and exciting) reality when I came across the news about his collaboration with KKW Fragrance back in 2021! This first-ever perfume collection consisted of three fragrances: "Desert Rose", "Jasmine Air" and "Night Iris", all three of them are unisex and have a rather minimalistic design in terms of the packaging and the bottle itself, the modern, clean-line clay-pot-like bottle design with a small opening on top, it's particularly designed for one to decorate this perfume bottle with some flowers, just like a small floral bouquet in a clay pot, yet, what appeals me a lot at the first place, is the color palette used in each of the perfume in this collection! Starting from the pastel pink used for "Desert Rose", then the greyish oatmeal color for "Jasmine Air", and lastly, deep chocolate brown for "Night Iris", looking at each palette, it somewhat understatedly tells one the kind of olfactory notes and aura of each fragrance: warm floral and alluring scent for "Desert Rose" in the combination of white Tachibana flower, pink peppercorn, tuberose, then dries down to the creamy bourbon and warm solar amber; the lush green and floral scent of "Jasmine Air" in a mix of citrus with Bulgarian rose, jasmine, vanilla musk, and Patchouli; and then the mysterious elegance "Night Iris" which opens with the spicy black pepper, bergamot, night butterfly Dahlia and blue Iris, it dries down in warm woody notes by Benzoin and Sandalwood.

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Sadly I completely missed it when I knew about this first perfume release, even up to this day I still try to look up online and see where can I get them! Having said that, when the second collection was released back in early 2022, I managed to get them on time before they were gone. The second perfume series, also in collaboration with KKW Fragrance, consists of three fragrances as well, which are "Iconic Gardenia", "Caramel Orchid" and "Rare Fig", all three of them use the same packaging and bottle design concept, yet, the palette of each has changed with a brand new color: ash chalk white color for "Iconic Gardenia", copper-ish milk chocolate brown color for "Caramel Orchid", and brownish clay color for "Rare Fig". In terms of the scent, I find "Iconic Gardenia" is the most appealing to me among the three of them, the opening in a pleasant and poetic floral accord derived from Honeysuckle, Tuberose, Jasmine, and of course, one of my favorite floral scent - Gardenia, mixed with the zesty citrus notes then dries down with Sandalwood, Vanilla Orchid and Tonka Bean, a sharp and carefree fragrance which is relatively good for spring to resembling the white blooming floral and the misty spring weather.

"Caramel Orchid" is a floral musky fragrance that leans towards a more gourmand direction in my opinion, it opens with Cocoa absolute, Salted Caramel, and Davana, then the floral notes start to develop which include Ylang absolute, blue Heliotrope, and Jasmine, the fragrance dries down in Vanilla tincture, Cashmere woods, and Musk. For "Rare Fig", a woody floral perfume that opens with citrus notes including blood orange, mandarin, and lemon, then the smooth floral notes, from Cyclamen and Geranium oil, start to develop, and the dry-down is the woody fruity notes from Vetiver, Cedarwood, and dried fig, this fragrance is not the fresh fruity kind of Fig fruit perfume as one may think of, on contrary, it's more a dark and seductive version of it with certain maturity and elusiveness in it.

Photo source: Pinterest

Photo source: Pinterest

As a book and perfume collector and connoisseur, revisiting this perfume collection and the book at hand once again during this time of the year, it's such a good way to refresh our memories about the beauty of Jeff's body of work, in turn, inspires me to see what I should choose for this year's Christmas decoration for my own space, and hope it'll offer you the same kind of inspiration too after reading this blog, until next time, happy decorating and wish you all a wonderful Christmas holiday in advance!