Balenciaga the fragrance & Charlotte Gainsbourg (2010) - review

The long celebrated Le Dix from Balenciaga (1947), now discontinued, was a special perfume created after WWII and celebrating the youth spirit like Ma Griffe, L'air du temps, Vent Vert and several other beautiful creations. On a  light floral aldehydic base, soft and powdery, the green violet note was the solution to express a natural elegance and a subtle sophistication.

In 2010 Balenciaga is launching a new perfume (the previous being in 2000) that follows the path opened by Nicolas Ghesquière in fashion since 1997. The designer took inspiration from the magnificent heritage of Balenciaga but his creations never looked "pastiche", "quote" or "cliché". They are rather futuristic and young and always with a touch of genius. In a similar style, the new perfume from Balenciaga is inspired by Le Dix taking several elements of the classic masterpiece into a modern interpretation and not at all a remake. Soft, airy and green, this creation of Olivier Polge is well into the mood of 2010 when the green jasmine notes are back but it doesn't take the galbanum-cristalle-70's path. If Olivier Polge was exploring the roots in Dior Homme (the orris note with methyl ionones and irones) he is now in the green scent of the leaves where the scent follows a different pattern.
The fragrance evokes the scent of green violet leaves, the magnolia soft lemony-rosy breeze and the imaginary scent of lotus. It has the freshness and the transparency of a nymphea pond but the scent is deep, textured and less ozonic. Methyl ionones and ionones are filling the green rosy scent with their creamy note but this new Balenciaga doesn't smell like the classic violet perfumes. Curiously, despite some references to other mainstream launches, the creation avoids in the first moments the shampoo effect. A soft green juicy-pear note is growing in this morning dew but it is less dominant (like in Eau Méga Victor & Rolf). We are of course taken in a huge airy lily of the valley accord rounded with transparent jasmine and powdery woods. The drydown of the perfume is musky and creamy and evokes the scent of the skin. After several hours (the perfume is very tenacious in his lightness) a curious CKOne effect appears on my skin, maybe given by the combination of 5 major molecules. Soft, delicately sweet, woody transparent and violet green (but not very green) on a cotton musk base with a hard to describe mossy touch, this new creation from Balenciaga has a modern-retro touch and represents a very nice introduction for 2010.

The perfume is presented by Charlotte Gainsbourg, a clever (and safe) choice for Balenciaga.
The last photo is from the presentation of the perfume in NY november 2009 (GettyImages)

In this video you can see the Making of Balenciaga Fragrance presented by Charlotte Gainsbourg and an interview in french with Nicolas Ghesquière where he explains his ideas on the fragrance (he speaks very well and is very inspiring). He presents also the design concept and how the bottle was made / imagined, the proportions chosen after a fashion design.

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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art