SPIN CYCLE
INCOMING | JOHN WEICHIf the past few years have proven
anything, it’s that conscious
consumers are willing to pay up for
upcycled products. Freitag and
Patagonia are building business
models around it. Increasingly,
Adidas, Everlane, G-Star and Nike
are, too. Yet, as upcycled products
become more inspired, the recycling
experience that makes upcycling
possible becomes less so. As
important as Parley beach clean-ups
and Plastic Whale fishing expeditions
are, upcycling typically begins with a
garment drop in the local retail shop.
Looking to encourage its consumers
to recycle in-store, Tommy Hilfiger
introduced a garment collection
vending machine at its London’s
Regent Street store. The machine
offers consumers an Instagrammable
experience for their old gear, not
just another discount on your next
purchase. Mind-blowing brand
upcycling experiences as the next
frontier of high street consumer
engagement? You heard it here first.THIS PICTURE, THE BRAND’S
FRAGRANCE DIFFUSERS,
HANDCRAFTED FROM BRASS
RIGHT, A WALL IN THE
PRIVATE SHOWROOM IS
LINED WITH LETTER BOXES.
DEPENDING ON THE
PARTICULAR MOOD OR
PERSONALITY OF A VISITOR,
A CONCIERGE WILL UNLOCK
A BOX AND TAKE OUT A
PERFUME WITH INITIALS ON.
EACH PERSONAL FRAGRANCE
IS NAMED AFTER AN ICONIC
CHARACTER FROM FILM,
LITERATURE OR HISTORYd’Orsay’s creative focus towards scent.
He created a perfume for her and they
both wore it, keeping it concealed in a
secret bottle. The visionary had designed
the first androgynous perfume.
Almost overnight, the scent became
a bestseller, much-loved by the upper
echelons of society. By 1932, the
D’Orsay perfume house was selling more
than five million bottles a year, and it
would collaborate with the likes of artist
Jean Cocteau, Lalique and Baccarat to
craft unique interiors and products.
With this pioneering spirit in mind,
Amélie and Mélanie Huynh bought what
was left of the brand, and decided to
relaunch and modernise it. A private
showroom, in an elegant hôtel particulier
on rue de Marignan, designed by
Erwan Le Louër (of Le Gramme fame),
is breathtakingly modern: materials –
a mix of walnut, brass, concrete and
travertine stone – give the space a
minimal yet sensual atmosphere, while
a wall lined with letterboxes hints atd’Orsay and Lady Blessington’s historical
correspondence. A new boutique, which
opens on 15 June, develops the theme of
correspondence further with post office
ephemera, and offers an experience
centred around ‘lost and found’ objects,
letters and secret doors.
The relaunched brand’s new
collection of perfumes is composed
of five body fragrances, called Equivocal
Portraits, and five home fragrances,
called Stolen Moments. The body
fragrances embrace a state of mind
rather than a genre – think freedom,
trust or introspection – while the home
fragrances evoke a time and place, like
a nocturnal moment in an artist’s studio
or a peek into a dancer’s dressing room.
The range comes with handcrafted brass
fragrance diffusers, which have the
appealing allure of a fine jewellery piece.
The showroom, at 21 rue de Marignan,
Paris 8e, is open by appointment,
tel: 33.1 42 99 69 69. Bureau Postal D’Orsay
is at 44 rue du Bac, 7eNewspaper
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