Isabelle Adjani on Perfume
Her first emotional experience
"I am certainly not the only one to be bewitched by the famous N°5 by Chanel, which must have marked a whole generation of girls. It has such a strength that it has made me aware of scents for life, and it is certainly thanks to it that I can't go a day without wearing perfume. It is also and especially the perfume of my mother... The one who wears it becomes a little bit my mother, that is to say! As a little girl, I was forbidden to touch it, and before I dared to wear it myself, I got drunk on Cristalle and N°19, such pretty young girl perfumes! Now I sometimes wear N°5 when I miss my mother... "
"Like Marilyn's beloved elixir, Guerlain's L'Heure Bleue is another magical fragrance. I was 17 years old and making my theater debut at the Comédie-Française. I liked fine boutiques, so with my first money I went to Guerlain, at 68, avenue des Champs-Elysées, their mythical address. I remember first trying Vol de Nuit and Mitsouko, then Après l'Ondée (of which I kept a bottle) to adopt L'Heure Bleue. I wore it to play a few years later in L'histoire d'Adèle H. by François Truffaut. It followed me, it is a sensor of "moments" and a source of memories. It symbolizes my roles in the theater and is essential for my films in costume. It is a perfume that I rediscover all the time, I fall in love with it each time, without any feeling of use or wear, it is an absolute for me.
"Between the ages of 25 and 30, I discovered Passion and Heure Exquise by Annick Goutal. By always wearing them together, without separating them, a crazy alchemy occurs, it is the love equation par excellence. Each time, it's amazing and ecstatic, as if I hadn't been looking for them but they had found me. It's amazing that fragrances like this exist and overwhelm me every time."
"Aromatics Elixir by Clinique: I smelled it one day on a friend and it was a shock, something crazy, intimate and irrational. I like it when it's strong, it doesn't scare me. A bit like Tom Ford's Jardin Noir collection, right now it's Café Rose, a singular statement to the Damask rose, captured in its black-clad bottle. I wear them when I want to surprise myself, to have that feeling of an unusual other self. It's as powerful for me as changing my haircut."
"Since I was a teenager, I have been fascinated by Eau Sauvage by Dior, my father's perfume. Although it is impossible for me to wear it, I have several secret weapons that bring me back to him, such as Escale à Portofino, still by Dior, Eaux 1, 2 and 3 by Sisley, and the very successful Jardins du Sud by Fouquet's. Some smells act on me like spells and confuse me without me being able to explain it. Whoever wears Dior Homme, for example, is bound to be irresistible!"
"I love layering scents. There was a time when I would stop by Comptoir Sud Pacifique and mix currant and vanilla, cocoa and grapefruit... I think I contributed to their inspiration! For the same reason, I have a thing for Jo Malone who has reinvented the art of combination. I am a fan of Blue Agava & Cacao and Jasmine & Mint. I love that incongruous side of the mix, I love that people are a little confused about how I perfume myself and wonder what I'm wearing."
"I had a long period of Angel by Thierry Mugler, an incredible fragrance where sugar was treated in a new way, and another under the seal of Serge Lutens, especially for his Daim Blond and his Rahät Loukoum, a concentrate of sweetness. His creations intoxicated me, they are like mystical ointments that come from afar. I often go to Jovoy, a store where everything makes me dream, and I found Misiones de Fueguia 1833. Beyond the incense scent that I look for everywhere, there is the refined bottle, the wooden box... A pleasure found for more than ten years at Frédéric Malle, I have a soft spot for his Lipstick Rose, a delicious interpretation of the powdery smell of a lipstick.
"I wear my perfumes in cycles but I keep them all in very strong cases where nothing breaks, I don't throw anything away. Always on the lookout for a new olfactory coup de foudre, I'm like a little girl in the luxury boutiques. In the duty free shops, I try absolutely everything I don't know on my skin and when I get on the plane, it's all over! I read all the articles on perfumes and I do some scouting. I recognize myself in the world of Terry de Gunzburg and particularly in his Ombre Mercure, but also in Diptyque's Eau Duelle which echoes my preferences. I don't understand women who don't wear perfume, it's impossible for me and it depresses me for them!"
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