Olfactics

Cleanliness is an interesting proposition in perfumery – against the usual impression of removing in order to make clean, a ‘clean scent’ must add – this is its unique and paradoxical logic – and is the manner in which all fragrances must operate.

Point du Jour by Serge Lutens is part of the Matin Lutens line, anti-fragrances in the form of scents, inverting the logic in which perfume must fulfil and make up a space. In this collection, scent no less fills but does so without imposition – they blur into the ambient, everyday smells and textures of life. The marketing forces that be call this #quietluxury – but to me that is already a tautology – luxury is already quiet, and ultimately, empty. Here one must no less continue to add, despite the dream of an odourless odour: pure clean.

Point du Jour succeeds by half, its simple aromatic duet of thyme and incense is betrayed by all the invisible work underpinning them – rigid musk notes that disturb the punctual measures of this scent, especially in the dry down on the skin. The promise of a slow tempo feels slightly rushed in this work. But I do enjoy aspects of this scent, in spite of this vulgarity. Indeed, a sense of clean is achieved, even if it is based on a different premise. The word instrumental rationality comes to mind – luxury is the pleasure of an excess, to possess this excess, and to have the freedom of control over one’s own sense of time and space; in a word, to not be rushed. Point agitates me because I am made to move at a fast pace; I am disturbed and disrupted. It neither stills my heart nor my soul, and I am left with the nagging idea that I am wearing a perfume.