Brown Flowers by DS & Durga – The Candy Perfume Boy
“It’s chic to be drab” DS & Durga tells us in the tagline for their new fragrance, Brown Flowers. It’s an unusual statement from a fragrance brand, but DS & Durga is not your typical outfit and rather than trying to crowd please, like much of the fragrance industry, they’re not afraid to be different. The tagline and name of the fragrance come with tongue pressed firmly in cheek (Brown Flowers is so off-putting it comes full circle). But let’s not mistake DS & Durga for not being serious – they may not take themselves seriously (they have fun with what they do), but they certainly do take the creation of unique perfumes very seriously indeed.
At the London launch of Brown Flowers, DS & Durga perfumer and co-founder David Seth Moltz provided a very specific description of the inspiration of the fragrance, derived from a visit to Philip Johnson’s glasshouse in Connecticut. I shall paraphrase below:
“Perhaps someone’s aunt stays in the guest house, she’s a dilettante who gets into drawing classes, and starts making potpourri. She makes a perfume called Brown Flowers, made with a musk you can only get in Europe. Everyone’s wearing it. If she could just get a few bottles into Barneys she’ll have made it. She has a boyfriend who plays a guitar in a band, nobody knows his name. It’s a drab heavy ‘70s floral. Oh and her name is Simone by the way.”
I truly admire a brand that creates such vivid and specific olfactory stories and without a single material being mentioned in that description above, one gets a real sense of what this fragrance is trying to convey. So is Brown Flowers really a drab floral? Does it evoke the 1970s? And more importantly, should you seek it out and give it a sniff? Is it chic in a counter-culture way? Well, read on and you shall find out!
The Notes
Top: Acabia, Dried Cedrat, Queen Anne’s Lace
Heart: Brown Orchid, Coffee Flower, Sambac Jasmine
Base: Aged Musk, Roots, Coffee
The Perfumer
David Seth Moltz (DS & Durga)
How Does it Smell?
Upon first sniff, the most notable thing about Brown Flowers is that it is not dry or musty. I imagined a heady, stuffy scent that captured elements of age and decay, but that’s far from what this unusual scent has to offer. Initially, Brown Flowers offers up a surprising freshness that comes from a note of dried cedrat peel. Where many fragrances open up with a sparkle of citrus, Brown Flowers provides a twist, with a tangy, warm citron note that brings a muted coolness to the proceedings. It’s quickly followed by creamy hints of coffee, bitter and sweet, and perhaps left out on the counter a little too long.
The floral impression in the heart is vague and gauzy, evoking a bouquet of nameless flowers rather than any specific bloom. These are flowers seen through rippled glass as faded sunlight falls upon them. They are blossoms just past their prime when their scent becomes heady, sweet, and creamy, filling the room and replacing the oxygen with stifling floral air. There is a little bit of fizziness and freshness in the background, perhaps left over from the dried citrus peel but mostly the impression is of hot flowers on the verge of wilting.
Brown Flowers feels powered by musks and at times, I get hints of Tom Ford’s Soleil Blanc, perhaps due to the heady tropical nature of the florals mixed with the airy musks. In the context of this fragrance it bathes everything in a sepia, umber light. This is not the sun beating down on coppertoned bodies on the beach, it’s the sun pouring into a room through thick glass and lavishly-patterned drapes.
I often describe my olfactory aesthetic as ‘mad old aunt’ because I imagine the types of fragrances I love (blousy, floral, aldehydic, chypre, classic etc) are things you’d imagine your eccentric aunt to wear. Well DS & Durga have created a modern interpretation of that aesthetic here and I would say that Brown Flowers is accessibly eccentric and pleasantly drab. It’s a melange of olfactory impressions, like an outfit composed of clashing fabrics and prints, coming together in a surprisingly stylish set of layers.
I file Brown Flowers under the ‘grower not shower’ category of fragrance and at first sniff, I’ll admit I wasn’t immediately taken by it. But this is the beauty of fragrance – sometimes a scent just sinks its teeth into you and won’t let you go until you understand it. It’s also a reminder that yes, first impressions are everything, but much like most mediums (music, film, art etc.) it’s important so spend time with something before you give it a yay or a nay. Brown Flowers is a scent you need to spend a bit of time with because it is so multi-faceted and complex. I think it’s definitely worth the time.
Availability
Brown Flowers is available in 50ml (£165) and 100ml (£236) Eau de Parfum.
Disclaimer
Images are my own. Sample via DS & Durga. This is not a paid for or sponsored post.