suggestion of animal passion, totally modern, captivating ⦠perhaps even captivated?
Â
By you? No doubt about it, Monsieur Aslan.
Oh but I do doubt it! [Laughs.] Men are always full of doubt, which is why they make perfumes: so they can give them to you and win you over.
Â
How has your style developed over the years?
Itâs difficult to say ⦠A perfume should be representative of its era, and yet able to transcend it. Itâs the women who wear it that bring it to life and develop it. Take Habanita,for example. It was created in 1921, and today in 1987, many women still wear it. They approach it differently, and wear it differently too.
Â
How do you mean?
Women have changed, so perfume has changed too â¦
Â
In what way have they changed?
Their skin is different. The species has evolved: the skin of a girl of the eighties is nothing like the skin of a girl in the 1920s. She doesnât use the same soap, or the same face powder; the washing powder she uses to clean her bed linen is completely different. The smell of the city itself has changed beyond all recognition. The humidity of the atmosphere too. A woman in the court of Louis XV would smell nothing like a woman today, and itâs not about what perfume sheâs wearing. Itâs to do with her skin.
Â
So skin changes with the times?
Absolutely. Think of the eighteenth century. What does that era smell like? Stone, sunshine, wood, manure, leaves, wrought iron. Nowadays itâs petrol, tarmac, metallic paint, plastic ⦠electricity.
Â
Electricity has a smell?
Of course. So do TV screens.
Â
What made you go back to perfume-making after an
eight-year
gap?
It was finding a hat ⦠on a bench in Parc Monceau.
Â
I donât understand â¦
It doesnât matter. Itâs too complicated to explain. Letâs move on.
Â
Monsieur,
Â
Your letter concerning my interview with Pierre Aslan was forwarded to me by the
Paris Match
editorial office. I must say I found it very intriguing. Iâm just starting out as a journalist and yours is the first item of correspondence I have received â and itâs not one Iâm likely to forget in a hurry.
To tell the truth, the only reason I got the exclusive with Pierre Aslan was that my little sister is in the same class as Monsieur Aslanâs son. Ãric fancies my sister and I think the interview served as a way of getting closer to her ⦠Pierre Aslan hadnât given a single interview in thirteen years, so I was a quivering wreck when I went to meet him.
Coming back to your letter, are you quite sure that the hat you left on the bench in Parc Monceau is the same one Monsieur Aslan describes? Personally, I was baffled by his answer â I still am, in fact. I actually thought that section might be cut, but the editor wanted to keep it in because it shows what a complex and disconcerting character Pierre Aslan is.
As for your request, Iâm sorry but I canât give you Monsieur Aslanâs home address. I didnât meet him at hishouse but in the bar at the Ritz with his publicist, and, in any case, even if I had his address I wouldnât be allowed to give it to you. However, I am enclosing the contact details for his publicist; if you wish to write to Monsieur Aslan, I think you could go via him.
Wishing you every success with your search and all best wishes,
Â
Mélaine Gaultier
Â
ASLAN
Â
Monsieur,
Â
Your letter is one of the strangest I have ever received. The description of your hat corresponds in every detail to a black felt hat I picked up on a bench in Parc Monceau. In fact, I mentioned that very hat in the only interview I have given recently, in
Paris Match
. Alas! I no longer have the hat, which I regret, because I was very sentimentally attached to it. Life is like that; objects pass from hand to hand, but people and perfumes remain.
Â
With best wishes,
Â
Pierre
Â
By you? No doubt about it, Monsieur Aslan.
Oh but I do doubt it! [Laughs.] Men are always full of doubt, which is why they make perfumes: so they can give them to you and win you over.
Â
How has your style developed over the years?
Itâs difficult to say ⦠A perfume should be representative of its era, and yet able to transcend it. Itâs the women who wear it that bring it to life and develop it. Take Habanita,for example. It was created in 1921, and today in 1987, many women still wear it. They approach it differently, and wear it differently too.
Â
How do you mean?
Women have changed, so perfume has changed too â¦
Â
In what way have they changed?
Their skin is different. The species has evolved: the skin of a girl of the eighties is nothing like the skin of a girl in the 1920s. She doesnât use the same soap, or the same face powder; the washing powder she uses to clean her bed linen is completely different. The smell of the city itself has changed beyond all recognition. The humidity of the atmosphere too. A woman in the court of Louis XV would smell nothing like a woman today, and itâs not about what perfume sheâs wearing. Itâs to do with her skin.
Â
So skin changes with the times?
Absolutely. Think of the eighteenth century. What does that era smell like? Stone, sunshine, wood, manure, leaves, wrought iron. Nowadays itâs petrol, tarmac, metallic paint, plastic ⦠electricity.
Â
Electricity has a smell?
Of course. So do TV screens.
Â
What made you go back to perfume-making after an
eight-year
gap?
It was finding a hat ⦠on a bench in Parc Monceau.
Â
I donât understand â¦
It doesnât matter. Itâs too complicated to explain. Letâs move on.
Â
Monsieur,
Â
Your letter concerning my interview with Pierre Aslan was forwarded to me by the
Paris Match
editorial office. I must say I found it very intriguing. Iâm just starting out as a journalist and yours is the first item of correspondence I have received â and itâs not one Iâm likely to forget in a hurry.
To tell the truth, the only reason I got the exclusive with Pierre Aslan was that my little sister is in the same class as Monsieur Aslanâs son. Ãric fancies my sister and I think the interview served as a way of getting closer to her ⦠Pierre Aslan hadnât given a single interview in thirteen years, so I was a quivering wreck when I went to meet him.
Coming back to your letter, are you quite sure that the hat you left on the bench in Parc Monceau is the same one Monsieur Aslan describes? Personally, I was baffled by his answer â I still am, in fact. I actually thought that section might be cut, but the editor wanted to keep it in because it shows what a complex and disconcerting character Pierre Aslan is.
As for your request, Iâm sorry but I canât give you Monsieur Aslanâs home address. I didnât meet him at hishouse but in the bar at the Ritz with his publicist, and, in any case, even if I had his address I wouldnât be allowed to give it to you. However, I am enclosing the contact details for his publicist; if you wish to write to Monsieur Aslan, I think you could go via him.
Wishing you every success with your search and all best wishes,
Â
Mélaine Gaultier
Â
ASLAN
Â
Monsieur,
Â
Your letter is one of the strangest I have ever received. The description of your hat corresponds in every detail to a black felt hat I picked up on a bench in Parc Monceau. In fact, I mentioned that very hat in the only interview I have given recently, in
Paris Match
. Alas! I no longer have the hat, which I regret, because I was very sentimentally attached to it. Life is like that; objects pass from hand to hand, but people and perfumes remain.
Â
With best wishes,
Â
Pierre
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