Maison Martin Margiela – (untitled) – by L’ Oreal
On the occasion of the launch to retailers of the first fragrance from Maison Martin Margiela, (untitled), we had an interesting conversation with Federica Pria, Marketing Director Perfumes Division, Luxury Products, @ L’Oreal Italy.
Birth, evolution and synthesis of the partenership between Maison Martin Margiela and L’Oreal.
In 2008 Maison Martin Margiela put in the hands of L’Oreal the creation of a perfume line. From its first conception, the fragrance should break with the codes of the traditional perfumery schemes, meanwhile being able to interpret the basic feautures of the Maison.
(untitled) has been lauched in spring 2010, the first fragrance from Maison Martin Margiela. In a minimalistic design bottle, it’s a twisting and a re-formulation of green scents from the seventies.
(untitled) in 3 words: a definition
Essential, other, new luxury.
Essential: the perfume stands by itself.
Other: different, out of the schemes, in opposition to fashion and trends.
New luxury: luxury stands in the simplicity of the hand-crafted handling, broad refinement without ostentation.
What do different shades of white stand for? Is it a reference to time passing by and antique things?
The colour white preserves the traces of time passing by and it expresses unity, purity and honesty. The (untitled) bottle seems to be bathed in white paint, which of course, is a quotation from the Maison’s artistic identity.
Which was the purpose behind the decision to call the perfume (untitled)?
(untitled) is the name. It’s immediate, pragmatic and different. It’s deliberately lacking any references to its creator nor inspirational concept, it leaves the individual who’s wearing it the chance to enact the fragrance.
What is “absence” for Maison Martin Margiela?
It’s not really about a real absence, it concerns more letting creatives ideas talk themselves without interferences.
Quite like a claimed anonimity, which we can find also in the clothing line, where printed name are banished to contrast the logo oppression.
What do the green notes represent in this fragrance?
The green track explored by (untitled) is natural and simple. It’s suddenly surprising and intriguing. The Maison’s attitude for reinterpretaion comes back in this perfume, which gives another birth to an old and quite forgotten olfactory vocabulary. A fresh, prickly and destabilizing dizziness.
Galbanum, a rare and noble raw material, feeds from bitterness of the green box, from the vibration of lentisc and incense, from the velvet of bitter orange. This sensation of plants collected-after-the-rain is though contrasted by jasmine and cedar absorbed by musks, for a perturbing sensuality.
What the bottle and the package stand for?
The bottle is delicate, essential and simple. It takes inspirations from old phials used to contain raw material during the end of 1800. The white paint instead, is its signature. The external packaging is still white, simple, elegant and discrete.
The baudruchage.
Baudruchage is an old tecnique to seal up the bottles with silk yarns.
(untitled) is a tribute to hand-craft manufacturing, but also a quotation of the cotton yarn used to sew the labels on clothes. As the consumer could cut 4 sewn points to remove the label, likewise you need to cut the silk to use the perfume.
Symbology and numerology: number 3
3 is the number used to title the line committed to collect the Maison Martin Margiela olfactory universe. It’s born from the maison’s codes fan, which goes from 0 to 23 and identifies each line.
What is pragmatism for MMM?
Pragmatism is simplicity, naturalness, essentiality in how it expresses a refined luxury without posturing. A new luxury.
Interview and translation by Elisa Lusso – pictures by Tag Christof
