© Gloire de Dijon Botanical Perfume Inspired by Modigliani and Lawrence

Gloire de Dijon

D.H. Lawrence

When she rises in the morning 

I linger to watch her; 

She spreads the bath-cloth underneath the window 

And the sunbeams catch her 

Glistening white on the shoulders, 

While down her sides the mellow 

Golden shadow glows as 

She stoops to the sponge, and her swung breasts 

Sway like full-blown yellow 

Gloire de Dijon roses. 

She drips herself with water, and her shoulders 

Glisten as silver, they crumple up 

Like wet and falling roses, and I listen 

For the sluicing of their rain-dishevelled petals. 

In the window full of sunlight 

Concentrates her golden shadow 

Fold on fold, until it glows as 

Mellow as the glory roses.

There is a lot in common between the two creatives, one particular fact is that their works caused controversy and became notorious at their time. And although the nude body depictions and paintings eventually imply sexual background and context, there is nothing more inartificial and unconstrained than capturing the natural elusive moments of our fleeting life. And that is what both Lawrence and Modigliani tried to do in their oeuvre.

The perfume Gloire de Dijon was born almost one year ago, at that time I wanted to create soft, skin like tones and I have always associated tea notes with the scent of clean skin. And although all my perfumes are unisex, there is no doubt that the bigger part of fine art and poetry is dedicated to women, admiration and delight in their beauty.

The poem by Lawrence was part of the love poems in a vintage book found by me in a local library. What struck me first was the visualization which came so easily to my mind while I was reading the poem for the first time. And the next thing I wanted to do was to find a fine art piece of that time which could play harmoniously with the poem. My research brought me to a deeper and more complex context of life and artistry of both Lawrence and Modigliani who as it turned out had a lot in common in their works.

Lawrence is famous but was notorious for his work Lady Chatterley's Lover  which caused a lot of controversy due to its contents and was considered obscene. While the Nude Series by Modigliani at his solo exhibition in Paris was closed by the police because of the obscenity and the whole event created a sensation. Although nude portraits have always been part of painting, it is the deviation from the classic painting rules that made Modogliani stand out from the other painters in Paris: "...the Academies taught that the female nude should be depicted only in certain poses and Modigliani’s nudes did not conform to that dictate..." (My Daily Art Display).

Both the poem and the nude series in fact sound and look demure but the context stays as it was supposed to be: to show female sensuality and people may interpret the works as they wish but undoubtedly both Lawrence and Modigliani made their own small revolutions in their areas. And this was the core of the perfume: elusive female portraits and the glorification of the beauty in verse.

The whole perfume structure is based on white-beige, slightly rosy tones, the colour of skin, the colour of Gloire de Dijon roses: delicate white tea, warm rooibos, beautiful and pristine white rose, the soft and crisp base of orris rhizomes, vetiver and dark earthy cepes. The scent character is soft floral, with subtle tea notes and pure earthy base notes.