You Cannot Be Serious, Monsieur Polge!

Of all the archaic universal truth within the fragrance industry the infallibility of a creative director is perhaps the most baffling. What puts forth by a supposed master, no matter how incorrect the information may be, has to be beyond reproach. Thus with the brand equity of a company at stake such respect only only seems fair: with millions and millions of dollars or euros at stake an authorized coverage cannot be wrong, no? Except it often does, and yet the cosmetic industry is only too happy to carry on its own merry ways.

Mind you, I am not talking about the imcompetencies of poor journalists who are often assisgned to a profile without the technical know-how to begin the coverage. Sometimes jounalistic inaccuracies do take place. But when seemingly common knowledge gets overlooked in favor of the grander waxing lyrical that's when self-promotion gets sincerely irksome.

Enter Chanel's master perfumer Jacques Polge and the deputy perfumer Christopher Sheldrake and their latest effort in promoting the up-coming Chanel No. 19 Poudre:

"Yes, the iris flower is beautiful," says Christopher Sheldrake, perfumer and director of research and development for the same, grand French name, and today Polge's accomplice in the creation of scents divine. "But with the root, we're definitely in the potato category." And this, on the face of it, does not have quite the same romantic connotations. Appearances can be deceptive, however, because the iris flower is, in fact, odourless. "Yes, even I cannot smell it," says Polge in heavily French-accented tones. Instead, the scent comes from the rhizome, which, through a painstaking process is transformed into iris butter, which is among the most rare and precious ingredients in perfumery. "The flower doesn't smell at all," Sheldrake confirms, "but the root doesn't smell floral either. It's a very rich, creamy, powdery smell."

The commercial lyricism? Fantastic. The intricate eloquence? Seamless. The requisite fact checking with the statement above? Non-existant.

The iris flower is odourless? Fiction. Many varieties of common iris flowers are actually quite scented. In fact one doesn't have to look very far in the perfumers' exploration of the iris flower but the 2007 Perfumer & Flavorist magazine. In "Identification of Iris Scent Volatiles Using Dynamic Headspace with PDMS Foam Trapping and GC-TOFMS", Ray Marsili and Cesar Kenaan have actually described the scent of the bearded iris as an "unusually strong, pleasant fragrance", comparable to a "caramel, spicy, vanilla with citrus nuances". In fact, a chemical profile of fragrant bearded iris is published along the rest of the article. The study can be retrieved for free by anyone with an enlightened knowledge of Google; apparently Chanel has not bothered with it.

As for the part on orris--describing the root not smelling floral--is to me also misleading. Yes, the fresh root has a very earthy scent, but a proper rendering produces an essence reminiscent of violets covered with chalk dust. Most ravishing upon introducing the element as an elegant restraint while rebalancing the floral-woodsy facets. I thought all this is common knowledge in perfumery.

Could the statement be an honest mistake? Perhaps. But after several observations (here and here) I am less optimistic than most. Too much has been said with the intention of being accepted at face value.

So what more can I say? You cannot be serious, Monsieur Polge!

["One green bottle: Meet the brains – and noses – behind Chanel No 19" from The Independent]

P.S. Don't know why but I suddenly feel that my earlier perfumery satire seems only fitting.