Diptyque’s MD recommends fresh, citrusy scents to beat Singapore’s heat
Fabienne Mauny, Managing Director of French fragrance label Diptyque, hopes that the brand’s latest creation, Eau de Minthe, will appeal to this region with its fresh, floral notes of mint, geranium and patchouli.
Diptyque's Managing Director, Fabienne Mauny. (Photo: Diptyque)
Luxury is growing ever more bespoke. Gucci has its DIY service where you can personalise its knitwear, tote bags and sneakers with alphabets in different colours and materials. Burberry Bespoke allows you to customise its signature trench coat online, from a choice of over 12 million variations in colour, fabric and other design options.
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Even in the world of scents, a celebration of self-expression prevails. “There’s definitely a trend towards more personalised perfumes,” noted Fabienne Mauny, Managing Director of Parisian purveyor of scented luxury candles, fragrances and home accessories, Diptyque.
“People are looking for scents that express their personality and they don’t necessarily want to wear what other people wear,” she added, echoing the current climate where consumers are increasingly fleeing homogeneity in fashion, too.
Scents, Mauny says, also take people on an emotional journey. “You can smell something and immediately, it brings you to a place you’ve visited or a memory in time,” she said.
“People are looking for scents that express their personality and they don’t necessarily want to wear what other people wear.” – Fabienne Mauny
Diptyque’s iconic scent, Philosykos (which means “friend of the fig tree” in Greek), for instance, transports one to the Mediterranean with a whiff of its base notes composed of fig leaves, fig tree sap and fig tree wood.
Indeed, such olfactory escapism is particularly useful in helping to offset the increased stresses of modern life. “In today’s world, people need a little bit of a break and scents allow them that possibility to escape and relax,” she explained.
Which scents would, therefore, best help those living in Singapore’s tropical climate escape the belligerent heat? “Instinctively, I would recommend fresher, citrusy scents, though those are not necessarily the most popular here,” she suggested.
According to Mauny, Singaporeans tend to prefer floral scents like Diptyque’s Eau Rose. Another popular choice is Do Son, a heady and spicy scent of tuberose, orange blossom and jasmine, inspired by the summers that one of the brand’s co-founders, Yves Coueslant, had spent in Do Son, Vietnam as a child.
Diptyque, which takes its name from the ancient Greek word diptykhos – a two-panel painting or sculpture – is now hoping its latest creation, Eau de Minthe, will appeal to this region with its fresh, floral notes of mint, geranium and patchouli.
On her visit to Singapore, Mauny herself was richly perfumed with Fleur de Peau, also belonging to the floral family with notes of ambrettolide from the ambrette seed, musk and iris.
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RETURNING TO ROOTS WITH OBJETS D'ART
September will herald a return to roots of sorts as Diptyque reintroduces a collection of artisanal objects for which the brand was first known, before they shifted focus to creating scented candles and personal fragrances.
“Diptyque was previously known for its ‘bazaar chic’ offering of decorative objects and we are going back to this part of our heritage,” Mauny shared.
First unveiled at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile di Milano furniture fair last April, the new collection will be sold via a pop-up store that will travel the world, beginning with its home ground of Paris.
Amongst the new offerings, expect textile and ceramic items including plates, glasses and an array of luxurious gift items.
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CHECK-IN TO A NEW ‘DIPTYQUE EXPERIENCE’
Partnerships have always been a key protagonist in the Diptyque narrative, injecting much creativity into the 58-year-old brand through collaborations with artists and illustrators for its product packaging for special editions and holiday collections.
Long-time fans of the brand will be happy to note that Diptyque is working on its own line of amenity products that will soon appear in iconic hotels around the world.
The hospitality partnership could also extend to creating a unique ‘Diptyque experience’ in each hotel, Mauny said.
“It could be scent diffusion or a specific art de vivre around the scents that we will develop with them,” she hinted. “We love to experiment with new approaches. That’s what keeps us relevant in the market today; to always be creative, pay a lot of attention to details and propose beautiful experiences.”
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“Diptyque was previously known for its ‘bazaar chic’ offering of decorative objects and we are going back to this part of our heritage.” – Fabienne Mauny
SCENTS & SUSTAINABILITY
As more fashion and luxury brands move towards sustainable luxury in the components and ingredients used in its supply chain, Diptyque finds itself following suit.
“From a brand perspective, sustainability is definitely a concern for us,” Mauny acknowledged. To this end, the brand is working to become “greener” through the use of more recyclable paper in its product packaging as well as developing more refillable formats for some of its products.
The company is also developing several ethical programmes for the sourcing of certain ingredients such as ylang-ylang. The star-shaped yellow flower used in Diptyque’s Eau Moheli Eau de Toilette comes from the island of Moheli, located in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa.
“We take a lot of care in the sourcing of our ingredients and we’ve developed a specific partnership to take care of a local community growing those flowers,” Mauny explained.
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FINDING THE RIGHT PARTNER FOR LIFE
For Diptyque, partnerships are like marriages and the French brand intends to mate for life. The company has its sights on Vietnam and India for regional expansion but is in no hurry to get hitched.
“We’re looking for more opportunities in Asia but it’s a matter of finding the right partners and finding the right way to launch ourselves in those markets,” Mauny said.
In Singapore, for example, the brand has been in bed with the same distributor for almost two decades, and it only opened its first Singapore boutique in late 2017 in Ngee Ann City. It’s the second outlet in Southeast Asia after Kuala Lumpur.
“We are faithful to the people we work with and we want to make sure that if we get married, we get married for a long time,” Mauny said.
