LONDON — Matthew Williamson is taking his signature fragrance on an olfactive journey.
Starting this month, the London fashion designer will introduce The Collection, a set of four fragrances, each with notes that can be detected in his two-year-old debut scent. The eau de toilettes were concocted to be worn alone or layered to create bespoke blends.
“It was a great opportunity to look at the strengths of the first fragrance,” said Williamson. “You can mix [the scents] and build your own thing — you can experiment.”
“It’s weaving a story around the signature scent in a more exciting way,” said Jill Hill, managing director of Juniper, which holds Williamson’s fragrance license.
The Collection’s fragrances are each linked to exotic locations, which served to inspire the designer’s fashion line, particularly his spring 2007 collection.
“Travel and nature are two areas that have always inspired my work, so that was a starting point,” said Williamson. “We pinpointed four places in the world where one would ideally wear [the scents].”
Lotus is meant to recall a summer evening in Bali, for example, and has notes of magnolia, cassis and bergamot, plus a lotus flower accord. Warm Sand was created to evoke Morocco and features notes of ginger lily, musk and sandalwood. Ibiza-inspired Jasmine Sambac includes jasmine sambac notes, while Incense, an homage to the mountains of western India, has frankincense, patchouli and labdanum notes. The juices were concocted by International Flavors & Fragrances perfumer Clement Gavarry.
The scents, which will be priced at 35 pounds, or $69 at current exchange rate, per 50-ml. spray, will be packaged in reworked versions of Williamson’s signature bottle. The flacons’ edges are a different color for each scent — Incense, for example, is decorated with pink. The accent colors are also picked up on outer cartons. A set of the four fragrances will be available for 135 pounds, or $264.
Williamson also slightly tweaked his signature scent’s advertising campaign, which features model Portia Freeman. Single-page ads will break this month. The launch will also be supported by a sampling campaign.
The four scents will have a two-week exclusive in Selfridges department store here starting Feb. 15, before beginning an international rollout in March.
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Hill also plans to expand the designer’s portfolio with an additional iteration of Williamson’s signature eau de parfum. Dubbed Sheer by Matthew Williamson, it comprises notes of lime oil, a green tea accord, plus bergamot, ginger oil, jasmine, magnolia, lily of the valley, Easter lily, sandalwood, benzoin, amber and musk notes.
“It’s a softer interpretation — an eau de toilette — which helps in overseas markets,” said Hill. Priced at 35 pounds, or $69, per 50-ml. spray, it will bow starting in March.
Industry sources estimate The Collection and Sheer by Matthew Williamson will generate first-year wholesale volume of 1 million pounds, or $1.96 million.
— Brid Costello