We’re finally back! 🌊 After two months off, High Noon “summer break” is over. So, it’s October and we have returned to the Internet and to your inboxes for the fall season.
The first issue of this newsletter came out almost 14 months ago and since then, we’ve analyzed trends in fashion, social media, aesthetics, pop culture, and more. This week, we kick off the return season of High Noon with a survey of fragrance culture.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with four lovely individuals this summer to talk about perfume. Lightly inspired by the style of Lizzy Goodman’s iconic book on New York City nightlife, Meet Me In The Bathroom, this week’s Long Read is a ‘digital roundtable’ on fragrance. A perfumer, a fragrance influencer, and a couple of perfume heads discussed personal stories, the perfume-making process, and trends in the space with me.
We had some great conversations and went in-depth on a variety of topics, so have a seat, spray on your favorite, most luxurious perfume, and enjoy!
xoxo SCREMES (Shawn)
The Roundup
Links to the stories you should be reading this week
Critic Dean Kissick examines the past 18 months in New York City. ✺ Digital project Accused Share helps model Krystall Schott reclaim ownership of her face. ✺ Li Jin is the venture capitalist for the influencer age. ✺ Writer Emily Gould examines the state of the literary world, by way of “The Jonathans.” ✺ A retrospective of New York’s literary haunts. ✺ The Drunken Canal satirizes Vogue’s infamous September Issue. ✺ MSCHF’s latest drop reimagines a gun buy-back program fit for the e-girls among us.
The Long Read
The week’s keynote story
Only going to read one thing? Read me.
The Perfume Obsession | High Noon Original | Shawn Cremer
For this issue, I spoke with: ✺ Emma Vernon, a comedian, matchmaker, and host of The Perfume Room podcast (listen below!). On TikTok, Emma recommends perfume. ✺ Dan Lang, a creative director and the founder of Wile Scents. ✺ Alana May Johnson, a very stylish librarian who is passionate about perfume. ✺ Nick Patlan, a friend of mine from LA who I credit with opening the world of fragrance to me.
Follow them and now let’s get into it!
Getting Perfume Pilled
Before I ever began wearing any fragrance, I spent an afternoon at my older friend’s house rifling through his issues of Esquire and GQ, opening the flaps to sniff the samples in the ads for Acqua di Giò and Polo Blue — big, bathhousey men’s colognes that assaulted the nose. This was 2012 and that Christmas, a friend gave me a sample set of Burberry colognes. It was the first time I’d really considered that fragrance could or should be a part of putting myself together. I mean, I was 15 and my associations with applied scent at that point were Old Spice deodorant and the Axe and Victoria’s Secret body sprays that permeated the halls of most American high schools.
But Burberry — hey, pretty nice! They were three tiny vials that I made last for almost two years, before heading to the mall and buying my first full-sized textured plaid bottle of Brit Rhythm. It was the priciest purchase I’d ever put on my debit card, and I felt so luxurious walking out with my treasure in its little golden bag tied shut with a thick silk Burberry ribbon.
For the rest of high school and throughout college, Rhythm became my unintentional signature. I didn’t acquire another scent until a friend from Paris sent me a bottle of 4711 Orignal Eau de Cologne, a unisex fragrance that has been around since 1792! A vast departure from the amber, woody, incense notes of Rhythm, 4711 is aquatic and citrusy with lingering spice. I was beginning to learn what was and was not my style.
But it wasn’t until Nick introduced me to his obsession with perfume less than two years ago that I bought one for myself — Comme des Garçon’s Incense Avignon, steering back to the amber/incense/musk section of the olfactory palate.
Everyone I talked to for this piece had a first fragrance story. As with fashion or beauty, fragrance seems to be something that people stumble into, unsure of what they’re doing at first.
Dan Lang: I remember I would always bug my parents to buy me fragrance when we were out … and they’d be like, ‘You’re literally so young!’ and I was like, ‘I don’t care! I want it!’ A lot of the stuff from the ‘90s was fun and poppy but more gimmicky rather than actual experiences.
Nick Patlan: I didn’t really wear fragrances growing up or anything. I had a roommate in college who I had a crush on who wore Drakkar Noir so I bought that and started wearing it because it reminded me of him. Drakkar is good… it’s a mega-flowery, citrusy masculine fragrance with woody notes at the end… and that’s all I wore for many years.
Alana May Johnson: I had this boyfriend when I was 15. He was 18, we were about to break up, but it was around Christmas and I purposely delayed the breakup so I could get a Christmas present [laughs]. And he got me J’Adore which I fucking hate. I was like, ‘I’m fifteen!! What are you doing?’ So I was pissed off because I waited another two weeks to break up with this guy and I get J’Adore?!
Emma Vernon: The first perfume I ever got was Gap Dream and I think I got that in fourth or fifth grade. It was this little tin spray bottle and it was a musky Freesia fragrance. Freesia was really popular in a lot of ‘90s fragrances. I think Freesia was one of the main notes in J’adore Dior. [It is; I checked! –SC] It was really big in the ‘90s and 2000s and [Dream] smelled like 1999. Everything had the White Musk/Freesia combo and I loved it. Then after that, I got DKNY Be Delicious and Escada Ibiza Hippie — all these really fruity fragrances that I was obsessed with when I was a teenager.
Culture of Fragrance
How we interface with the world visually — fashion, makeup, skin and hair care — gets all the focus, but the other sense that impacts how we are perceived (and more importantly I would say, how we feel about ourselves) is scent. Scent is the sense most connected to memory, suggesting a power for creating significant emotional responses. Not surprisingly then, fragrance has a long and storied history as a tool of both spirituality and sensuality.
The re-emergence of perfume’s cultural significance in the past two years is in part subconsciously connected to its ancient origins. In keeping with a social trend toward decadence across categories, who doesn’t want to channel the feeling of a glamorous ancient Mesopotamian priestess?
But this is a recent development. If you walked around LA or Brooklyn anytime between two and six years ago, you would have smelled one note on every block: sandalwood.
EV: You saw Santal 33, you saw Santal Blush, there are so many scents that have the word santal in them and that’s a sandalwood compound that’s a musky leather note. That was all over 2015-2020 and I think people have sort of gotten sick of it.
Le Labo’s Santal 33 was so ubiquitous it was dubbed New York’s cult fragrance. It was the fragrance for people with Away suitcases and Everlane sweaters and Warby Parker glasses. But since that Cut article was written, Santal’s popularity has diminished. People have begun experimenting more with fragrance as a marker of self-expression, and of tribal belonging.
In today’s milieu, we are seeking a mythical sensory experience to escape into and perfume is a perfect vehicle for such a thing.
NP: The mythology of the perfume can be really cool. It’s an added bonus if a perfume has a strong concept and mythology around it and especially if it has an actual cool history and cool associations, especially with people and celebrities I like. I love Mugler Angel because it has a very obvious and strong mythology around it with the whole campaign and old ads. And it’s a cool bottle. It’s a star that doesn’t stand up so it’s supposed to channel inconvenience and decadence — a luxury product that you have lying around your home.
When Dan Lang set out to begin creating perfumes for Wile, he wanted every scent to tell a story, and he explicitly leaned into fragrance’s connection with memory.
DL: The concepts behind all of the scents are different experience I’ve had throughout my travels. What really sparked it in me is when I was in Tulum two years ago, and being in the jungle and smelling everything... I was like, ‘I really want to find a way to bottle these scents and put my memories in a bottle where people can share that memory and then relate it to their own memories or create new memories.’
When he speaks about his perfumes, it is with a dreamy adoration and I can tell that this talk of bottling memories is quite real.
DL: The Tulum [scent] is passionfruit bitters and mezcal and copal, so all things from exact memories of sitting underneath the full moon on the beach with the waves crashing and the wind blowing and copal smoke dancing through the trees, drinking a mezcal with passionfruit bitters.
This is the way Dan describes the feeling he captured in his Tulum-inspired Bare Sentient scent, which makes me think how part of the appeal of fragrance is that it’s a highly personal sensory experience. Yes, we wear perfume with the intention that others will smell it on us, but we are always the ones closest to it, both emotionally and physically.
AMJ: I like to smell myself throughout the day. It’s kind of just for me. I work at a library so I can’t be super heavy spraying things at work, but it’s also freezing in there so I have to layer up so I’ll just spray it on my layers underneath and smell myself. It’s mostly for me I guess.
NP: I like being a little ostentatious and announcing myself. I like so many things. I’m very agreeable when it comes to perfume. I like things that are very strong. I don’t like things that are very understated because I like to be able to smell it on myself constantly and I hope people kind of can notice it on me pretty obviously. I’m wanting them to know that I’m wearing perfume.
Sociology of Fragrance
As with so many consumer categories that have subcultures, people who are into fragrance engage with the products way beyond just buying and using. That’s why we listen to podcasts, watch YouTube videos and TikToks, share samples with friends, seek out ‘grails’ and make up our own unique scent by layering multiple fragrances.
NP: I started listening to a podcast called The Perfume Nationalist. It’s a cultural commentary podcast that pairs perfume with historically significant works of art; mostly films but also books and TV shows. And the podcast is kind of a work of art in itself. I feel like [interest in perfume] is growing, but from my perspective, in part it’s due to these cultural tastemakers who basically single-handedly created this community. There is an invisible line that you can’t really put your finger on but that someone niche has created more interest in [something like perfume].
AMJ: During the pandemic […] I just started going nuts. First I got very into beauty YouTube. Totally addicted. So now I have this fucking insane collection of makeup — it’s ridiculous. And then I started getting into fragrance, you know because it’s adjacent and the YouTube algorithm and I was like, ‘Oh no, I like this too!’ And now I have like 20 bottles that I’ve bought fairly recently. And I’ve also managed to get my husband into it too. He likes to come up and try to guess which fragrance I’m wearing. I have one friend who also got super into fragrance and we give each other samples and go back and forth. She’ll be like, ‘Eh, I don’t know if I quite like this but you might like it,’ and we do the same thing back and forth.
EV: My mom’s mother wore such strong fragrances … and I think my mom might have been averse because of it. Interestingly, my mom is really into wine and I started to try and educate her objectively about perfume … in the way that you do wine tastings we would start to do fragrance ‘smellings’. I would spray different notes on blotters and say, ‘What do you smell? What does this make you think of?’ or I would get a dupe of an expensive fragrance and I would say, ‘Okay smell the dupe versus the original’ and I wouldn’t tell her which is which and I’d say, ‘Does one smell better to you? Can you pick up distinct notes?’ So she got into as an art form.
AMJ: I’ve learned a bit about the notes. I’m not great at identifying stuff but I’ve kind of figured out the scents that I like. I like marshmallow which I wouldn’t have realized until I smelled a bunch of perfumes that said they have marshmallow notes, and I was like, ‘Okay, I guess I like a gourmand scent!’ I love hearing other people describe a fragrance. Hearing someone who’s good at it is always super interesting.
Trend Forecasts
Skin scents
Skin scents are fragrances that are subtler, using ingredients aimed at elevating one’s own natural scent, rather than applying something new.
EV: This trend toward skin scents is big right now, this ‘I want to smell like me but better’ and I think that reflects makeup trends. If you look at what was popular five years ago, it was the Kim Kardashian look — draw in your eyebrows, contour your face, bake it — and now the look is a much more natural look and I think scent is following suit. Skin scents are Botox; they are you but the slightly more refined version. Whereas if you get a nose job you’re actually changing your face. So if you’re going to wear Santal 33 you’re going to smell different than your skin scent but if you wear a musk or Juliette Has a Gun Not a Perfume you’re not going to smell drastically different from you; it’s just going to be that fresh-out-of-the-shower smell — a very clean, bright version of you.
Gender-free
Everyone spoke about gender’s relationship to fragrance.
EV: I think that there’s a really strong movement right now to see scents as gender inclusive instead of marketing them as feminine or masculine. Floral scents are for women and woody scents are for men? Who determined that? These are all just things found in nature. There’s no reason why one particular natural note would be for one particular gender. I’m a personal believer that if you wear the scent the scent is for you.
AMJ: I think all the Margiela scents are pretty unisex. Spencer and I both have different ones, but I think we could both wear either of them. And that’s something that I’m noticing online as far as friends talking. I see everybody talking about that brand in particular. It’s really easily accessible at this point — just another Sephora one.
Wile Scents is, from the get-go, intentionally gender-free, so I asked Dan about it.
DL: It’s about not having a boundary and not setting a boundary because fragrances shouldn’t have anything gender-related. […] Everything that I do I like to put a little twist on it so it’s not so well-rounded. I like to be more raw with things and give something that’s unexpected. And the gender free thing is so important now because it’s [about] being open to whatever experiences and to whoever someone is and it really goes along with the story of sharing the memory and creating your own memory and being one with the fragrance.
Layering
I love to layer different scents together and I hear a lot of anecdotes that tell me I’m not alone.
DL: I own a bunch of fragrance so I never just wear one. I will always mix them and make a custom scent, and not just straight off the shelf. I like to play around with them because that’s what fragrance is supposed to be. It’s supposed to be about fun and experimenting and exploring different scents and things that work with your skin.
Clean Production & Packaging
As with beauty, fragrance is having a reckoning with its use of ingredients and packaging materials, moving toward those that are friendlier to our bodies and to the planet.
EV: The other big trend that we’re seeing that mirrors what’s going on [in the world] is the movement toward clean and sustainable fragrances. I think that as people are becoming more interested in sustainable living and also this idea of being conscious of what chemicals they’re putting in or on their body, fragrance is reflecting that. There are a lot of companies that have done things to make sure all of the items in their packaging are 100% recyclable.
DL: Clean beauty is in some ways killing the industry because everyone is trying to say that they’re clean but in reality they don’t realize what clean actually is because there’s no real rules to that. People think that just because you’re using natural fragrance you’re not harming the environment but sometimes that can actually be worse for the environment because its killing natural resources for fragrance. But we’re coming around to realizing that synthetics aren’t necessarily bad (unless of course you’re using ones that are on a blacklist or are toxic).
EV: There is a difference between “clean” and “natural” in beauty. “Natural” actually means essential oils — all 100% nature products — and “clean” means it can have safe synthetics, it can have nature identicals, it just means there’s no parabens, phalates, or true toxic chemicals.
DL: It’s really exciting to see where fragrance is going because they are developing so much technology. Same with packaging. Everything is becoming more experimental because they’re coming up with new ways to package fragrance and with new scent notes where they’re replicating scents you’ve never thought of before.
The Next Big Thing
I asked my guests what trend they thought was going to be next in the world of fragrance.
EV: I think a fragrance that has really taken off right now — or maybe I’m just trying to make this a thing — I think iris and orris are going to have a moment and I stand by that and here’s why: I think in 2020 and 2021 people want scents that evoke comfort and iris and orris are scents that people often describe as smelling like that familiar comfortable smell of their grandmother’s makeup or the inside of a makeup bag; it’s just very palatable. I find that a lot of times when people ask me for recommendations they want something that smells like a lip gloss that they love or a hairspray or shampoo that they love and iris and orris are two notes that are unique because no one really knows what the smell of them is exactly but they do smell familiar, so I think that that will be a big trend.
NP: I’m in a very insulated community that has bizarre specific tastes — my circle of hobbyists and aesthetes. I don’t really see perfume as something that most people think about that much, at least not positively, because people don’t like to announce themselves; they don’t like to be ostentatious. But I think people should announce themselves more and I hope since people are warming up to scents because of the whole boredom of the pandemic that maybe that will happen.
Recommendations
I asked everyone what they are wearing the most now…
Alana
I actually love Ariana Grande Cloud. People say it’s a dupe for Baccarat Rouge 540 – that really expensive one! I mean it smells so good. I’m kind of embarrassed to wear an Ariana Grande fragrance but people really love it.
Also mentions: Valentino Donna Born in Roma ✺ Tom Ford Soleil Blanc ✺ Kilian Princess ✺ Chanel No. 19 ✺ Regime des Fleurs Chloë Sevigny Little Flower
Nick
I like wearing [Frederic Malle] Portrait of a Lady when I’m going to a party and I want to smell expensive. It’s one of those strong fragrances you only need to spray on once and everybody will be like, “Oh my god you smell so good.” It’s very luxurious.
I wear [Mugler] Angel on all occasions. I wear it to work. I wear it out. I think a lot of people like it on men because I get a lot of compliments on that one.
Dan
Wile currently offers four Eaux de Parfum — Decadent Dirty, Friction, and Bare Sentient Sol and Nocturnal (the two Tulum-inspired scents). Sample sets are available!
Emma
And finally, I sent Emma the High Noon Summer Stills Moodboard from Issue 43. Below are her three picks specifically inspired by the High Noon Vibe! 🌞
Altaia Yu Sōn – Effortlessly Cool
D.S. & Durga Jazmin Yucatan – Bold, Unique & Summery
Diptyque Eau Moheli – Floral & Bright
Listen
On the inaugural episode of Emma Vernon’s podcast The Perfume Room, she speaks with the creators of Perfume TikTok’s darling, Thin Wild Mercury.
Cheers
A well-mixed cocktail is like a good perfume — the aromatic balance delights the drinker over the course of the cocktail, from the “top notes” through the middle palette and into the lingering finish.
For this week’s cocktail, I wanted to create something that evoked the sensory pleasures of wearing a perfume that my interviewees spoke about.
1.5 oz Mezcal • Note: Mezcal is one of the most diverse spirits, given the vast array of agave species, each producing a subtly complex flavor profile, which makes this cocktail ever-changing. Check out Bar Caló’s agave list for a good overview.
0.25 oz Amaro (Choose one on the sweeter side such as Nonino or Montenegro)
0.25 oz Sweet Red Vermouth
1 Dash each Orange, Molé, and Aromatic Bitters
Stir together over ice. Strain into a chilled rocks glass. Express an orange peel over the drink and around the rim of the glass and garnish. For added panache, infuse with smoke.