“I am so glad to be in Moscow again! I liked this city ten years ago, but I am delighted with how it is changing,”Françoise Donsch smiles, nodding at the sun-drenched capital. We meet on the panoramic terrace of the capital "Hayat": it's summer in the city, and Donsch still holds the post of the chief perfumery expert at Givenchy, whom she recently traded for a well-deserved pension. This is the third time that Françoise is in Moscow: the first two came as a tourist, and this time she came to the presentation of the new version of the Dahlia fragrance.
“Listen,” Donsch gets down to business, handing me a blotter. - I sprayed the perfume about an hour ago. And now the Indian jasmine sambac and mimosa, which are harvested in the south of France at the end of January, are best heard. For the line, mimosa is an innovation, but in general we have a long history with this note - we first used it in 1991 in Amarige. " This fragile tall Frenchwoman with big eyes remembers more than one hundred fragrances (and not only from the Givenchy collection) and is well versed in the components: until recently, it was Françoise Donsch who selected the best raw materials and coordinated the work of the “noses” that work with the brand, so in She also understands perfumery fashion very well.
© press service Givenchy
Then she takes a golden bottle and after a couple of seconds the air is filled with green notes. “In the 70s of the last century, green chypres gained insane popularity: it was at this time that the dawn of female emancipation came and strong, somewhat masculine notes in the fragrances“for her”perfectly expressed the spirit of the times. And this concept of life also suits today's girls,”says Françoise.
According to her forecasts, in four hours the scent will change beyond recognition - the floral notes will be replaced by sandalwood: sexy and mysterious. “In the early 2000s, this component simply disappeared,” says Donsch. - India, which produces the bulk of high-quality raw materials, simply stopped supplying. The government banned deforestation for environmental reasons, and more than ten years later began to allocate quotas again. But the scarcity of a rare component is not the only reason why it was added to the fragrance - sandalwood has traditionally had a sacred meaning. “The world is becoming less material and more spiritual every day. So we also support this trend,”says Françoise. The bottle was painted like gold for a reason - this metal is also associated with something divine, remember at least the domes of Orthodox churches.
Supermodel Candice Swanepoel is the face of the advertising campaign for the new fragrance © Givenchy press service
Moreover, this fashion is directly related to sales: according to the expert assessment of Mademoiselle Donsch, people no longer buy anything under the influence of impulse, but approach acquisitions from a more intellectual point of view. “Now everyone needs a story, they need to understand the artistic value of what they plan to spend on,” says the Frenchwoman.
When everything becomes extremely clear with the past and the present, I ask about the most vital - about the future.
“In just three years the world will be ruled by green notes: vegetables, asparagus, lettuce! - says Donsch with confidence. - Sounds amazing? Science does not stand still, and smells that previously could not be transformed into perfume notes can very soon be bottled. Just wait and see a hundred more new components that have never been used before.”>