Parfum d'Empire - VÉTIVER BOURBON
The plant by the roots
A materials-driven scent that exalts the primal nature of the precious essence. Here, vetiver owns up to its innate toughness. And even more: to its virility. True, it has anchored men’s fragrances for decades, but usually in a polite, urbane, toned-down form. In Vétiver Bourbon, Marc-Antoine Corticchiato unshackles it from its overly civilised manners to restore its native elegance. That of a material which, in its raw state, is a fragrance in itself, unique and contrasted.
A homage scent that conjures the iconic vetiver Bourbon it is named after, now extremely rare since it has all but disappeared from the island of La Réunion where it was once widely grown. With its fresh, green, aromatic facets and earthy, mossy, woody tones, it is the richest, most complete vetiver essence. The quality of reference of the ingredient.
A scentscape that evokes the harvest of the fragrant root at dawn, at the exact moment when the robust root is torn from the soil, a memory of Marc-Antoine Corticchiato’s travels to the former Bourbon Island. A volcanic landscape that infuses the mineral facets of vetiver Bourbon essence.
Vétiver Bourbon intensifies the earthy nature of the essence, by interlacing it with those of two roots. Angelica, herbaceous, musky, peppery, lashed by the burn of Madagascan clove. And delicately woody iris, lit up by limpid ambrette seed.
This is vetiver untamed, torn from the earth of the island of La Réunion.
A WORD FROM MARC-ANTOINE CORTICCHIATO...
“With Lucien Acquarone, my companion from the maquis and the bush, a wizard distiller who could draw the best from perfume plants, we often stopped in La Réunion on the way to or from Madagascar. There, we bought essential oils of vetiver Bourbon and often, at the break of dawn, we went to see its exhausting harvest on the island’s plantations. This impressively robust grass, capable of resisting cyclones, provides protection against soil erosion and its crops consolidate fragile economies. This gave us the idea of growing vetiver in Madagascar from parent-roots brought over from La Réunion. The venture made us realise how hard it was to grow the crop. It also inspired me to work on all the facets and contrasts of vetiver Bourbon. Its rawness as well as its sophistication.”
