Francois Henin and L'Art de la Guerre

by: Serguey Borisov

So, The Art of War (L'Art de la Guerre)—it's the book of Sun Tzu, Chinese military thinker, strategist and tactician. He was and still is known for this book that is still influential and used in military and business schools nowadays. François Henin introduced his fragrance L'Art de la Guerre last spring, but I did not get a chance to talk to him about it in March. Fortunately, L'Art de la Guerre lived to see its launch in September at Pitti Fragranze in Florence.

François Henin:
The bookt describes the art of letting your enemy fall into your hands, unarmed and weak, and the very best way to do so—without any real fighting. So you get his castle without battles and demolitions, you get the food supply to keep living, you get the money, treasures, etc., and the people to work for you, not for your enemy.

photo from wikipedia

Obviously, the name is a metaphor about how to reach your objectives without contradictions. We get to this idea—I met young perfumer Vanina (Vanina Murraciole)—and we had an idea about a masculine perfume that a woman could wear. There are a lot of women in Paris who prefer to wear true masculine fragrances—not unisex, not feminine, but masculines! Working in Jovoy Paris, I could assure you that there are more women asking me for typically masculine perfumes (and they wear them!) than men asking for feminine flower perfumes, say Gardenia. Me, I do wear my Gardenia (Gardez Moi Jovoy Paris) because I love the smell of it, but I have a deal with my wife. So it's OK.

Serguey Borisov:
What are the typical masculine perfumes women usually ask for?

François Henin:
Typical masculines are ferns, from the fougère family—and women were asking about them. The first fougère was Fougère Royale by Houbigant in the 19th century, the very first perfume with synthetic coumarin. And it's the most popular masculine perfume family, it's the signature of a manly man; when we were a bit younger we could experience it around us and its strong smells were everywhere: Guy Laroche Drakkar Noir, Christian Dior Jules, Yves Saint-Laurent Kouros, etc.

And when the perfume is well and widely dispersed in the world of men, so it becomes very familiar to women and young girls alike. Say, when daddy entered into his daughter's room to say “Good night!” and maybe kiss her (well, he's shaved for the night and used some aftershave)—the girl would smell his cologne and likely will remember that smell. And mostly all of the colognes of the times were fougères, the traditional smell of daddies. The only revolution that has been made was Le Male by Jean-Paul Gaultier, a sweet oriental fougère—the counterforce to all the masculine fougères of 80s; you know people keep in mind that fougères are the old, the strong, the virile and brutal perfumes that everyone know so good.

Here the idea was to create a feminine fougère. So that a woman could wear on herself the icon of her father, or the gentleman that was important for her, for example, and to do that—this is where Vanina started from. If I were to describe the perfume, I'd say that the head notes of L'Art de la Guerre are a combo of a crispy apple and rhubarb in the start, and then the heart notes of a handsome man accord, as an image that is born from the fougère accord (it's very clean notes, for me clean notes are not pejorative), and then you are in Corsican garrigue, and you can smell Immortelle flower and Cistus in the base notes (Vanina is originally from Corsica). It helps to smooth this beautiful oriental fougère which is something very different, something quite unique. So I used here a mini-trend of fresh rhubarb, and am very comfortable with it. It is quite well-done also, and I happy with it.

Serguey Borisov:
Would you say it's feminine—or “feminine?”

François Henin:
I would say that it's a perfume that I wear as a man, and she would like to wear it also—as a trophy. You know, when you wear the perfume obviously of the opposite sex on you …

Serguey Borisov:
…that could mean that you are in love? Or the perfume is your reparation from your man? That some man lost in a love war and here's the winning woman after the love battle?

François Henin:
Yes. Maybe she does not understand why she'd like to wear a fougère fragrance, she does know that it's ultra-masculine, and she is comfortable with it! Most of the women when smelling fougères would say “Wow, that smells good!” And most of men when smelling Gardenia or Tuberose or Soliflore or Bouquet Fleury would say “That smells great, but it's not for me!” It's very interesting! And yet again, when you have met its perfumer Vanina yourself—tell me, how you could say “No!” to her? It's just impossible!

I suppose that young perfumer Vanina Muracciole did wear her perfume at the meeting with François Henin, to get all the advantages of it and get what she wants—the contract. All is fair in love and war ... and perfumes, as substances which deal with our memories are so dangerous and seductive!

There's a saying based on Sun Tzu's book—“All warfare is based on deception.” Actually, smelling L'Art de la Guerre by its consequent phases, going from the opening accord to the heart accord and then to the base notes, one could be fooled at least two times. It's so hard to believe that it's not just one, but three different perfumes! 

The first perfume smells fresh and cool, a green and fruity contemporary fragrance. Rhubarb and Apple notes are good for making you feel clean and energetic. The only hints of the further stages are a spicy rum accord that could be developed into a woody base, and green Lavender that could grow into something different.

The second perfume is a spicy fougère with aromatic herbs made out of Lavender and Spices, Patchouli and Musks. Here we could feel the holy alliance of all fougères, from noble and whimsical Guerlain Mouchoir de Monsieur to virile and straight-out Azzaro pour Homme. All of them are clean as they remind me of a morning's hygienic routine.

The third perfume is a mossy brown smell of an old dark forest, with some dry animalic smell that reminds me of a doctor's leather sac-de-voyage and gingerbreads and some amber woods. I love this part due to my soft spot for Everlasting flowers absolute—and this part is the most calm and mature gentleman I could imagine.

This dry, warm and woody part is as far from the crisp rhubarb fragrance as possible—I just cannot believe that all these accords are possible to combine in one fragrance! Perfumes just cannot stretch so far!

The fragrance is not aggressive at all—Sun Tzu was not a warmonger. Any war is a necessary evil, one should avoid any war as far as it's possible, to avoid casualties. Any war should be fought swiftly to avoid any losses. Any war can be a road to safety or a ruin, it is a matter of life and death. It's better take an army whole and intact than destroy it. And so on, and so on. Some people could see war even in love—and some can see love in war.
 

Jovoy Paris L'Art de la Guerre

Top:  Calabrian Bergamot, Granny Smith Apple, Rhubarb
Heart:  Maillette Lavender, Immortelle, Nutmeg, Violet Leaf
Base:  Indonesian Patchouli, Australian Sandalwood, Leather, Oak moss, Corsican Cistus