1861 Collection by Xerjoff

by: Evgeniya Chudakova

Italian perfume brand Xerjoff presented a new fragrances at Esxence'15 in Milano. Recently, the brand's Head,  Sergio Momo, visited Moscow in order to talk about these perfumes and his future plans.

Sergio Momo: [about 1861 Renaissance] Our first creation was the most complex one, because we had to put together all the things, all the senses and all the history of Italy. Like every perfume, this creation is divided into three parts. Top notes are of course created of citruses that are very important part of Italian culture, nature and production. There are the notes of bergamot, lemon, orange, orange blossom. These notes represent friendly Italian character as well as symbolize open air, the style of living outdoors. In heart notes we have flowers—lily of the valley, rose—that describe the romantic side of Italy. Also there is an interesting mix of mint, as mint together with other herbs is very important in Italian culture. Base notes are composed of resins and woods and represent the history of Italy. Actually it's a typical classical cologne with a little twist of flowers and woods.

As previously mentioned, it was the first perfume dedicated to our homeland. It was launched several years ago. Now we've decided to expand the collection and to dedicate perfumes to specific regions or cities of Italy.

The very first fragrance of this collection—1861 Renaissance—is a classical citrusy cologne that most of you already know as it was launched in 2011. Bright and cheerful and, of course, of extreme quality, this scent still seems to be rather harsh and straightforward. It rustles with lemon and orange tree branches and bitters with a hint of mint.  

Sergio Momo: [about 1861 Zefiro] Of course we had to start with Rome that we call "Eternal city." Everybody knows Rome, everybody knows the history of Rome that of course is a very complex place to visit, to understand. It takes more than a life to understand this city.

Here again we've tried to put the main elements together. It's like painting a picture putting different colors together to represent entire image.

So, the name of the perfume is Zefiro. Zefiro is the wind, a very important wind blowing in the Lazio region. It's a warm wind. Here you can see two very famous paintings by Sandro Botticelli. Zefiro is painted on each picture, because its image always was a very important mythological figure of Roman culture and history.

Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, 1486

 Sandro Botticelli, Primavera, 1482

With this perfume you can imagine yourself walking around Rome with this warm wind blowing. The first thing that you can notice is incense that is a very important element in the history of Rome because of its religious meaning during many centuries. And the warm air of Rome is infused with the smell of incense and other elements. And incense glues everything together. What are other important things we pay attention to while composing this perfume: honey and must of wine that are strong and sugary elements. Must of wine—the leftover of wine which gives the same twist as vanilla or caramel—it's a bit more dark, sometimes a bit greener. It can be used in all parts of the fragrance. Earlier we used it in Richwood.

It's not easy to bring all different elements to a perfume, because you not only need to create a perfume with the components that have meanings, but also they should work well together. It's a difficult work that takes months, sometimes years in order to accomplish the scent with desired result. But you have to remember that we create perfume in a way that one creates a painting—it's our own interpretation of Rome as like we were making a sculpture or photography or something else.

This perfume represents the whole image of Rome, but of couse it refers to the most glorious time, to the time of the Roman Empire, because even now, living many centuries after we still feel the breath of the Roman Empire.

Zefiro really smells of dry Roman streets as I first saw them on a hot and dusty September day. They are all hot stones and sweety resinous rustle of stone pines. Later on the air infuses with incense that stays with you forever. Very beautiful, but also a very direct scent. 

Sergio Momo: [about 1861 Naxos] The third perfume we created is Naxos. It's created not for a city, but for a region—for the most southern region of Italy that was influenced by many cultures and now it's very different from the rest of the  country. This region is Sicily. It has very strong character.

In this perfume it's much more difficult to detect separate notes of the leading element as it was with incense in Zefiro, for example. Here we've made a blend where of course we have citruses, honey, spices. Here we also have tobacco that is a very important element for us as well. Though tobacco doesn't come from Sicily, it's something that helps to describe this region and its character.

Naxos is one of the oldest cities in  the world. It's a Greek city. So, history speaks very loud in Sicily and so does nature. And I think that Sicily is the best expression of Mediterranean spirit together with Spain, the northern coast of Africa and Greece.

Naxos, that took my priority for the most changeable character among all three scents and later absolutely conqured me with its honey, flowers and tobacco accords. What's interesting: sometimes it  minces with white flowers and sweet, even a bit alcoholic fruity honey, and sometimes the honey accord seems bitter  and lavender appears that underlines this amazing soft tobacco with light rough bitterness. Among other perfumes there is one that immediately came to mind—more dense and multilayered Or du Sérail Naomi Goodsir.

I've asked Sergio Momo about the future of this collection—whether it will be expanded. And here's what he answered:

Sergio Momo: Yes, we are working with Florence and Venice scents ... sorry, Tuscany and Venice. It's not just Florence but the whole region—nature, irises, wine. And Venice as the most oriental of our lands, the trading center in Byzantine era. And others also will follow—we come from mountains, for example, with its flowers and the winds.

As for the time when new fragarances will be presented, Sergio advised only that we won't see them at the upcoming Pitti Fragranze. 

Photo: Rivoli Perfumery & Jane_Wonder