It’s the celestial perfume that kept Mugler on the mind long since the iconic imperator of intergalactic glam closed the doors to his atelier in 2003. A sad, sad day for all of the people the theatrical provocateur touched with his daring creations. Though as one door closed, another door burst open and emanated a stupefying bouquet of scents, heightening the appeal of Thierry Mugler’s perfumery division, with a certain heavenly fragrance, christened Angel in 1992, still leading the way for new breeds of oriental gourmand fragrances. A classic from the very start, characterised by a so-called “overdose effect”, Glass was recently afforded the pleasure of losing all of our inhibitions at the official ‘unveiling’ of Mugler’s newest Angel, Georgia May Jagger.
With a signature new face, or more accordingly, angel, at its forefront, it somehow smells even more deliciously divine, and we should know after being fully immersed in the sugary, fiery yet cool and all too ethereal scent that is Angel. A concentrated blend of some of the most aromatic notes of vanilla, a staggering 30 per cent of patchouli and mouth-watering chocolate Angel is as strong and sensual as ever, the most potent purveyor of passion on the market, possessing a pheromone-like quality described by Thierry Mugler himself as something that makes you “almost feel like devouring the person you love”.
At the intimate Angel-flavoured afternoon tea welcoming an angelic Jagger, one of fashion’s most recognizable faces of late, descending from the heavens clad in cobalt blue Mugler Resort 2015 by David Koma, we were given a fascinating insight into the everlasting allure of Thierry Mugler’s most monumental fragrance. Aside from a few passing mutterings with Georgia herself as we fawned over personalised bottles of Angel, engraved with our names, it was clear that becoming the face of such a timeless fragrance holds much sentiment for the top model, remarking that it was very connected to her childhood and going on to reveal, “It’s very exciting to become the new face of the ANGEL woman … 19 years after my mother!”
Next to spending a large portion of the afternoon in awe over the presence of Georgia, Glass managed to steal a chat with the intuitive nose Oliver Cresp who’s been behind the vivid sensory experience Angel provides since the beginning, a master of Haute Perfumerie who kindly explained what makes the scent as light as air, whilst also so sinfully thick and amorous.
You’ve worked on Angel since the beginning, alongside Thierry and one his muse-cum-business partner’s Vera Strubi. Tell us a little bit more about the early days?
It was a passion for us all. We worked closely together from the start, pondering over every last detail, conscious that it felt too masculine in its initial stages we tried to make it more flowery, to make it more ‘feminine’. Soon after, we learnt that jasmine, rose, peony and so on, did not work at all. So, that’s it, that’s why there are no floral notes in Angel. You have a top and you have a dry down and nothing else, this gives it the most unique dry down amongst many fragrances.
Is this what makes the scent stand out so much in a crowd?
Absolutely. First off, I am so proud of having created a new gourmand family, it’s so exciting to see a lot of new followers because the fragrance markets are all so different. I’ve certainly seen markets leaning back towards, sweet, tasty, chocolate fragrances more in recent years.
Absolutely, I think Angel is a complete testament to that. Is it true that you went through near on 500 formulas to get it so meticulously correct?
Yes, 600, and we weren’t working with a laptop, it was all writing on blank pages of paper. But all of them from the 500th to the 600th, they were all extremely good and they all had their different quirks. But the 600th was a masterpiece, and still is.
What is it that gives Angel more of a fantasy element? It almost feels like it’s extra-terrestrial, practically out of this world!
That would be the powdery aspect, the vanilla, combined with the tamarind and the tonka beans, blended with the fruits and the praline, which again, is unique. Much like a Mugler bustier, the fruits and the cocoa push all the fragrance to the top.
What did it take for masters like Mugler to create such unstoppable fragrances as the world, or more so the general public, started to lose it’s fancy for perfume?
In the ‘90s, designers like Mugler, Montana and Gaultier were walking on clouds. They were the top creators, while Thierry Mugler may have closed his doors, he is still going strong with the Mugler Follies all across Europe and he still has much more to give, he is extremely creative. Have spoken with him many times, I could recognise that he has a special eye – when he talks to you, he doesn’t see things like everyone else sees them, he sees things not in 3D, but in 4D. It’s a knowing and I would like to be like him. He is gifted, that’s for sure.
by Liam Feltham
Images courtesy of Clarins and Style.com