'Duke of Melrose' Loves Tom Ford Fragrances

In A Bottle recently spoke with Christos Garkinos, who's featured on the new Bravo reality show Dukes of Melrose. The show follows Christos and his business partner, Cameron Silver, through adventures at their legendary L.A. consignment boutique Decades. 

What we love about the show is that each episode gives viewers a cliff notes education in fashion, as Christos uncovers amazing finds in his clients' closets, from vintage couture to modern luxury brands.

Christos told me he fell in love with vintage while growing up in Detroit rocking his grandfather's brown cashmere coat. He's since traded up for a Gucci ostrich overcoat, but he's still proud to sport secondhand style.

"What I love about vintage and shopping like that is every piece of clothing has a story," he said.

Garkinos also loves scent, and recently told HauteLiving.com that he covets Tom Ford fragrances, especially Tom Ford Noir de Noir.  
"I am so obsessed with his scents that I keep one at my desk at all times. And last week Mr. Ford was to visit the store, so I did an extra little spritz — unfortunately he didn’t make it that day, but I smelled extra good," he said.

Tom Ford Noir de Noir is among the designer's must-inhale line of artisinal scents. The dark chypre oriental opens with saffron, black rose and black truffle with floral hints, and deepens with vanilla, patchouli, oud wood and tree moss. Its packaging is inspired by apothecary bottles.


 

What is the Smell of Everything?

No wonder it's impossible for In A Bottle to cover every new fragrance launch ... there were 1,400 in 2012 alone. 

Dutch artists Lernert & Sander offer wry comment on the overwhelming proliferation of fragrances in the marketplace with a new creation called Everything. For the piece, they managed to track down a sample of each and every new scent released last year, then combined them all together in a 1.5 liter bottle designed to look like a classic sample fragrance.

So what is the scent of Everything? Select guests got to rare chance to smell for themselves when the fragrance was placed on display at Colette in Paris for one week at the beginning of March.  

The rest of us can only wonder, but judging from the promotional photo of the artists (below), it looks a bit overwhelming.

Lernert Engelberts and Sander Plug create high-concept art films and installations, with simple but stunning art direction, all driven by their subtly dry, cheeky sense of humor. Find out more about their multimedia creations here. 

Get That Beautiful Burberry BODY

Burberry recently announced the introduction of Burberry BODY Tender. The fragrance hit shelves at Burberry stores and Burberry.com this month, and will be available in U.S. department stores beginning in May. 

The perfume is a light, spirited expression of the iconic Burberry name. The sparkling scent weaves together a striking burst of lemon, dewy English rose, enveloping peach, and powdery white jasmine against a warm, soft background of cashmere wood and vanilla. 

Burberry features British Beauty Cara Delevingne as the face of their BODY Tender campaign, and we can't help but reminisce about Rosie Huntington-Whitely, who gained international recognition as the face of Burberry's BODY Mist and for her role in Transformers. 

BODY Tender is available online at Burberry.com and shippable to the U.S. in a pale pink 85 ml bottle ($80).