As I sniff my way through a new array of ten fragrances from Balenciaga, there’s an image I can’t get out of my head.
It’s a famous black-and-white photograph by Richard Avedon titled “Elise Daniels with Street Performers,” taken in 1948. You know the one. In it, Daniels, who was an iconic fashion model of the era, stands in the middle of a street, surrounded by what appears to be a circus troupe. On a table in front of her, a contortionist is enacting a backbend so extreme his head is popping out from between his shins. But Daniels, coolly nonchalant and perfectly poised in a wasp-waisted Balenciaga jacket and skirt, isn’t looking at him—she’s gazing off into the distance. She may be a participant in this tableau (for what is fashion but performance?), but her innate elegance elevates her somewhere above and beyond it.
This is Balenciaga’s scent collection in a nutshell. While some brands are twisting themselves into shapes trying to get our attention, these fragrances emanate such composure and easy glamour, they threaten to make everyone else look like clowns.
The genesis of the collection was the unearthing of an original bottle of Le Dix, the debut fragrance introduced by Spanish-born couturier Cristobal Balenciaga in 1947. Although the scent remained in production for another half-century, the first-edition flacon was short-lived, and it took archivists 15 years to locate an intact specimen. The new Balenciaga eaux arrive in faithful reproductions of that bottle, complete with black ribbons and glass globe stoppers. Le Dix (the juice) has also been resurrected, and it is stunning: a lustrous iris absolute sparkling with aldehydes, grounded with green violet leaf. There is always a risk in bringing back vintage fragrances, lest they be accused of smelling dated or—that most offensive slam—grandmotherly. But if Le Dix is an “old lady scent,” she is one seductive pensioner. Bring me my shawl and slippers.
What of the other nine scents? I can confirm that To Be Confirmed is a standout: It smells like silver needle tea and tulips and it flutters in the air like a chiffon scarf. No Comment conjures crisp alpine air and Cary Grant sipping a gin and tonic. Getaria, an homage to Cristobal Balenciaga’s birthplace, is like a realistic scratch-and-sniff postcard of citrus groves, sea spray, and honeysuckle flowers. Twenty Four Seven is the lineup’s inevitable vanilla moment, but it wears like a Balenciaga cocoon dress, not a Sephora body mist. Muscara broadcasts musky ambrette seed, dirty in the best possible way. 100 Percent is rose writ large. The leathery, peppery Extra smells like driving gloves resting on the seat of a 1960s convertible Jaguar. Cristobal is a dignified, commanding oud. And Incense Perfumum harks all the way back to history’s first perfume, frankincense. It’s churchy, yes, but all the congregants are clad in couture.
Cristobal Balenciaga, by most accounts, was a man of few words. There is no spokesperson for this collection, and the names of the perfumers have not been shared. Balenciaga believed that creations should speak for themselves. And in this case, they do.
These fragrances are a timely reminder that refinement and restraint can actually feel pretty exciting (imagine!). There is no bandwagon-jumping or overt crowd-pleasing here—just a focus on quality materials and distinctive silhouettes. You’ll either like them or you won’t.
I’m betting you will.
April Long is a New York–based writer and contributing beauty editor at Town & Country
