Dressing on Fumes

Forward-thinking outfits inspired by four special scents.

Jul 30, 2024

Hello!! This post is a bit more relaxed than last week’s frenetic fugue on baseball caps—below are four scents I sniffed on my unofficial perfume tour guided by the one and only Eleonor Botoman and four corresponding transitional-weather outfits I created in response to each bottle. Note that almost every perfume company offers sampler packs which usually cost sub-$50 and are the hands-down best way to test drive scents, as there’s simply no way to understand how one will develop on your specific skin until you’ve let it settle and mingle with your sweat for a few hours. Many of my favorite scents I didn’t care for at first and only fell madly in love with after a few days of trial wear. Also, if you’re in NYC, the employyes of Scent Bar are very knowledgeable and accommodating, and you can nab one free 2mL sampler of nearly any fragrance they offer (including two of the ones below) per visit.

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Winter of 99 Eau de Parfum 100 mL - $152

This perfume smells like a hallowed hall of dry, airy wood—almost like a mystical sauna but without the feeling of pressure that can come from sitting in trapped heat for too long. It was inspired by the winter of Y2K, spent by the perfumer in Detroit allegedly, and its notes of vanilla and nutmeg don’t veer at all toward festive or Christmassy—they’re more akin to incense burning at the other end of a long, long hallway in a dream.

For the outfit, I wanted to select textures that would only get better with wear—patina-friendly leather, a John Alexander Skelton shirt that would stand up to any stain or fray, a rugged fisherman’s cap—and evoke the faraway dream-fire I wrote of above with fur-trimmed shoes that look like ashes blooming out of a burnt base and a ring that encapsulates what I see as the three main colors of the core of a blaze: crimson, blue, and gold.

Cloudland Extrait de Parfum 50 mL - $205

My lovely Fulton & Roark connect Brittany saw me moaning and groaning about having lost my bottle of Cloudland to the bad actors at TSA, so she generously sent me some more, and I was reminded upon its arrival of just how heady this scent is—it seems simple at first brush, like the laundry detergent they’d use in Elysium, but as I huff it (you really can’t spray too much of this stuff), I get the first bite of a cold green apple, hot rain, and nostalgia for a childhood I always felt I was missing out on as a kid—it almost hurts to take my first sniff of this scent, but in a welcome, tender way, and it diffuses beautifully into a casual aura of fragrance perfect for everyday wear.

For the outfit, I wanted to play with the contrast of quotidian and dramatic I described above, with a wild bicorn hat, corseted blouse, and sailor jacket silhouette tempered by denim and casual leather accessories. Not too precious or moody, but clean and energetically playful.

Clyde Bicorn Hat - $280
Floating World Psyche Earrings - $170
Vaquera Denim Sailor Jacket - $255 (Sale)
Vintage Alexander McQueen Blouse - $300
Vaquera Split Seam Shorts - $185 (Sale)
Vintage Kenneth Cole Purse - $100
Acne Sandals - $80

This perfume was the most intoxicating scent I smelled last week—verdant and lively fig, the whole tree from root to leaf, shot through with the cold sweetness of an almost-overripe fruit. It edges on violet candy, like the Choward’s tablets that smell so much better than they taste, but never feels antiquated or fussy like a grandma’s medicine cabinet.

I was inspired by the High Dive NYC “Edie” (referencing the Grey Gardens icon, I’m pretty sure) baseball cap/scarf chimera, an ingenious option that I might pursue in the future to augment my cycle of caps and scarves that I pair all winter long, plus the bubble skirt made of African textiles, both balancing cobalt with luxurious gold, silver, and bronze prints. The suede dress and moccassin-like boots plus wicker bag all feel retro in a way that the contemporary shapes of the hat and bubble hem counter nicely.

I’d never thought of watermelon as wintry before, but this scent is straight-up saline with a dash of chlorine mixed into the sweetness of a cold watermelon, as if you’re eating one while sitting in the locker room of a pool that’s been closed for the winter. It feels almost fleshy, actually, like you’re tasting your fingers as well as the fruit as you eat. The scent feeds on skin, and smells very different on one’s body than it does on a tester, so I’d recommend test driving this one—I don’t usually like fruity scents at all, but Icelandic perfumers tend to impart a kind of horror movie sensibility into their fragrances which make them turn out anything but saccharine.

I wanted the outfit to read as juicy but cold—literal swim trunks and a perversely cold red and pink Molly Goddard blouse hide under a staid trench, accessorized with a reserved baseball cap and powdery, chemical blue accessories.

That was fun for me! I hope you enjoyed this short post, and please let me know in the comments, via email, or on Instagram if you try out any of these scents, what your thoughts are on them, or if you’re interested in more pieces like this in the future.

<3 ESK

Esque

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