What perfume are you wearing today? I’m wearing Guerlain Après l'Ondée because, like the rest of the internet, I got swept up in the ‘Stealth Wealth’ trend, and needed some Rich-Mom-Energy when I got dressed this morning.
In case you missed it, it was a collective comment on Gwyneth Paltrow’s outfits in court, the costumes in the TV show Succession, and how to dress like 'Old Money'.
It was one of those glorious rabbit holes that the online fashion community goes down, that I as an ex-fashion editor, completely adore, scrolling for the next hot take and wondering as a perfumer:
What does 'Old Money' smell of exactly?
Well, that’s easy: it’s iris. Or known in the fragrance industry as orris root. And that's why I reached for my dusty bottle of Après when I wanted to smell expensive. Iris is the buttery, powdery 'ballet shoe' note you might recognize if you have smelt my perfume line Apotheke, it’s in The Dreamer.
Iris smells like a vintage makeup compact and the air after the rain. It's elegant, like a popped collar on a crisp white shirt worn with the kind of tan you only get from a lifetime of vacations under the Mediterranean sun.
Image: The Dreamer Perfume by Masha Mel
When we designed The Dreamer, we had to include iris, (even though it pushed up the manufacturing cost significantly) for the exact reason everyone went wild about the ‘Stealth Wealth' trend. Iris is not showy or obvious, it's not bombastic, it doesn't project across the room, and you have to look (or smell) closely to appreciate its subtle allure. Iris is understated, and most importantly: very very expensive.
Guerlain's Après l'Ondée was first released in 1904 and it's as chic today as it was then. I am here for the soapy aldehydes in Chanel's Number 5, or the sexy tuberose in Piguet's Fracas, however to a contemporary nose, those other vintage frags can smell a little old-fashioned, whereas the iris in Après just whiffs of Old Money, rather than Old Lady.
So why did we bother making The Dreamer, when cult iris perfumes like Après already exist? Because The Dreamer is a hyper-real update for the Gen-Z/Millennial who's chic, dreamy, and a little bit weird.
For The Dreamer perfume, we took the quiet luxury of iris and violet and added an overdose of natural rose, which releases endorphins and promotes feelings of self-love, then finished it off with caramel, clean white musks, and fresh swimming pool notes that reference all those smash-hit Y2K scents.
The Dreamer couldn't have existed without Après, or CK1, or you and the way you wear it.
And that's the beautiful thing about trends, they bounce back and build momentum like a rolling stone, and get even more nuanced every time.
So why do you need an iris perfume now?
In the age of over-visibility, when everyone is over-sharing everything about themselves with everyone, isn't it nice to just have something not 'on-trend', something quiet? Something fleeting and gentle? Something everyone can't name the minute they smell you?
Iris is the complete antithesis of ballsy woodsy perfumes that have dominated the perfume trends for the last ten years. Rollback to 2017, I was pregnant and fashion director of SLEEK magazine in Berlin. In the office, I sat between two colleagues who both wore Santal 33. A combination of morning sickness and the sheer volume of that perfume burnt that experience on my neocortex forever. That perfume encapsulated the moment. Everyone wanted everyone to know everything about them, even recognize their perfume instantly and be able to name it.
What happens in the fashion and perfume industry is always a backlash to what came before, so that's why we are ready for Quiet Luxury. It's the ultimate inverted snobbery and a well-needed pushback against label mania and strong projecting scents.
So if you want to smell like Old Money, my conclusion is to get an iris perfume. If you want a fresh new take, get The Dreamer, and if you want a classic go for Guerlain's Après l'Ondée.