Notes On A Meeting With Thierry Wasser (London, November 2012)

That said, I certainly don’t expect people to reveal all their secrets and bare their soul within mere minutes of meeting me, especially not in the context of a busy restaurant at a hotel in London. And although he doesn’t let down his guard, Wasser is certainly great company, entertaining his audience with the sorts of stories I expect him to conclude with the words, “But you can’t write about that,” which he doesn’t utter a single time. So if he chooses to remain reticent about certain matters, then that’s his prerogative. And to his credit, he never descends to brainless, simplistic PR cliches.

I just wish I’d recorded his voice, so that I could quote his words verbatim. Sadly, that felt like it would’ve been an inappropriate move in the context of a genteel afternoon tea shared in a very public space. But I did make detailed notes soon after our meeting ended, some of which I’ve tried to kick into readable shape below. Next time – if there is a next time – I promise I’ll try to shove a mic under his nose.

On his Cologne Du Parfumeur
He’d originally made it for himself. Guerlain’s head of PR hounded him and pestered him for a sample. After several months, he relented and let her have a small amount. She took it straight to the firm’s directors and insisted it should be released commercially.

On release schedules
He questions the wisdom of ‘dragging out’ a single perfume across several flankers and different versions, citing Idylle as an example. He seems annoyed by Guerlain’s trend for ‘Eau’ editions of certain scents: Habit Rouge L’Eau; Shalimar Parfum Initial L’Eau; Guerlain Homme L’Eau. He jokes about whether these have been sparked by the fact that his name means ‘water’ in German, but then claims he should start putting his foot down and saying ‘No’ to certain ideas from the marketing department.

He says he had great fun making these. The idea for them partly came from suggestions made by his friends in Dubai, a place he visits at least once a year. They told him that European perfumers don’t know how to make real Arabian perfumes because they insist on creating formulae which work on skin, whereas people in the Middle East tend to apply scent to their clothes. Wasser says that as he was working on these three fragrances, he evaluated them on cotton, a process he found interesting and enjoyable.

On trying to protect the formulae of older perfumes
Little progress made here. His drive to seek some sort of ‘cultural heritage‘ status for older scents hasn’t attracted much support from within the industry. He says there would be tons of bureaucracy involved and that no-one wants to take responsibility for the situation or join forces with him (not even Chanel’s Jacques Polge). He acknowledges it is difficult to decide which incarnation of a classic scent to protect: that made in the 20s, 30s, 40s…? For instance, he says that if he made Shalimar with bergamot that isn’t free of photo toxins, it would smell so different from the current version that people probably wouldn’t like it and would demand refunds. He also doesn’t know how he’d source materials which simply aren’t made any more.


On being part of LVMH
He says he enjoys the fact that Guerlain is often able to slip beneath LVMH’s radar. The fact that, relatively speaking, Guerlain is less lucrative than the other brands (for instance, Dior’s turnover is 5 times larger) allows Wasser a certain amount of freedom.

On his work routines
He says he’s a “lab rat” most of the time: Mondays (or Tuesdays), Thursdays and Fridays are his lab days. He spends a great deal of time travelling and sourcing ingredients.

On perfume blogs
He thinks they’re very important: if perfumers want to call themselves artists, they have to open themselves up to criticism. However, he believes some blogs are written by frustrated industry insiders and he’d like to throw “piles of s***” on their “personal attacks”.


On going through Guerlain’s old formulae books
He found a few surprises when delving into the brand’s history. For instance, he was astonished to discover that Jicky contains a substantial quantity of bitter almond oil. (As an aside, he says there isn’t a great deal of truth to the story that Shalimar is just Jicky plus a dose of ethyl vanillin. For one thing, he says, the animalic notes in the two scents are quite different: Jicky uses civet; Shalimar uses castoreum). His Jicky discovery prompted him to play with combinations of bitter almond and a synthetic raspberry material, and this eventually led to the black cherry note which became the heart of La Petite Robe Noire.


On Idylle
He says it is very much an autobiographical perfume. It is somewhat naive and reflects his state of mind when he was creating it. So now that time has passed and he’s aged, I ask, has he become cynical and bitter? No, he replies. Maybe he’s just become ‘bitter almond’, I suggest. He chuckles and says he’ll save that line for future use.


On the advertising campaign for La Petite Robe Noire
There was considerable opposition to it within LVMH. It was eventually given the green light because Bernard Arnault personally supported it.

On the future of La Petite Robe Noire
He wonders if he’s going to be asked to make a sport version: Little Black Spandex, perhaps? The conversation then descends into titters about Little Black Spanx, which Wasser says he’d be happy to model…

Persolaise


[For Judith Brockless’ account of the evening, please click here.]