When iconic photographer Rankin met with fragrance designer Azzi Glasser to collaborate on the suggestively named S&X fragrance for The Perfumer’s Story collection, sparks were always going to fly; but prepare to ditch a layer of clothing as you get hot under the collar watching the ultra-steamy – and totally beautiful – accompanying video (scroll down to view)…
Azzi said; ‘Provocative, fearless and wild, S&X combines a hedonistic symphony of notes that tell the story of the touch of bodies, the beauty of skin on skin and above all lasting memories. I wanted to capture the smell of S&X as if it was taken through the eyes of Rankin and his lens, creating and producing his scented vision as a DNA print through my nose.’
As Rankin says about the honesty of his portraits, ‘It’s fleeting desire captured in an image. It’s not falling in love, but it’s like falling in love. It’s not sex, but it’s like sex. It’s a relationship compressed into a moment.’
Rankin adds, ‘As a photographer and director, I work in a world of sight and sound. Quite often my subject matter can involve touch and taste, (whether risqué or innocently). So smell can feel like the forgotten sense. Yet it is one that totally fascinates me. I’ve always loved fragrances and have wanted to do one for years. When I met Azzi, we just hit it off. We approach what we do in very similar ways: getting to know our subjects, tapping into their personalities and how they want to present themselves to the world. In the same way I aim to capture life in a single moment, so does Azzi. I am fascinated by how she took the more suggestive, sensorial aspects of photography and bottled them. S&X is provocative, naughty and humorous. I love it.’
If all that tussling of bodies has left you rather breathless, close your eyes and allow us to metaphorically fan you with the scent itself. A luminous amber at first, the pepper soars skywards as olibanum, castoreum and leather are boosted with the creamy lushness of jasmine and magnolia blossoms. With Earl Grey tea and elemi oil resting on a base of precious wood, white musk and patchouli – it certainly smells sexy to us, and what you do while wearing it is entirely up to you…
The Perfumer’s Story S&X £95 for 30ml eau de parfum
Buy it at Harvey Nichols
Written by Suzy Nightingale
