CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Narciso Rodriguez; Sarah Jessica Parker in a Rodriguez gown; the first family, with Michelle Obama wearing a Rodriguez design. BELOW: The designer's newest fragrance, Essence.
When designer Narciso Rodriguez mentions that he’s attracted to musky scents, I can’t help but kid him a little by asking whether he wore that mainstay ’70s fragrance, Jovan Musk Oil, in his youth. “No, I didn’t, though I think everyone else did,” Rodriguez says. “I wore the real oils, as I’ve always been very drawn to the very tactile, sensuous idea of musk.”
Such an idea isn’t surprising, given Rodriguez’s talent for crafting clothes that are at once sensuous, sculptural, and modern. The 46-year-old designer’s latest fragrance, Essence (exclusive to Saks Fifth Avenue since mid-March), also expresses his unique aesthetic and evolution as a designer. With its musk heart and notes of amber, rose petals, and iris powder—“I’m not one for overpowering scents,” Rodriguez says—Essence is the follow-up to For Her, released in 2003. “If you were to line up [ready-to-wear] collection after collection, you would see a natural progression; the same is true for me of fragrance,” he explains. “I wanted to evolve into a different spirit while keeping the core and the essence. The fundamental inspirations are the same—that woman, that sensuality—but then you harness the idea of sunlight and a really joyous feeling. It’s pure and beautiful; that moment is what I wanted to capture.”
It’s also no accident that Essence’s curvy, mirrored-core bottle (a collaboration between Rodriguez and London-based industrial designer Ross Lovegrove) is a decided departure from the strict perpendicular lines of For Her. “As I mature as a designer, I am more curious about designing in new ways and pushing the envelope,” Rodriguez says. “When it comes to fragrance design, there’s no pun intended when I say I fi nd it to be quite intoxicating. It’s not only the olfactory sense, but also the abstract and the cerebral; you get such a sense of mystery, and the rawness of it is so beautiful.”
Given his relationships with some of the world’s most high-wattage women— including First Lady Michelle Obama, Sarah Jessica Parker, Claire Danes, Rachel Weisz, and the late Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy (for whom he designed a wedding dress), one can’t help but wonder: Is there a muse who inspired Essence? Rodriguez demurs. “I think she’s a collage of so many amazing women who have blessed my life,” he says. “As designers, aren’t we all ultimately on a quest for beauty? That’s a journey that will always inspire me.”
