Chypre Trick

Anti-algorithm scents, perfumed birds, and the world's oldest fragrance factory.

There’s something in the air. Something that might offer our noses sweet respite (literally) from the endless ooze of gourmands. This scent is ferny, feral, dark and enigmatic. It’s a type of perfume that smells like an invitation to wander into a shadowy forest, but can also exude the glamour of a black velvet dress worn on a rainy night or an absinthe cocktail sipped slowly in a dim banquette. I’m talking about chypre, a genre that might be staging a stealthy resurgence.