For the past two decades, scent storyteller Chris Collins has been a brand ambassador and face of Polo Ralph Lauren, where he has worked with some of the most famous photographers to create countless campaigns for the iconic brand.
Years of working in the fashion industry has introduced to many cultures around the globe, establishing himself as a fashion icon and becoming the face of the luxury brand market. He has appeared in GQ, Fortune, Yahoo Beauty, RL Magazine, and more. Gotham Magazine named Chris as one of the ‘Boys of Gotham’, touting him as a lifestyle expert and man of luxury. He has also appeared on the cover of Vue Magazine, sharing his outlook on the life of luxury and style.
Inspired by his earliest scent memory of his father wearing Geoffrey Beene’s iconic Grey Flannel cologne, he was fascinated by everything about it: the flaco, the label, down to the flannel bag it came in – Chris Collins launches three exciting new scent ‘stories’ that truly embody his love of all things lifestyle and luxury.
Harlem Nights, Renaissance Man, and Danse Sauvage are the result of a love affair with fragrance, dating back to his teenage years when he first got his hands on Calvin Klein’s iconic Obsession for Men. A meeting with famed French perfumer Kilian Hennessy later on led to Chris spending months in Mougins and Grasse, France – the birthplaces of fragrance – learning the process of transforming notes into memorable scent experiences, immersing himself in its unique artistry. There he learned how to transform individual notes into something of greater value: the fragrance.
From his life-changing immersion in Paris and life as a New Yorker in his historic brownstone in Harlem, Chris has brought on these three new fragrances to tell the story of a man and the love affair between these two places close to his heart. The line of three fragrances called Harlem Renaissance (Eaux de Parfum) were very well received by the fragrance community, so soon they were followed by even more luxurious and refined Extraits: Sweet Taboo and Tokyo Blue.
I myself am not a perfumer, I am merely the author of stories, of life’s experiences. This trilogy of fragrances begins the narrative of my scent journey.
Chris Collins
These fragrances formed the Dark Romance Collection of Extraits, which is now complemented with a new fragrance called Autumn Rhythm. Its composition, signed by Nathalie Feisthauer, is ‘like melodic and harmonic beats that will make you dance’.
To me the perfumer is an artist, like Picasso, Basquiat, or Pollock, making olfactive masterpieces.
Chris Collins
It is a fragrance of abstract expressionism. It isn’t deliberate nor is it random, it exists in a place in between. This fragrance is a mere explosion of random energy, reminiscent of the Fall. It is Entropy, an increase of disorder.
Autumn Rhythm is a fragrance of abstract expressionism. It isn’t deliberate nor is it random, it exists in a place in between. This fragrance is a mere explosion of random energy, reminiscent of the Fall. It is Entropy; an increase of disorder. Imagine the chaotic mayhem of leaves and branches drifting in the wind as the temperature slowly starts to drop.
Top notes: Bergamot Oil, Green Notes
Heart notes: Mate, Lily of the Valley, Cashmeran, Orris
Base notes: Leather, Cedar wood, Tonka Bean, Ambrette, Musk
The air is crisp and earthy, the changing colors of the leaves are bright and vivid. With the a sexy skin-like leather note, this fragrance is sensual and intimate. Mate abs, a South American guarana-like tea note, is energizing and mouth watering. Ambrette and racy Orris dresses the fragrance in suede. Cashmeran and Cedarwood adds an elegant dark tone, while the Amber and Musk makes the fragrance deep and comforting. The arrangement of the notes in Autumn Rhythm are like melodic and harmonic beats that will make you dance.
Chris Collins Autumn Rhythm is available as 50 ml Extrait de Parfum through the official website of the brand. Come into the beautiful world of Chris Collins.
Flacon of the new fragrance Aqua Oriens has taken over the form of the original Oriens and reminds us of blue lagoon from Tahiti, hidden and pure, pristine. The stopper is created like a blue-green gem, while the flacon is colored in light green shade, suggesting freshness and aquatic/refreshing topic of this edition. Outer carton is white, with illustration of a gem on the front side of packaging.
Yakymour 