Christian Siriano is about to redesign your fragrance wardrobe! The designer certainly knows a thing or two about creating pieces to perfectly flatter a woman’s shape (as evidenced by the gorgeous campaign shot starring Coco Rocha above), so it’s only appropriate that his first foray into the perfume world is titled Silhouette.
“Fragrance is an item that lasts a really long time, and I wanted it to be something that was signature to my brand and my world that could last 50 years,” Siriano tells InStyle.com exclusively. “We’re about dressing all types of women, and I wanted the fragrance to feel the same way. Even down to the name, Silhouette, we wanted it to feel like it could be for every woman—she can be any size, any age, any shape, and it’s all about celebrating the silhouette of a woman.”
The unique shape of the bottle drives the point home with its rose gold base, and transparent overlay cap, and Siriano used many elements from his own collections to create the flacon. “We went for that kind of twisted, pleated gown appearance, which is something we do pretty often throughout the collections at least somewhere, so it’s become almost an iconic shape,” he says. “I love that the top is an unveiling of an under-piece. We do that a lot with our evening pieces with transparency and layers.”
The juice inside the bottle proves to be just as elegant, and Siriano was able to channel his inner scientist during the many visits to the lab. Funny enough, he even saw parallels between the process of designing a fragrance and designing a piece of clothing.
“It’s really similar to how I choose fabrics and build on top of things to create a texture. It was cool to see these similarities, and being in the lab was such a learning process,” Siriano says. “Things I thought would smell good together sometimes didn’t, but the things I thought were unrelated–like oakmoss and grapefruit—ended up working really well.” Sweeter notes like cassis, green apple, freesia, and purple berries were also included in the mix, while green and woody elements anchored the scent to keep things out of the cloying territory.Silhouette will officially launch on Sept. 3, and is priced from $68 to $92 at christiansirianofragrances.com. But if you’re headed to New York City for Fashion Week, you’re in luck! In another first for the designer, Siriano will be opening a 16-day pop-up shop devoted to the fragrance at 402 West 13th Street, and has plans to take the concept to more cities nationwide. “I wanted to build a space where customers can come and understand what my world is about, and it’s going to be really interactive,” he tells us.
For the New York City store, Siriano is planning to include visual spaces where you can take images of your own silhouette, a live plant wall containing all the notes used in the fragrance, favorite pieces from past collections, and among many other elements, he’ll be making his film debut! “The shop in New York is really large, so it’s going to feel like an interactive gallery space with lots of visuals from our campaign, and we’ll be premiering the film we created for the fragrance, which will be projected onto a giant wall,” he adds. “There’s a lot going on!” Shop Silhouette by Christian Siriano on Sept. 3, and keep an eye out for news on when The Silhouette Shoppe will be in a city near you!
Click through our gallery to take a tour of Christian Siriano’s showroom.