After
“With Womanity, the idea was to encompass energy, tenderness, and sophistication at the same time – to evoke a feeling… to evoke feelings. We wanted to break new ground by including a savory note – not oceanic, but truly savory – in a fragrance. The world knew green, oriental, floral… then with Angel we innovated with a gourmand scent. To me, femininity evokes the notion of totality, of completeness; savory and sweet all at once. So we had to find a “salty” note, create an accord, and compose a rhythmic play between sweet and savory.”- Thierry Mugler
Womanity as a fragrance is at once sweet and earthy with not even the slightest hint of fishiness. When I was given the back story on this particular scent combination of fig and caviar I was a little skeptical on how it would smell, so I did a little research. Figs have been associated with femininity as far back as biblical times when Eve used a fig leaf to cover her self after eating from the tree of knowledge. Caviar has long been associated with “high society” and refinement. In essence combining the two elements seems fitting with the desire to cultivate a feeling of sophistication and femininity. The process for combining these elements is a unique innovation patented by MANE a global leader in flavor and fragrance technology. This new process allows the aromatic substance of a material to be reconstructed. The Dossier explains the process in scientific detail:
“Molecular distillation is a process by which the material whose fragrance we seek to replicate is immersed and captured in liquid gas. This gas – a secret, odorless, and environmentally safe compound – penetrates to the heart of the raw material and draws out the aromatic molecules, without altering or distorting the scent. Once pressure is released, the liquid gas returns to its normal state. All that remains is a few milligrams of pure extract, which contains only the aromatic molecules of the original substance. Spectrogram analysis of this ‘quintessence’ allows the perfumer to reproduce the fragrance down to the very last molecule.”
The process is what allows the use of caviar in this perfume without any of the unpleasant fishy aroma. This in turn opens the door to exciting new combinations as with the sweet and savory notes of “Womanity”. In an interview with Pierre Aulas, who is the olfactory Artistic Director, conducted by Doctor of Philosophy and lecturer Catherine Perret, Aulas explains the aromatic duo of savory and sweet:
“A rather harmonious departure: in the culinary realm, you often eat sweet/savory food without thinking twice. All Italian cuisine is based on tomato sauce: we forget that the tomato is a very sweet fruit and we eat it in savory dishes. In real life, sweet/savory is a great combination and we see this with food. It’s as if the one pepped up the other. I think that salt brings out sugar and that sugar sweetens salt. For me, it’s a little bit paradoxical, but not conflicting.”
Aulas On Womanity:
“Working on a sweet/savory scent was extremely interesting. We are dealing with a paradox, a binary composition, and – as is often the case with Thierry Mugler – the perfume Womanity is built on what I call “polyblocks”, in other words very high doses. Mugler fragrances are characterized by very striking olfactory blocks that clash, yet manage to find a balance when they are combined.”
The beauty products under the womanity umbrella further the ideals set forth by the original fragrance. The body cream and body milk though derived from the same formula as the perfume have a much more subdued aroma and take on a different after note. Though similar at first the body crème reminds of fresh cut flowers as it settles. The crème itself is smooth and rich, leaving the skin fragrant and oh so soft. Before you go getting up on your high horse about wastefulness and the effects mass production on our eco system please note that Womanity is also “Green”. Not in shade of course, but in its packaging. The refillable bottle that houses the delicious perfume is encased in a recyclable box which has been designed to flatten for easy disposal.
“Womanity.com is a place where ideas can go further…who knows how far? Women will decide for us… ” -Thierry Mugler.
Created by a man, as a gift to women everywhere, womanity is more than a fragrance and body crème, it’s a movement, an open forum for women to share ideas and express thought without filters and unapologetically across the planet. Womanity.com isn’t just another site touting the need to be perfect or even beautiful it’s more about respect and admiration for women and the contributions to the world at large. In an article on the site Mugler mentions one of the worlds most beautiful women and instead of droning on and on about her near perfect features he discusses the athleticism involved in her work as well as expressing a admiration for her dedication to her craft, a testament to the global community’s commitment to respect and honor for all women.
“I want to reveal the femininity of endless possibility; woman as renewal and reinvention. A woman unafraid to play by any rules. Women won the right to play through courage and great struggle. Play is a vital force, and to me it is an endangered element in today’s femininity”- Thierry Mugler
A website, a fragrance, a movement, a lifetime of admiration, respect and love in a refillable bottle, Womanity is all these things and so much more. At its very core it is a link in the chain that hopes to unite all women everywhere.
“The most important thing is what women learn from each other.That is the bond of Womanity. It is that intimacy, complicity, that secret understanding.”– Thierry Mugler