Here’s a collection of intense scents, created by a grandson to honour his famous fashionista grandmama. Editor Trudi Brewer shares her favourites.
The woman behind the scent
French-style icon Diana Vreeland always had plenty to say. She was one of the fashion industries most noted columnists and authors, and as a magazine editor, she changed the way women dressed. She began her career in the mid-'30s with a career that spanned art, literature, and style; making her style stamp on the fashion pages of Vogue, and then Harper's Bazaar where she wrote a regular column called ‘Why Don't You?’. Later Vreeland became the consultant at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art where she worked for 13 years. She was irreverent; she was liberating. She believed you could 'Make yourself as interesting and as fabulous as you want - why be boring?' Her controversial quotes live on, as does a legacy of exquisite fragrances stamped with the same originality that helped to make Vreeland a household name. For her, having style was everything she believed, “It’s not about the dress you wear, but it’s about the life you lead in the dress.”
“I always wear my sweater back-to-front; it is so much more flattering.”
Image of Diana Vreeland Instagram
The fragrance collection
Created to remember her by, this fragrance line up was the brainchild of her grandson, Alexander Vreeland. The collection of seven scents (there are 16 in total, watch this space, there are more to come) is a celebration of Vreeland's life, and a reflection of her personality - fearless, colourful, confident and fun. The perfumes are made with the most exquisite blooms and spices and contain 25 per cent rather than the standard 15 per cent essential oils, which makes them so much more potent. Alexander Vreeland describes the collection as "far more luxurious, far more soulful" and as one that "speaks to a more sophisticated customer who likes a more powerful fragrance experience." And I can promise you these scents are anything but ordinary. Like Vreeland herself who adored perfume and once said, 'Fragrances fill the senses with the mysterious.’
My favourite spicy florals from the collection
“You don’t have to be born beautiful to be wildly attractive.”
Diana Vreeland Simply Divine, EDP Fragrance Spray, $370. Inspired by her 40 plus year-old-love-affair with husband, Thomas Reed, tuberose flower is the hero in this scent. Blended with other white flowers such as orange blossom and jasmine, like all good marriages, there needs to be a touch of spice, and in this fragrance, it’s nutmeg and sandalwood.
Diana Vreeland Devastatingly Chic, EDP Fragrance Spray, $370. The unique spicy aroma from the carnation flower blended with rose, mandarin, pink pepper and patchouli makes this one of the most elegant and musky perfumes in the collection.
My pick of the fresh and green
Diana Vreeland Smashingly Brilliant EDP Fragrance Spray, $370. A celebration of Vreeland’s passion for Capri, this scent is zesty thanks to the blend of citrus, Calabrian bergamot, geranium and lemon. But it’s after a few hours that the woods and suede make this scent warm and enticing.
Diana Vreeland Vivaciously Bold, EDP Fragrance Spray, $370. Another fresh scent with crisp vetiver grapefruit, lemon and bergamot a feature, with a twist of pepper, and delicate petitgrain it is softened by exotic Sambac jasmine.
“You gotta have style to get up in the morning.”
Watch the trailer of the Diana Vreeland - The Eye Has To Travel fashion documentary.
