Interview with Sergio Momo (Xerjoff) in Moscow

Sergio Momo, the founder and creative director of Perfume House Xerjoff (Torino), paid a visit to Moscow to present a new perfume, Dama Bianca ("White Lady"), from the Casamorati dal 1888 collection. I had the pleasure of spending about six hours with him and his team in Tsvetnoy Rive Gauche store.
 

Sergio Momo: Sure, with pleasure! Dama Bianca is a feminine perfume, as you can see, and its legend is partly based upon a real story. My city, Turin, is famous for its great history.  There was the first capital of Italy (1861) and it was the home city for the House of Savoy. So there are a lot of beautiful castles and palazzos, and one of them—Palazzo Madama—is famous for the legend about the beautiful Italian maiden who refused to marry a French military officer. The reasons vary—because he was a French occupant, or he was just too old and ugly, or she gave her heart to some Italian guy… whatever, it's a legend.

Anyway, she has lived her life imprisoned in the Palazzo, and fruits for food and winds which brought flowers' aromas were her only link with the world. Jasmine, white syringa, violets and lilies-of-the-valley in bloom became the main flowery accord of the perfume. So Dama Bianca is white flowers blooming outside—you could see and smell them, they are so close, but unavailable. The perfume launched in the Casamorati collection which is connected with Italian perfumery history (Casamorati was founded in 1888 and was closed by World War II), but it's the very first Casamorati perfume that has no prototypes in the XIX century. Wanna try it?

[Sergio gives me a perfumed blotter. "White Lady" has a nice and pleasant smell of floriental perfume—one could pinpoint the warm oriental sillage behind white flowers and orris. Not loud at all—smells like a summer oriental scent. There are some perfume notes on a branded blotter.]

Sergio Momo: Burnt malt was used in perfumes for centuries, actually! It was a gimmick of ancient perfumers (that was given to me by our partners) who used burnt malt as a fixative instead of ambergris. Ambergris was very expensive in any historic period of time —and there was no Ambroxan or any other synthetic molecules in those times. By the way, this gimmick is still in use up until now. They just won't tell you about it. And thanks for the question—it reminded me about another special ingredient, Egyptian Jasmine.

Sergio Momo: I`ll tell you the story. Once I was in Egypt and had a small talk with a bicycle boy. I said I'm in perfumery; he replied that his father used to make some jasmine oil by ancient recipes. And he brought a small bottle. The smell was really different from the jasmine we are used to smelling. I got interested and met his father. So I found that special Egyptian way to prepare jasmine oil: prior to distillation, they used to ferment jasmine flowers in deep pits lined with leaves for some days. This man still remembers the know-how but cannot produce it anymore. So we were looking for a producer for about three years, and finally got this jasmine oil done in the ancient Egyptian way. It still smells of jasmine, but with different facets, and its smell is much more long-lasting, even in hot weather. So for this perfume I had to travel quite a lot: African vanilla absolute from Zanzibar, sandalwood oil from Indonesia, while we used our own Florentine orris from Italy…

Sergio Momo: Yes, these stoppers have a shape of Egyptian King's tiaras. It's exotic, it's regal and also it's our tribute to our hometown, Turin. Some years ago the Italian Royal family invested in Egypt archaeological investigation, so now the Egyptian Museum of Turin by its collection is the second in the world (after the Cairo museum).

Sergio Momo: The new brand I won't tell you now—let's meet in September at Pitti Fragranze-2012 in Florence. The collection will be launched in September-October. And I will not include any perfume notes or accords of the perfumes—just the perfumes, that's it. Your only guide will be your nose and your sense of beauty. And if you'd like to describe it by notes, or allusions, or feelings—it's your choice. You know, Rolls-Royce had never revealed the power of their motor engines—in advertising they used to point out, “ENOUGH.”

Sergio Momo: Oh no, it's a myth! There`s no special scent of Moscow—all cities smell mainly of smog and exhaust! Maybe a little difference—in Moscow, it's the smell of snow. And I like the smell of Moscow Metropolitan stations. Warm metal, wood, rubber, oil, dust—a very mechanical smell. You know, when you are passing by a Metro station, some warm wind comes into your face… Oh, well, maybe I like the warmth of it?

Moscow Metro, Komsomolskaya station

Sergio Momo: I have no idea.  Maybe. I'd love to create a perfume based upon Russian history and great culture. There were fantastic perfume brands and perfumers in your country. Some years ago I created a perfume concept about Italian and Russian culture interaction. Surely you know that Italian sculptors and architects were working here in Russia, especially in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg. So the legend goes that they brought here some food, some clothes and…some bergamot oil. Bergamot oil was very expensive in those days, it bears the name “green gold” due to its very complicated and secret technology of production. They made oil lamps out of it—it helped to fight any diseases and to remember Italy! Peter the Great was interested in the unusual smell, asked about the healing properties of it and then ordered its import it into Russia!

Maybe it's just a legend, but it's not my own fantasy. But my Russian partners returned it and replied that Russian customers would not buy Russian history. It's strange, as I found that Russians are great customers—they have a curiosity for new perfumes and they have enough taste to judge a perfume by its beauty and not by advertising! Maybe some day I'll come back to the idea of a Russian perfume—even the Kremlin walls came from Italy!

Sergio Momo: It's crazy, it's wrong! So we'll end with somebody telling us about the right shirt and trousers! We should trust people, it's about our freedom and discretion. My freedom ends where your freedom begins—there's no need for this sort of law!

Thank you, Sergio, for the great emotional and informative interview!

DAMA BIANCA
composition:

Please read Interview with Sergio Momo at the presentation in New York