Colonia Pura

Acqua di Parma builds its catalog around an Eau de Cologne born in Parma in 1916 and never discontinued. Colonia Pura arrives in 2017 as a more transparent reading of this classic, in a restyled bottle, shelved alongside its elder.

A 1916 cologne reread in 2017

The Italian house now belongs to the LVMH group, which entrusted its creations to François Demachy. Colonia Pura launches in September 2017, without fanfare, with dressing close to that of its elder and a message held in three words: vibrant, pure, simple.

The house presents an Eau de Cologne of contemporary lightness, made for an unaffected way of living. The image evoked is that of the countryside around Parma, fields of wildflowers and freshly cut grass.

What Demachy keeps and what he sets aside

The perfumer keeps the house's citrus base, bergamot and orange from Italy, and opens it with a greener petitgrain. Nothing seeks to replay the original formula: the structure is reduced, legible, without the aromatic carpet of old colognes.

The work focuses mainly on the heart, where two floral absolutes replace the expected herbaceous support. Narcissus brings a mineral facet there, named by the house as the singular trait of the composition.

A targeted man, a broader use

Acqua di Parma addresses Colonia Pura to a contemporary man, and its launch communication follows that line. The cologne structure, however, carries no strong gendered marker, and retail directories list it on both sides.