Orchidée Vanille, the exoticism of Van Cleef Arpels in all its splendor. The house of Van Cleef Arpels was founded in 1906 by Alfred Van Cleef and Estelle Arpels, who had married in 1895. Very quickly, they innovated, invented and imagined creations more exceptional than one another.
The Van Cleef and Arpels perfumes all stem from the expertise and absolute rigor of the venerable jewelry house that has existed for two centuries. Each fragrance is distinguished by an absolute femininity, but also by the systematic use of the finest natural essences, an inexhaustible source of inspiration for Van Cleef and Arpels jewelry. For Orchidée Vanille, perfumer Randa Hammami paints an orchid in chiaroscuro, like a journey through the unsettling lights of the Orient…
Orchidée Vanille and the Collection Extraordinaire by Van Cleef and Arpels
The house of Van Cleef and Arpels entered perfumery relatively late, in fact, given its long and prestigious reputation in jewelry. Nevertheless, it was the first house on Place Vendôme to offer a spectacular perfume, in 1978, under the name First. From then on, each perfume from the house would be intimately linked to its rich history, and the beautiful Collection Extraordinaire, intended to showcase the most prestigious essences born of nature, a great source of inspiration for Van Cleef and Arpels jewelry, would be no exception.
Indeed, each perfumer who took part in the Collection Extraordinaire was asked to portray nature in its most luxurious, most magical form, in order to create fragrances that would gracefully echo the most beautiful Van Cleef and Arpels jewels. Thus this Collection Extraordinaire can boast of having brought together bottles from some of today’s greatest perfumers: Antoine Maisondieu, Nathalie Gracia-Cetto, Randa Hammami…
As for Randa Hammami, she is behind the wonderful concentrate of the Orient titled Orchidée Vanille. A feat of oriental scents, at once fiery and delicate, which shows, if further proof were needed, the great lady’s talent for exotic and floral accords. Moreover, Sylvaine Delacourte, perfumer at Guerlain, has nothing but praise for her fellow perfumer, whom she considers a master of the oriental note in all its facets: she [Randa Hammami] can play on every register of the oriental note, which she knows by heart, ranging from rosy notes to delicate florals […].
Thus within Orchidée Vanille we discover all the talents of this perfumer, who gives voice to the beauty of this orchid—silent though it may be—through multiple intoxicating facets.
Randa Hammami and her journey between Orient and Occident: Orchidée Vanille
This perfume reveals a fresh and sensual interpretation evoking a unique and intoxicating oriental journey. A mysterious flower of mythical beauty, I wanted to convey every facet of the Orchid. Randa Hammami for Orchidée Vanille by Van Cleef and Arpels.
The journey offered by Orchidée Vanille opens with freshness, through fruity and exotic notes of lychee paired with the fine Mediterranean fruit of mandarin. Then, in the heart, this blending of exotic note beauty and the magnificence of European perfumery scents continues. Rose meets precious vanilla, the better to dust itself with a few delicate violets. Finally, cedar and white musks form a mysterious and soft sillage, like a cloud that tolu balsam wraps in its balsamic and powerful facets.