Tell people that you have created a fragrance based on the stories of Christopher Street, and you are bound to elicit some very interesting responses (i.e. “What does THAT smell like?”). These types of reactions, of course, stem from Christopher Street‘s infamous reputation as historical home to merchants, mobsters, and misfits. The accompanying imagery this conjures in one’s mind has been used to reference life in Greenwich Village since its founding.  A way to distinguish Village life from the more refined ways of life in the Manhattan grid.

When I first started profiling Christopher Street for inspiration, I also began keeping a journal of people’s thoughts and memories from its past. I wanted to know how it looked and felt through their perspectives to help add context to the scent memories also being captured.  This is something I have continued to do as the Christopher Street story adds new chapters.  Here are some of my favorite first responses to “What does Christopher Street smell like to you?”:

“damp, dirty, and seedy…like an aged outhouse.”

“like wig head, sweaty hose, and testicles.”

“coffee, tea, and desperation.”

“like piss, stale beer, and New Jersey.”

“passed its expiration date.”

As you can see from the descriptions above, “floral” is not necessarily the first thing that comes to mind when people envision this neighborhood (especially today). Yet, the truth is that there are lots of flowers to be found all along Christopher Street. While they may not play a predominant role in defining its overall character, the flowers of Christopher Street act as connective tissue to both its setting and its history, adding an element of color and life, a touch of natural beauty within its more subversive surroundings. These flowers symbolize the unlikely heroes of Christopher Street.

Flowering from Filth (The Inspiration of Carnation)

During the late 1960′s, Stonewall was the place to be for listening to good music and dancing on Christopher Street.  The scene inside, however, was a complete dive.  At Stonewall, there was no running water behind the bar, and no fire exits. Toilets overran consistently. Glasses were run through tubs of still water and immediately reused at the bar.  As the only space for gays in New York City where slow dancing was allowed, Stonewall always attracted a very mixed crowd despite its rundown interiors.

“I liked that the [Christopher Street] scent needn’t be pretty, could even be slightly dirty.” – Ralf Schwieger

Early in the creative process, Ralf and I gravitated toward this image of what life would have been like inside Stonewall, particularly this description of the tub of still water used to wash glasses behind the bar.  The idea we discussed was to try and have something flower from its dingy waters.  Just like the unlikely protesters rising up during the Stonewall Riots of ’69, an unlikely floral note lifting through the alcoholic citrus and smoke on top.  Carnation, with its spicy undertones, was seen as a perfect foil for counterbalancing the more subversive elements found in the final Christopher Street fragrance.

Christopher Street Fragrance

So why carnation?  As I said above, the floral notes in Christopher Street were always talked about as representative of the unlikely political heroes rising up during The Stonewall Riots.  These flowers never dominate the olfactive impression, but instead  echo in the shadows of the fragrance’s other accords.  Like a Victorian bouquet, each flower chosen carries with it a symbolic reference to life on Christopher Street.

Photo Credit: Leonard Fink (1973 Christopher Street Day Pride March)

The story of carnation begins with the Christopher Street Day Pride March, and the many floral moments witnessed each year.  From cut flowers seen decorating the many floats and people, to blossoms in full bloom along the parade route.  They are symbols of love, beauty, and pride.  Flowers move the fragrance “out of the bottle, and into the street.”

So, too, is carnation present in the story of Jefferson Market Garden.  Officially established in 1974, this beautiful patch of greenery on 6th Avenue sits in the shadows of the Jefferson Market Courthouse, current home to the New York Public Library in Greenwich Village.  Before becoming a garden, Jefferson Market was indeed a bustling marketplace as well as site of a Women’s House of Detention (the only one in NYC when founded).  Here is yet another example found on Christopher Street of ascending from a subversive past: transitioning from prison to garden.  Carnations, peonies, roses… Jefferson Market Garden is a cornucopia of pleasant floral aromas.

According to gardening myth, burying clove nails at the base of a carnation plant helps enrich its spicy aroma.  I have always considered the triangular shaped Northern Dispensary as the base from which the rest of the Christopher Street grows.  As a former dental clinic, there are cloves “buried within its walls.”  This is because before the days of novocaine, doctors would use clove to numb a patient’s gums before performing any dental procedure.  Some current residents of Christopher Street claim that so much clove was used inside the Northern Dispensary that it can still be smelled leeching from the building’s windows when it rains.

Last, but not least, is Craig Rodwell’s Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop, formerly at 15 Christopher Street (currently home to a day spa).  Setting up shop on Christopher Street in 1973, it was the first bookstore dedicated exclusively to LGBT authors and served as an early meeting space for activists and organizers.  Unfortunately, OWMB officially closed its doors in 2009 due to financial difficulties.    The Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop was named after famous author and dandy, Oscar Wilde, who is often associated with the green carnation.

About Carnation

Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus) - From the Greek word ‘carnis‘ meaning ‘flesh,’ a reference to the flower’s carnal color.  Carnations are native to Southern Europe and were known to have been used in medieval Arabic perfumery as well as in formulations crafted during the Tudor times of Britain. Today, it is estimated that carnation notes are used in about 20% of fragrances categorized as “masculine.”  Carnation possesses a rich, clove-like spicy floral odor (stemming from its main chemical component, Eugenol).

Over the years, carnation has been used to make black hair dye and also as a flavoring component in beers, ales, and wines.  Medicinally, it has been prescribed to help combat fevers.  It is believed that burying dried cloves at the base of a carnation plant helps enrich the desired spicy fragrant qualities produced by its flowers.   Carnations are sometimes also referred to as ‘Pinks‘ because of how their petal edges are serrated as though cut with a pair of  pinking shears.

Do you have a Christopher Street carnation story?

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Pop Culture today teaches us that men who wear flowers (or floral fragrances) are somehow betraying their “masculinity.” With the exception of boutonnières worn for formal occasions, we are constantly told by mainstream media outlets that “real men” don’t wear flowers. In fact, doing so could send a message to the opposite sex that you are anything but a man. Brands like Axe and Old Spice (to name just a few) have made millions of dollars preying on this insecurity. Take for example the following advice from the January 2013 issue of Esquire Magazine:

“When a man wants to smell like a man (who wants to smell like a cologne), there is one family of scents that he should turn to: wood.”

Besides sounding like a really bad joke about needing to smell like an erect penis to prove your manliness, advice like this is extremely historically inaccurate. In fact, up until about the late 18th century, nothing could be further from the truth.

Lotus Flowers and the Symbols of Ancient Egypt

The earliest roots of perfumery can be traced back to the civilizations of Persia, India, and Egypt. In each society, there are a litany of examples of the use of flowers in formulations worn by both men and women. Fragrance was used to distinguish class more so than gender, with the most coveted materials reserved for exclusive royal use. Flowers themselves were considered natural examples of the existence of the divine: a wonderful gift from the gods and a physical representation of their divine beauty. To wear them (or smell of them) was to be closer to the gods. Because of this connection, floral symbolism is widespread in each.

In Egypt, these floral tales begin with the story of lotus. In the Hermopolitan creation myth, Amen Ra, god of the sun, emerges from the chaotic waters of Nun from inside a lotus blossom. The lotus is said to represent the sun, creation, and rebirth, as the lotus blossom opens during the day and closes at night. It is also used as a symbol of Upper Egypt. The crown worn by the pharaohs is itself made up of lotus and papyrus, representing the unity of Upper and Lower Egypt.

Nefertem, the god of healing, medicine and beauty, is also strongly associated with the lotus, often depicted in Egyptian hieroglyphics with a large lotus blossom forming his crown. Many perfumes, cosmetics, and unguents (worn by both men and women) contained oil extracted from lotus flowers. It is also said that Egyptians would sniff of the lotus before entering religious temples. Lotus is only one of many examples of flowers used in ancient Egyptian rituals.

A Roman Love of Roses

The Meeting of Antony and Cleopatra – Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema (1885)

Yes Virginia, the great Caesar wore roses. Like the Egyptians, the Romans were known to use flowers in many religious ceremonies, but no single flower was more coveted than the rose. A symbol of love and romance, even today, no other flower evokes the sentiment of beauty and desire more so than the rose.

Roses were first introduced to Roman society by the Greeks. In Greek mythology, Eros, the god of love, an anagram of “rose,” is credited with giving the world its first rose flower (just one of many myths co-opted by the Romans). Royal Roman baths were scented with rose petals, used to olfactively distinguish the elite class from the less pleasant smelling commoners. During Roman public games, all the streets were strewn with rose petals, honoring the gladiators entering into competition. So, too, were soldiers recognized as they headed to and from the battle field. Even Cleopatra, an admirer of all things Roman, is said to have had rose petals scattered at the feet of Mark Antony. True Roman men wore rose.

Of Warriors and Samurai

Arguably the most successful warrior king of ancient times was Alexander the Great of Macedonia (356-323 BC). He just so happened to also be an avid rose enthusiast. A student of the philosopher Aristotle, Alexander studied science and botany throughout his life. He grew his own roses, and then introduced them into every country he conquered.

Moving to the East, there is an old Japanese proverb:

“In Flowers the Cherry Blossom, In Men the Samurai.”

There is no greater flower than the cherry blossom as there is no greater warrior than a samurai. The main characteristic of the cherry blossom is that when it falls, it does so at once, without resignation. It symbolizes the militarism and Samurai spirit of the Japanese. The national flower of Japan, the Japanese celebrate its arrival annually at Sakura Matsuri. People gather under the cherry blossom trees to celebrate the coming of spring through food, song, and dance. Countless references to the cherry blossom can be found in Japanese poetry and literature. The scent of cherry blossom is also a large part of many Japanese ceremonial rituals (again used by both men and women).

In most ancient civilizations, both Eastern and Western, Beauty was considered a virtue, an aspirational ideal equally sought out by both sexes. While there were many things that separated the worlds of men and women, fragrance was not one of them. The examples above are just a few of the countless ways in which flowers played an important role in the lives of both men and women. I could have just as easily discussed chrysanthemum and Chinese history, jasmine and Indian history, or tuberose and Polynesian history… each rife with examples of flowers used by both men and women. The fact today that flowers are treated like male identity kryptonite is perhaps one of the biggest whoppers propagated by the mainstream fragrance industry. Yet it continues to be left unquestioned. Why would it be, when it has proved to be such a great money maker?

The truth is, if you are a man, the most masculine thing about any fragrance is you and the confidence you exude with whatever scent you choose to wear. A fragrance should never be exclusively relied upon to represent your sense of masculinity (or femininity for that matter). Choose a fragrance because it makes you feel like you, period. Stop limiting your choices to fictitious categories meant to prey on your lack of self confidence. Because as history teaches us, real men have, can, and do wear flowers.

For more on gender myths in perfumery, check out “Olfactive Liberation” and “Fragrance and Gender: It’s a Cultural Thing.”

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Christopher Street is the type of fragrance that is designed to grab you from that first spray. It’s olfactive story begins with that first blast of mist cast off into the air. Alcohol isn’t simply used as the carrier, but is incorporated into the first accord of the fragrance.

The sharpness of the alcohol is balanced through the use of lime and other citrus top notes, taking full advantage of their lightness and volatility to temper the initial alcoholic effect. This produces an aromatic crispness similar to a gin and tonic. In essence, the ingredients feel as if that are “reaching up” through the fragrance, before following you down into the heart.

How, how, how did they do it? A drunken lime that doesn’t ever fall down– it just keeps on trolling one bar after another. @cm_fragrance

— Carrie Meredith (@eyelineronacat_) January 9, 2013

In those beginning moments of Christopher Street, lime takes center stage. Lime has this wonderful brashness; it’s greener than other citrus notes, yet without feeling too harsh or bitter. It also has wonderful sillage. A perfect complement to the alcohol.

Christopher Street and A Dirty Lime

Throughout its history, there is an ever present theme of alcohol and drinking on Christopher Street. Stories of Underground Distilleries and Greenwich Village speakeasies of the 1920′s and 30′s. Mafia-backed secret clubs and bars of the 1950′s and 60′s… Christopher Street has always been a place to meet, drink, and socialize.

“…[S]o much of the foundation of the riots lay in music, and dance and how they created community. If the Stonewall had not been a dance bar, I don’t know that the riots would have happened.” – David Carter (June 8, 2004 via www.gothamgazette.com)

One of my favorite Christopher Street stories involves life inside The Stonewall Inn (51–53 Christopher Street) during the late 1960′s. Stonewall first opened in 1967 as a gay private club. It quickly became popular for two reasons: It had a great Jukebox and it allowed slow dancing (a big no-no during a time when simply serving a known homosexual could get you in trouble with the law). Because of this, it attracted a very mixed crowd.

Past visitors to Stonewall described life inside as sweaty, sticky, and smoky. There was no running water and the air conditioning worked intermittently at best. Behind the bar were still tubs of murky water used to quickly rinse empty glasses for reuse. Stonewall was definitely a Dive Bar with a capital D. And yet, it was the place to be.

“I liked that the scent needn’t be pretty, [could] even be slightly dirty. References to the bars and shops on the street were plenty. I thought it definitely had to be a sensual fragrance. I imagined somebody letting it all hang out and showing a lot of skin.” – Ralf Schwieger

Together, we honed in on this idea of a dirty lime cocktail. The fragrance has this jubilance and freshness that represents the energy felt inside Stonewall, coupled with this rawness, this dirtiness of the actual physical space. A sentiment, that itself, harkens back to a past era of bath tub gin and prohibition. A perfect metaphor for the ineffable beauty of Christopher Street.

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Lilies, Hyacinth, Chocolate… Happy Easter from everyone at Charenton Macerations.

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I first met my Christopher Street fragrance co-conspirator, perfumer Ralf Schwieger, back in 2008. I had been working as an independent fragrance consultant for about a year, and was contacted by Mane USA to work on a few different fragrance projects.

Before meeting, I had already begun the initial research on the Christopher Street fragrance project, but was still conceptualizing… still gathering materials and building the olfactive story. After meeting, Ralf became an integral part of development. I remember a pivotal lunch conversation Ralf and I had talking about film, gender and fragrance back in 2009 where everything on this project finally clicked into place. So much of the process of building Christopher Street came from conversational moments like this. Other perspectives were added – ideas revisited – as new voices entered into the process.

It’s 2013 now, the fragrance has launched, and we continue to have these conversations together. To mark this launch, I thought it would be interesting for Ralf and I to sit down again to talk fragrance and Christopher Street…

Christopher Street – Questions for Ralf

Before receiving the initial fragrance brief, what did you know about Christopher Street?

Growing up in Europe in the Seventies, I had been influenced by gay American writers (foremost James Baldwin) early on, and knew a bit about gay New York and the Stonewall Riots – interestingly the gay parade is called ‘Christopher Street Day’ in Germany.

When I first visited in 1990 (the day Leonard Bernstein died), Christopher Street was not in good shape. It looked lackluster and the whole experience was quite a disappointment – some of the docks were still standing but the action was over. When I moved to the city ten years later, I settled down in Greenwich Village, not far from Christopher Street.

A big part of the Christopher Street story is its connection to New York City activism. Do you have any activist roots of your own?

During my student days I joined the local gay university group and even became a member of the student parliament on the gay list… briefly. Coming out during the Eighties was still a tough experience for me – AIDS was ravaging but activism helped me to fight back.

What about the Christopher Street fragrance project first inspired you?

The presentation to the project was introduced by a photo of a street puddle with an oil film creating a rainbow iridescence: the perfect image for the brief. I liked that the scent needn’t be pretty, even be slightly dirty. References to the bars and shops on the street were plenty. I thought it definitely had to be a sensual fragrance, I imagined somebody letting it all hang out and showing a lot of skin…

What did you think about the collaboration process in developing the fragrance?

We enjoyed a very smooth collaboration process. Once the story was understood, the final fragrance was developed in only a couple of months. I presented several ideas, but ‘Sixty Nine’ (the Mane internal name) made it to the top quite easily. It had the right amount of surprise and incisiveness.

How would you describe the final composition of Christopher Street?

A part of Christopher Street had to be anchored in the Sixties, which is the reason I chose a ‘chypre’ theme: the olfactive family most successful during that period.

Leather is often a fixture of a classic chypre and here it is used together with patchouli and tobacco. Spice notes determine the character of the heart, especially clove and cinnamon; these are counterbalanced by aromatic floral notes.  The introduction had to be slightly boozy, but I played with a Coca-Cola note as well, building on the other spices in combination with lime.

The motto of Charenton Macerations involves crafting fragrances that “make a statement.” For you, when does fragrance best “make a statement?”

The best statement a fragrance can make is a presentation of an unheard voice, and even if the message is similar to others at least it should ring true. I try to create a chord which can achieve this delicate balance of striking a new yet familiar tone. Creation in perfumery is always prone to plagiarism and there are many copies on the market but a thorough analysis of existing fragrances might help distill the right message… the ultimate goal is to come up with an original work which can be understood.

Christopher Street – Questions for Douglas

Can you tell me about the thought process behind naming your company ‘Charenton Macerations?’

Charenton was the last asylum to to play home to the Marquis De Sade. Here he was rumored to have penned some of his best work. Work mostly unseen, destroyed by his surviving family.

It was at Charenton that De Sade also staged full theatrical performances for the public, featuring a mixed cast of Parisian actors as well as other inmates. Abbé Coulmier, Charenton’s caretaker, was a huge advocate of art therapy. He openly encouraged creativity in his patients as a form of therapeutic release. This openness enabled De Sade to recreate a world of beauty inside the walls of Charenton. He couldn’t really go out, but he was free to dream… to express himself from within his isolated cell.

This always makes me think of fragrance. These precious raw materials macerating over time. Olfactive ideas waiting to escape. A thing of creative beauty trapped in a bottle. The perfect metaphor to build my company on.

Building another niche line on your own from scratch is tough. I thought of it myself but lacked the spirit. What is most important for you?

I’ve always been a bit of a free spirit. Someone who finds pure joy in discovering new ways of taking in the world around me. Definitely never afraid to get my hands dirty for the right cause. Exacerbated teachers would politely call me “an independent thinker.” My much more poetic mother just called me “a pain in the ass.” Both would agree I go after what I want. That I openly promote and defend what I love… and how I love fragrance.

With fragrance there are two things that are really important to me. First is the freedom to create. I like to make things that have something to say. To craft fragrance with purpose. Independence grants me this freedom. The second is the chance to challenge the status quo. My work is an active reflection on the world around me. Let other brands compete amongst themselves to create the next “fruity floral for women” that looks and smells just like every other “fruity floral for women.” Let them focus on the style of the season, choose to limit themselves as much as they want… I’ll stick with substance.

What would you consider an intellectual fragrance?

Christopher Street. Creating this fragrance introduces the stories from Christopher Street, its history of defiance and liberation, into the larger discussion about olfaction today, and to an industry that clearly still has some issues in regards to sex and gender.

These issues affect how we treat one another. They affect how we market. Worse yet, they affect how we create. It’s time we all stop – even if only passively doing so – continuing to make fragrances that reproduce these tired clichés and stereotypes. That we come to terms with this part of fragrance history, and actively call out those aspects that continue to affect our present.

Let’s put all the tools available to us on the table and use them to create fragrances that are a more honest reflection of the world they speak to. Let’s challenge ourselves to do better.

Christopher Street represents a moment of doing just that.

Read More: The Christopher Street Project
Shop: Christopher Street Fragrance

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Fragrance is an object of overlapping points of view. A scent, at any given moment, is made up of a series of simultaneous inputs and outputs, stimulations and exclamations. Its effects are both physical and psychological. While a scent can be worn by many, it still can feel quite personal by how deeply it individually touches us. Moreover, it is never static. I was thinking about this idea of fragrance as a combination of intertwining experiences while having a recent Twitter chat with Jane Daly. She had just shared an interesting article written by Kevin Depew of The Awl, telling the coming of age story of a man through a selection of his fragrance choices. A quick personal scent memory diary based on his active, aromatic life. Here is the original tweet:

Any guys out there identify with this? Smell Like A Man theawl.com/2013/03/smell-…

— Jane Daly (@daly_beauty) March 8, 2013

I really enjoyed the article, and suggested the idea of a sequel based on some of the alternative fragrance points of view in Kevin’s life, perhaps drawn from experiences felt outside of his own personal connections to each fragrance; another point of view added for richer context, recounting some of the same stories but from other perspectives. But what exactly do I mean by different fragrance points of view? Allow me to explain by looking to three other examples: Geometry, the writing of Bret Easton Ellis, and the directing style of Robert Altman.

Geometry and Fragrant Tangents

How do you draw a picture of fragrance?

In my mind, I always imagine fragrance as a curve. Why a curve? Two reasons really. First, whether worn by me or just present as I’m passing by, the scented experience has a beginning and end point. That same fragrance also has movement, never contained once released, dancing until it fades away into the air. This combined image of impermanence and movement reminds me of geometry class and drawing curves. (As a side note, I also used to do research in a GC lab. The readings output by the machines were literally series of curves, so this may also play a part in the why.)

Of course, a curve could symbolize a lot of things: a person, a brand, a fragrance… For now, let that curve represent Kevin’s original story. Life (and scent) seen through his eyes (and nose). Each point on that curve, another one of Kevin’s tales.

Now isolate a single point. How about Hai Karate Age 9? What else is captured in that point? Dwight, his mom, the den, the telephone, the couch… all these pieces are present in the scene and will have tangential relationships to Kevin’s curve. In geometry, tangent refers to a line, curve, or surface meeting another line, curve, or surface at a single common point. All of these other components mentioned are possible tangents to our Kevin curve. Now visualize walking away from our original Hai Karate point in the direction of one of these other curves. Go off on a tangent. Doing so provides other opportunities to learn more about “Kevin Hai Karate Age 9.” It enriches our understanding of that one particular scent memory.

Thinking of tangents and curves reminds you to look in (take in your own personal thoughts on a fragrance) and to look out (absorb how the same fragrance effects your surroundings). Allow yourself to look at a fragrance from multiple points of view.

Ellis and the Art of Switching Point of View

If math is not your thing, how about the world of fiction? Take the example of Bret Easton Ellis’ “The Rules of Attraction,” a novel written using switching points of view.

When we wear fragrance, we sometimes forget that we are not the only ones who can smell us. Just as people come and go from our lives, they also share certain olfactive experiences with us. Each person has their own thoughts and reactions on the odors we put off, some positive, some negative… but always their own. They may also adopt some of our scent rituals, before charging down their own paths. The world of fragrance is one of mixing and mingling. It is a series of overlapping narratives.

In “The Rules of Attraction,” Ellis drops us in the middle of Camden College to tell a non-linear story of three students caught in a debaucherous love triangle. It is an hysterical commentary on the death of romance told through the bouncing perspectives of its main characters (Sean, Lauren, and Paul) as well as a few minor ones (Victor, Clay). It capitalizes on the idea of a college at any given moment, being a collection of the stories of its students, staff, and visitors. A personal, yet shared experience.

Back to Kevin’s article, imagine adding points of view to his story told from outside perspectives in Kevin’s life, yet each still maintaining the original theme of fragrance. Will Dwight have another Hai Karate experience at age 15? Did Sharon notice Kevin’s Stetson? Suddenly the story is no longer just about Kevin, but about the larger world in which Kevin plays a part. He could still play a large part in that world. It could remain a story that centers on Kevin. However, by looking to the related experiences of others, adding pieces from their points of view, the story could also help expose readers to a larger language of fragrance being used throughout Kevin’s world, providing further insight into how and why scent was such an important component in his life.

In essence, we are retelling or expanding Kevin’s original fragrance story by looking through another set of eyes, something we are asked to do every day in the world of fragrance creation. Looking in. Looking out. Looking all around.

Altman’s Unending Tracking Shot

Imagine fragrance is the camera shooting this opening scene from Robert Altman’s “The Player.” It wonders passed people, never breaking. It pans from character to character, lingering on some for a brief few seconds, while tracking others longer. Some effects of its path appear more meaningful than others, foreshadowing possible plots and subplots as characters dance in and out of the frame. Over time, the action settles in one place before finally ending at the 8 minute mark. It is a work of cinematic beauty, exposing multiple layers of substance in one uninterrupted shot. So, too, is fragrance.

Take inspiration from Robert Altman. Look all around you. Ask yourself, what is the fragrance story you are trying to tell? Is it personal? Does it effect other parts of your world? Who and what else is part of that story? And just how important are they to your narrative?

For another example of fragrance points of view, check out Christopher Street.

We share an history in olfaction. What’s your fragrance point of view?

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Christopher Street and Douglas Bender have been featured on Now Smell This, one of the largest and most trusted online fragrance communities on the web. From its “boozy” top to its “earthy” base, here is what Contributor Jessica Murphy had to say about Charenton Macerations‘ Christopher Street.

“I end up not knowing whether I’m in a bar or a barn, but either one would be fine with me, if it smelled like this.”

What a great way to describe the overlapping scented time periods constantly surfacing in the fragrance. Noted for its excellent staying power on skin, Murphy goes on to recommend Christopher Street to any lovers of dry, woody, leather fragrances.

Read Jessica’s full Now Smell This fragrance review of Christopher Street here.

To order your bottle of Christopher Street, click here.

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Christopher Street Day 1971

CaFleureBon Managing Editor Mark Behnke interviews Charenton Macerations‘ founder Douglas Bender, putting him to the passion test in his fragrance review of Christopher Street. No stone on Christopher Street is left unturned in this discussion, covering everything from creative inspiration to collaboration and final fragrance execution. Taken in by the spirit and mission of Christopher Street, Behnke declares:

“Go out and add yourself to Christopher Street. You will be enhancing one of the best fragrances I have tried in the last year.”

Very special thanks to Mark for sharing a piece from his own personal memories of Christopher Street.  Whether moments of solemnity or celebration, each story from Christopher Street helps reveal the sense of community that makes it so special to so many.  This sense of community was such an important inspirational part drawn upon in crafting the fragrance.  The true heart  of the scent stemmed from people’s willingness and openness regarding their time on Christopher Street.

Read the Full CaFleurebon Review of Christopher Street here.

To order your bottle of Christopher Street, click here.

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