Happy Friday, angels! This week for STAR⟡MAIL, we’re highlighting a great new article on HALOSCOPE because if you missed it, Audrey Robinovitz’s interview with independent perfumer Marissa Zappas is a must read.

The below is an excerpt of Audrey Robinovitz’s interview with independent perfumer Marissa Zappas, one of the eccentric figureheads for a nascent movement of self-made and independently-marketed perfume houses appealing to a deeply personal and conceptual model of buying and wearing luxury fragrance. You can read the full interview on HALOSCOPE

Marissa in the Off Hours

By Audrey Robinovitz

AR: Sorry this question is going to be long, but its something I think about all the time. As the market for niche fragrances becomes more and more expansive, what are your thoughts on claiming provocative fantasy accords (blood, glass, snow, etc) to generate enticing marketing, versus the intentional replication of abstract smells to exist in a larger more traditional composition? I think of your inclusion of a “gunpowder note” in CHING SHIH existing alongside Orris and Othsmathus is successful in the same way something like Comme des Garcons 2011’s uses accords of Industrial Glue and Scotch Tape accords within a traditional airy floral.

MZ: I love provocative fantasy accords. Part of the fun in perfume is comparing the reality of the scent to the descriptions… perfume is a fantasy project… but not when they do all the heavy lifting… not when the scent doesn’t remotely live up to the wordage. There is no universal description of a perfume, or scent, at the end of the day. 

AR: I remember speaking once about our joint frustration from a marketing perspective with people who privilege a perfume’s performance over all other aspects of its smell, and who push for every single thing they wear to achieve “beast mode” sillage/longevity, etc. What do you think, from a perfumer’s perspective, consumers get wrong about making something “long-lasting?”

MZ: Well, from the art perspective, I prioritize the smell, even if it doesn’t last long. I don’t personally care how long a fragrance lasts. But people like [it] when a fragrance lasts, and for good reason. So many people wear fragrances to take up more space and make an impression in the first place, and I understand that. I just don’t wear fragrances that way anymore, and I couldn’t even tell you why. To be honest, my reasoning is jaded. Some perfumes would smell much better if they didn’t last AS LONG and you just reapplied it a couple extra times. But, we prioritize functionality in this current day and age. I accept that.

AR: That’s a good point. It's just so different from how I think about and wear my perfume, to be honest. One of my favorite parts of your practice is how interdisciplinary your fragrances are. Is there an artistic medium (painting, theater, etc) you have not previously worked alongside that you would like to break into?

MZ: I think music. I would love to make a perfume for or with Lana del Rey. 

AR: You’ve worked not only with CARNIVAL OF SOULS but also MAGGIE in transforming film into fragrance. If you could pick any fragrance to be adapted into a film, what would it be? What do you think that film would look like?

MZ: I was going to say Paris by YSL, where a woman blows up her life in the US and moves to Paris… that story never gets old to me... Or, maybe there’s a movie about two star-crossed lesbians – one wears Angel and one wears Alien. 

AR: That’s so fun. I think I’m the one who wears Angel. 

MZ: And I’d be Alien.

AR: Maybe more of an abstract question: but do you think there is a unique compatibility between perfume and the cinema? I think of how TV advertisements for designer perfume have become a sort of cultural joke for being so overwrought and nonsensical, but at the core of that phenomenon seems to be a link between fragrance and non-narrative moving pictures. 

MZ: Totally, I mean David Lynch (RIP) made the most gorgeous and cinematic fragrance advertisements. It’s a really untapped genre of art! 

I enjoyed this roundup of perfume recs from Christina Loff:

Another cool indie perfumer to check out:

pearfat.parfum

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Have a great weekend everyone: