Eau Rihla, one of the most significant perfumes of Diptyque Paris, was released during the 60th anniversary of the company. The scent’s characteristics will touch your inner senses, and will take you on an unforeseen voyage
Review by Zoltan Alexander
DIPTYQUEEAU RIHLA º
THE FLEETING REALM OF A SCENT sensual discrete
powerful aspirational
A drop on your skin. You lean closer, as the top note of Leather, in all its splendor changing through the composition, merges with Musk and the mesmerizing Atlas Cedar. The olfactory of the perfume imprints instantly, and insanely.
Notes of spicy Rose Peppercorn and the woody Atlas Cedar create a vibrant accord. When Iris, Vanilla, and Saffron come into play, the fragrance warms up, changes, and takes on the comfort of a second skin becoming your invisible armor.
Eau Rihla is powerful enough to take you on an unforeseen voyage. Its uniqueness has no comparison.
In Arabic, Rihla means journey, but not any kind.
A voyage is not always measured by distance but imagination.
It’s physical, as well as metaphysical.
Eau Rihla evokes both.
A PHYSICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNEY
The physical move, the geographic voyage is everybody’s first choice. Going on a trip is often the best healer, and certainly an adventure. The history of a perfume is always charged with many recollected memories.
From the beginning of the 60s, the founders, the gypsy-esque threesome, artist Desmond Knox-Leet, theatre craftsman Yves Coueslant, and interior designer Christiane Montadre-Gautrot, who loved Morocco, crisscrossed the spice routes of the region and the entire planet, to be inspired to create their perfumes.
Eau Rihla is conceived as the chronicle of their long journeys. The scent evokes the echoing sound of the Muezzin, the burning sun, the desert, and the sheltering sky with an infinite horizon from the Middle East to the Atlas Mountains, ushering the traveller through the dunes by the Hommes Bleus.
These adventurous protagonists were always travelling, and belonged nowhere specific. They moved at a slower pace over a period of time, preferring to experience, to discover, and learn, rather than merely rushing and profiting. Spontaneity played a significant part in their journeys, and the more time they spent in one place, was the better.
They believed that a traveller should treasure the moment, spend hours in philosophical and intellectually challenging conversations, or in perfect solitude sitting in front of a landscape, listening to music, listening to their heartbeats, and to their instincts. Most certainly a traveller would carry an Eau Rihla somewhere in his suitcase, and with the heat, he would allow the scent of Leather and Musk to blend with his skin.
Eau Rihla recollects memories from the past, spicy mornings, love-making at the black & white sea with cool breeze, or when you are writing alone by the ocean, marking your notebook with words and sketches before the night falls.
TIMELESSNESS IN BLACK & WHITE SEASCAPES
“Mystery of Mysteries. Water and Air. They are right there before us in the sea. Every time I view the sea, I feel a calming sense of security, as if visiting my ancestral home; I embark on a voyage of seeing.” Hiroshi Sugimoto
Eau Rihla is a scent that simultaneously captures discrete moments in time, and evokes a feeling of timelessness.
A METAPHYSICAL JOURNEY TO THE UNKNOWN OF SELF-DISCOVERY
Eau Rihla is also metaphysical journey that certainly involves a more ethereal mind-set, that encourages the discovery of one’s inner self, the core of identity.
Eau Rihla’s absolute essence, created by Le Nez Fabrice Pelegrin, is LOVE.
Love for ART
Love for TRAVELLING
Love for an OTHER
“Just as love is a source of wonder and beauty, so too is the sea, which fills us with passion, joy, and a sense of belonging in the world. In both love and the sea, we find the power to transcend our limitations and connect with something greater than ourselves”
Simone de Beauvoir
But could you love another as yourself?
The desire to love and be loved are part of the structure of our existence without fear, restraint, and obligation. It is knowing yourself and knowing the other.
Love is a powerful tool, and Eau Rihla is a powerful scent, accessible to individuals who are not afraid of expressing themselves. When you allow yourself to accept who you are, no matter what age, colour, or form you might have, everything starts falling into place.
Between two individuals, unpredictable love becomes unbeatable. It is a rare gift, and to be authentic, it must be reciprocal and non-exploitative with neutral understanding of the other, and most importantly of oneself.
Eau Rihla is an unpredictable journey in one's self-discovery.
But as Simone de Beauvoir said “self-knowledge is no guarantee of happiness, but it is on the side of happiness and can supply the courage to fight for it."
INDEX
COVER
(left) Photo © Courtesy of
Malin Oredsson
(right) Photo © Research
Cover design © ZOLTAN+MEDIA
EAU RIHLA DIPTYQUE PARIS
Created by Le Nez Fabrice Pelegrin
Golden label by artist Safia Souares
PHOTOGRAPHS / COURTESY OF THE FOLLOWING ARTISTS
Hiroshi Sugimoto / Japan
Ismail Zaidy / Morocco
Galerie Maat / France
Denis Dailleux / Egypt
Galerie 127 / Morocco
Malin Oredsson / UK
Sylvie Bouaidi / Morocco
Josue Comoe / Ivory Coast
Bosco Sodi Casa Wabi / Mexico
Zoltan Alexander / UK
PHOTOGRAPHS
© curated by Zoltan Alexander, to illustrate the spirit of Eau Rihla.
None of the photographs were commissioned by Diptyque Paris.
WEBDESIGN
© ZOLTAN+MEDIA London
DIPTYQUE PARIS
CGC PR LONDON
