Earth Angel

Despite the unseasonable temperatures in much of the coastal Northeast, I’ve begun thinking of what will be most likely another transition-less jolt to winter. And with those thoughts, the dilemma of what to wear on cold, windy days. Vetiver and dry woods are perennial favorites, also orientals with sufficient amber and incense. But the minimalist in me craves something earthier, something that will remind me of the soil, the very dirt of life that hides beneath a frozen, unyielding crust: Angelica (Angelica archangelica), whose long, fleshy root is the stuff of Chartreuse, vermouth and various infused remedies. In perfumery, angelica’s root and seeds are steam distilled to produce a sweet, woody, herbaceous oil which, when blended by an expert like Jean-Claude Ellena, can produce a thing of light and shadows: Angéliques sous la pluie (2007). Using all parts of the plant, including the leaves, Ellena crafts a green, sparkling accord, at turns peppery, earthy, coniferous (cedar) and fleshlike (musk). Softer, sweeter and more muted than Jacques Polge’s Chanel No. 18 (Les Exclusifs de Chanel) whose ambrette accord was inspired by diamonds, Angéliques sous la pluie is quite literally more “rooted” in the natural world. Some argue that its relative weakness and lack of longevity make it inferior to other angelica scents, such as Creed’s Angélique Encens (1933) and Guerlain’s Angelique Noire (2005), but the only difference is Ellena’s eschewal of gourmand yumminess (i.e., vanilla). Nor is this a spice-cabinet anthem, but rather a whisper of the bulb-cellar with the gentle respiration of human life. If it were a wine, it would be a Grüner Veltliner with pepper softness in place of power. If it were a piece of clothing, it would be a light virgin wool scarf wound about the neck under a cashmere sweater, comforting, like a still small voice from out of the storm.