Maison Margiela
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Galbanum strikes first with its characteristic bitterness, all green urgency and metallic edge, while spearmint adds a disorienting coolness that makes the citrus feel almost effervescent. Buchu contributes a blackcurrant-like sharpness, and together they create a bracing, almost confrontational wall of greenness that some will find thrilling and others will find too austere.
As the aggressive verdancy subsides, mastic's pine-forest resinousness emerges alongside orange blossom absolute's creamy, slightly indolic warmth—this is where the fragrance reveals its softer underbelly. The contrast is beautiful: bitter green slowly giving way to something almost consoling, though never sweet, whilst the citrus fades to a whisper of zest.
Serenolide's weightless musk creates a skin-like transparency through which patchouli and frankincense appear as gentle, woody-ambery suggestions rather than bold statements. What remains is clean but not sterile, warm but not cosy—a barely-there second skin that smells of someone who understands that sophistication often means knowing when to disappear.
Daniela Andrier's untitled composition for Maison Margiela is a study in restraint, where verdant sharpness meets whispered warmth. The opening is gloriously uncompromising—galbanum and buchu conspire to create a scent that smells of crushed stems and bitter green sap, the kind of aggressive chlorophyll punch that divided fragrance lovers when Vent Vert first shocked Parisian salons. This isn't the polite, cucumber-water greenness of contemporary fresh fragrances; it's peppery, almost acrid, tempered only slightly by spearmint's cooling menthol and a citrus accord that leans tart rather than sunny. What makes this compelling is how Andrier weaves delicate complexity beneath that verdant armour—mastic's piney resinousness and orange blossom absolute's indolic depth create an intriguing tension, floral sweetness barely audible beneath all that chlorophyll. The base is where Serenolide (that translucent musk molecule) does its best work, creating an almost aqueous veil that allows patchouli and frankincense to manifest as abstract woody shadows rather than full-throated statements. This is for those who find most fresh fragrances insipid, who want their greenness to bite back, who understand that nature isn't always gentle. It wears like freshly laundered linen crushed with handfuls of garden herbs—austere, intellectual, and far more interesting than its "untitled" designation might suggest. Wear it when you want to feel clean but complex, present but enigmatic.
Add fragrances to your collection and unlock your personalised scent DNA, note map, and shareable identity card.
3.8/5 (448)