Hong Kong born luxury fashion label Shanghai Tang is expanding from fashion and homewares into the fragrance business.
While Shanghai Tang, now part of French based Richemont Group, has offered scents for some years, this week’s launch takes it into the top tier of parfumeries.
The Silk Road Fragrance Collection, the company says, “conjures up the spirit of adventure through a sensory journey from East to West – reflecting the essence of the brand which fuses Chinese with Western fashion”.
“Inspired by the exotic landscapes, rich colors and sense of adventure of the Silk Road, our master parfumier has created for Shanghai Tang a captivating collection of precious fragrances… infused with all the mystery and sensuality of the Silk Road.”
The parfumier is Carlos Benaim, a past winner of the prestigious American Society for Perfumers Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the world of fragrance who has created signature scents for brands including Armani, Carolina Herrera, Prada and Maison Martin Margiela.
Drawing on his personal travels in China, Benaim designed the collection to pay tribute to the grandeur of Chinese culture through a suite of eight multi-layered, unique scents – five for women and three for men. Each highlights one or two exceptional ingredients that evoke the romance of the ancient caravans carrying Chinese treasures along the Silk Road to the western world.
Each fragrance is housed in precious bottle that prominently features the Shou. This Chinese symbol of longevity is cited as one of the Five Blessings: longevity, wealth, health, love and virtue.
The women’s bottle features the Shou symbol meticulously engraved in enamel and gold leaf on the cap, serving as centerpiece of the design that forms the pattern of the lucky number 8. The tall and statuesque men’s bottle features clean beautiful lines and glass cap handcrafted by skilled artisan, also featuring the Shou symbol in a solid metallic piece.
Each bottle is a luxurious signature piece of art, and a special customised engraving service ensures that no two will ever be the same.
The range will be launched with an advertising campaign bringing together fashion photographer Mario Testino and Chinese supermodel Du Juan as the face of the new fragrance collection.
Du Juan exudes an aura of Eastern mystery under through the lens of the master photographer. ”
You can really feel his passion when you work with him,” she says. “He’s incredibly creative and original: a truly amazing photographer.”
Shanghai Tang chairman Raphael Le Masne de Chermont describes the collaboration between Mario Testino and Du Juan as a perfect union of East and West.
“The Silk Road is known as a network of trade and cultural transmission routes which connects the West and the East. The Shanghai Tang fragrances embody the lifestyle of this fabled cross-continental journey. And Mario Testino and Du Juan are the ideal choices to communicate our vision.”
