In summer, and especially during his holidays, Hervé Seeuws, founder of Monsieur PR, doesn’t wear any perfume at all. Then he prefers the scent of the sun, the sea, or sunscreen on the body. Not to forget the smell of sweat, either. For him, that’s the sexiest scent there is.
Text Anja Van Der Borght – Pictures: Reinier RVDA
“In fact, I don’t so much associate scents with summer or winter, but rather with certain periods in my life”, says Herve Seeuws. “My very first perfume memory is still crystal clear. At Collège Sainte-Gertrude in Nivelles, I must have been fifteen, the boys wore Millet jackets, Sebago shoes, Façonnable shirts, and Azzaro pour Homme. I found that smell too overpowering, too nouveau riche. I preferred Cacharel pour L’Homme myself: a more discreet woody, spicy scent that I wore for years. Back then I was quite a classic, romantic type. After that, a few commercial classics came and went: Dior Fahrenheit, L’Eau d’Issey by Issey Miyake, and occasionally Le Mâle by Jean Paul Gaultier. My whole wardrobe would then smell of that particular fragrance.”
I never use perfume on my skin, only on my clothes. I once tried it on my body, but it was not a success. I ended up smelling like my mother-in-law, much to the annoyance of my partner at the time.
London, Dior and the start of layering
“Around the age of 30, I was intrigued by the scent of a man who danced past me in a nightclub in London. It was Bois d’Argent, a unisex Dior fragrance based on iris and incense. I still remember thinking it was very expensive, but I bought it anyway and wore it for at least ten years. Then came the amber and floral scent Ambre Nuit, also by Dior. That’s when I started combining fragrances. I just experiment and let myself be surprised by the result. I never worry about the final combination. I do exactly the same with clothes: I mix vintage with new, expensive with cheap brands.”
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Salle Privée: Legal & Illegal
“After that I discovered the perfume collection from Salle Privée, a Dutch label of unisex niche perfumes with a focus on layering. Lately I often combine Ambre Nuit by Dior with the two newest scents from Salle Privée: the woody, spicy eau de parfum Legal and the woody, aromatic extrait de parfum Illegal, which also contains a bit of CBD. I find it pretty funny that one of my perfumes contains cannabidiol. Legal and Illegal also have a sweet absinthe top note… While vetiver anchors the two fragrances with a sensually smoky base note.”
Megalayering (up to five scents)
“Recently I’ve really been into mega-layering. Sometimes I even use five scents on top of each other: Legal and Illegal by Salle Privée, Ambre Nuit by Dior, L’Essence de Présence by YVRA, Watch Oud by Fugazzi, and, very recently, Orange Mauresque and Miel d’Arabie, both by Chopard. Miel d’Arabie is extremely strong… one spray is enough! One time I’ll combine three scents, another time five. However, I never deliberately use them in the same order, except that I always use Ambre Nuit by Dior as the ‘base’. So for me, in my wardrobe: lots of color and fragrance, because life should be colourful all year round!
