Immortal Poetry and The Muse. Parfums Dusita - Rosarine 2023 and La Rhapsodie Noire 2022

**1 and 2 Renee Perle - Photographed by Jacques Henri Lartigue , 3. J Carlos Fernandez, 4. Pinterest**

It has long been my intention to to write these two wonderful perfumes released by Dusita Paris and created by a dear friend, Pissara Umavijani. Pissara is a tour de force, carving out her dream in Paris and after many years she is now a well established perfumer of note with a collection that traverses all the emotions written by her late father, Montri Umavijani, a noted poet in his native Thailand and beyond. Pissara has translated his works in homage into so many creations within the Dusita Parfums Collection. Gifted new life into his profound words.

Rosarine and La Rhapsodie Noire have their origins of course in Pissara’s own personal story, her fathers poetry as inspiration, her dream to create a perfume brand and live in Paris, all of these elements are etched into her creations. Yet these two beautiful yet so different perfumes not only lead me to an era, long past but seem to me to be an encapsulation of a certain love story, of only two years duration but so infused with captivation and passion as to be spent and extingushed in such a short time. They hover like spectral invitations to accompany a beautiful Romanian model residing in Paris at that time, Renee Perle. A woman for whom these two perfumes could have accompanied during her life as a model, muse and lover of the french photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue. Renee seems to encompass them both, these perfumes seem to reasonate with her being at that particular time. Rosarine is the day-flip side of all those heady moments, spiralling delisciously into love with a stranger on the street, a chance yet fated encounter, whose eyes have collided with yours and then all the heavens split open.

Lartigue laments at the end of their affair “There is only one image my eyes remember…her mouth against mine, long, bare legs, hair against my cheek. And that scent! How I wish I could preserve every precious second of a love affair…the atmosphere, the colors, the dimensions and the perfume.”

All quotes from Diary of a Century by Jacque-Henri Lartigue:
Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Diary of a Century, trans. Carla van Splunteren (New York: Viking Press, 1978)

fotografo-ritratto-progetto-artigianato, Frances corsssotto.jpg

1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 - Renee Perle by Jacques Henri Lartigue, 4. Pinterest, 5. France Corssotto

THE POEM

On my lips "goes away"

love,

a thousand times

of the worn-out heart.

--Montri Umavijani

Rosarine - Perfumer Pissara Umvijani. Roses upon roses upon roses, yet so powerful in its subtleties, nuanced and honed with modernities edge. Renee Perle, a perfume for this woman at play, relaxed and confident, casual yet chic. A drift of captivating airs on the turn of her heel, Parisian streets paused for a second as she passes, something beautiful and certain yet also with an air of cached seduction and intruige.

Modern and vibrant, this rose is emancipated from her previous incarnations as a soliflore of Edwardian constraints. Renee is a woman carefree and liberated, Rosarine is youthful and vibrant with an unadulterated femininity . She was a woman of all times, ahead of her time for these photos could just as well be seen them in 2024 as well as 1930, there is nothing dated or old fashioned about her, so it is with Rosarine, a queen of roses without vintage connotations and thoroughly without age. Succulent and voluptous it is a distillation of youth, waking as shafts of city sunlight filter through gauze, sophorific held within lovers arms. Rose is definitly centre stage here, all that beauty of Bulgarian Rose and Rose de Mai with her supporting cast, beautifully arrayed in a perfect balance as to liberate rose from her confines and elevate her into a sophisticated, modernity, spiced and deeply hued, a supreme homage to this iconic flower just as Jacques Henri paid homage to Renee with his photos immortalising his love for her beauty. . As he captured her in all lights and in all her facets, so Rosarine gives rose the unlimited space to send out shafts of all her facets, light cast from a diamond, after a rose at centre stage with attendants of jasmine, orris and incense we are enveloped for hours in a warmth of refinement, a scent like the woman that permeates a room in discrete ways and yet is unforgettable, voices whisper is hushed undertones as to its origin, it fills the space without dominating. Pure effortless parisian chic.

In Rosarine, perhaps we may sense just for a few hours the glamour and intensity of this liason between a beautiful woman and a photographer. Timeless and immortalised.

1, 2, 3 and 4 - Renee Perle by Jacques Henri Lartigue, 2. Niamh Falter, 6. Pinterest, 7. Dusita Parfums, 8. Getty
Top notes are Bulgarian Rose, Raspberry, Litchi and Bergamot; middle notes are Rose de Mai, Ambrette (Musk Mallow), Incense, Jasmine Sambac, Orris and Amyris; base notes are Patchouli, Vetiver, Sandalwood, Vanilla, Cacao and Benzoin.

La Rhapsodie Noire- Dusita Parfums, 2. Pinterest, 3 and 4 Renee Perle by Jacques Henri Lartigue, Paris- Pinterest, Paris - J Carlos Fernandez.

La Rhapsodie Noire - Perfumer Pissara Umavijani A different chapter of the day, turning the page into nights embracing arms and a more glamourous, yet no less chic aspect of this captivating woman. As Paris falls into the dusky tones of night and the lights of the city bedeck her with gold and silver, a million lights bear testament to the cities transformation, the soirees unfold. Inspired by her adpoted cities streets as evening falls and the music of Rhapsody In Blue by George Gershwin 1924, Pissara composed this ode to the night. Shedding our day to day persona and dressing in a different hue. Photographs of Renee taken in her evening attire and as dusk descends depict a woman of eternal style, fascinating, grace and refinement exude from her every pore.
One evening, I was crossing the Pont-Neuf; as I was listening to “Rhapsody in Blue”, I paused to look around me: even more so at night, Paris seems to have kept its fabled charm unaltered by time. My imagination was fueled by images and sensations of the City of Light in the 1920s, a time of extraordinary energy and creativity. I decided to create a nocturnal, vibrant fragrance dedicated to Paris of Annees Folles – La Rhapsodie Noire.” – perfumer Pissara Umavijani.

La Rhapsodie Noire is elegance at its epitome, understated yet wholly present, there is no need of grand entrances or exaggerated attire, just to enter a venue dressed with this perfume upon your skin is sufficent. You will be noticed, of that there is no doubt, yet the other devouring eyes will not gaze to criticise or question but are wholly enchanted by some glamour they cannot quite define. Icons need no introduction, they are their own publicists.

All Photographs of Renee Perle by Jacques Henri Lartigue.

Often when we think of Paris there are certain eras that marked her with their golden touch, the 1920’s, those ‘Annees Folles’ and the early 30’s were such years. Here we find the gorgeous young couple so captivated with each other, out to enjoy the evening frivolities. Joyous and full of promise, La Rhaposodie Noire soars on the beat of the music and tides of laughter and gaiety. Paris is alive and pulsing with modernities beat. Joyful expression and a world at peace at their fingertips, nothing was impossible in those heady days, flushed with romance and all the beautiful young things awash with youthful exuberence. La Rhapsodie Noire is richly opulent yet with a refined simplicity that speaks volumes, wafts of the nights pleasures, tobacco, rum and coffee mingle with lavender spritz and powdery mimosa. Placed on flesh, it morphs and rises to cocoon, an ether bound signature that fits like a second skin.

From Jacques Henri Lartigues Diary, Paris, March 7, 1930.

“Half past five at the Embassy. I wait for my “parasol” from last night. I need a whisky. I’m very shy deep down, and ready to be furious if she doesn’t show up. It’s my curiosity that would be most disappointed…
Five thirty-five. There she is! Can it really be her? Ravishing, tall, slim, with a small mouth and full lips, and dark porcelain eyes. She casts aside her fur coat in a gust of warm perfume. We’re going to dance. Mexican? Cuban? Her very small head sits on a very long neck. She is tall; her mouth is at the level of my chin. When we dance my mouth is not far from her mouth. Her hair brushes against both.

“Romanian. My name is Renée P… I was a model at Doeuillet…” Delicious. She takes off her gloves. Long, little girl’s hands. Something in my mind starts dancing at the thought that one day perhaps she would agree to paint the nails of those hands…”

A perfectly proportioned well heeled foot in two eras, its fougere construction is recognisable yet with a unique expression. The night beckons, our Muse Renee turns heads with her every step and like the perfume this is an expression of who she is without pretence, true style cannot be manufactured and layered upon form in designer attire, it is innate and I can only imagine the perfection that would have issued if Renee Perle and Pissara had ever chanced to meet and La Rhapsodie Noire was Renee’s perfume of the night.

I sense a destiny’s touch there for even though they are seperated by the breadth of time, nevertheless La Rhapsodie Noire has forged a connection undeniable.

Top notes are Lavender, Sage, Broom, Mimosa and Jasmine Sambac; middle notes are Coffee, Tobacco and Rum; base notes are Tonka Bean, Vanilla, Oak, Vetiver, Patchouli, Sandalwood and Oakmoss.