How to smell rich: ROSIE GREEN on the five scents that exude exclusivity By Rosie Green For You Magazine Published: 08:01, 2 November 2024 | Updated: 08:01, 2 November 2024 e-mail View comments When Gatsby said Daisy had a voice ‘full of money’ I always wondered whether she smelt of it, too. In my imagination she’d leave a scent trail evocative of laundered tennis whites, heady rose gardens and 1920s privilege. But what aroma do today’s wealthiest give off? I can tell you which scents they don’t wear – anything you can buy too easily or cheaply.
Or the ubiquitous fashion-house fragrances sitting on the counters at Boots and duty free. Neither do they buy those bottles covered in diamonds (too crass) or celebrity fragrances (unless it’s their own, and even then probably not). Or perfumes that are obviously gendered, wastefully packaged or cynically commercial.
Azzi Glasser, the nose behind Agent Provocateur’s scents, founder of The Perfumer’s Story brand and creator of bespoke smells for everyone from royalty to Hollywood stars, says, ‘The ultra-rich are drawn to rarity and are investing in bespoke perfumes. I create them for the elite like the long-ago alchemists of perfumery would do for kings and queens. The one per cent want to be unique; the only person on the planet to own a one-off fragrance.
’ Which ingredients appeal to ultra-high-net-worth individuals? In the past it was about using the rarest – think ambergris (produced by a whale’s digestiv.