In 1961, three friends with endless creative verve — Yves Coueslant (a set designer), Desmond Knox-Leet (a painter), and Christiane Gautrot (a textile designer) — joined forces to open the eclectic salon Diptyque on Boulevard St.-Germain in Paris. Initially, they offered home furnishings and imported British scents. In 1968, they based their first in-house creation, L'Eau, on a 16th-century English recipe for potpourri. If this was putting on airs, then at least they were remarkably fragrant.
Diptyque is now honoring the fortieth anniversary of that history with three — it's the magic number — new colognes: L'Eau de L'Eau (heavy spice notes like tonka bean, cinnamon, and clove are freshened with fruit and flowers like orange blossom), L'Eau de Néroli (fresh bergamot and tarragon mingle with neroli, geranium, and beeswax), and L'Eau des Hespérides (green herbs, red thyme, rosemary, and peppermint set amid cedarwood). While perfumer Olivier Pescheux was developing these concoctions, he kept in mind the founding friends' love of travel: "All the Diptyque fragrances have been developed from a trip, a souvenir de voyage," he explained, jaunts that were captured in Knox-Leet's extensive journal, often with cut flowers or leaves pressed between the pages. "The idea is that it's summertime in Italy," Pescheux muses. "You were taking a nap in the garden, and just woke up. It's very hot. And you need something fresh that's cool on your skin." That's the génial in the bottle.
