London's Serpentine Galleries continue to celebrate its expansion and
rebrand with the launch of a fragrance due for release this Spring.
SERPENTINE has been created in collaboration with Comme des Garçons
on the occasion of the gallery’s £14.5 million Zaha Hadid-extension of the
Sackler Gallery as well as its new brand identity designed by Pentagram in September 2013.
Christian Astuguevieille, creative
director of Comme des Garçons Parfums, was inspired by the galleries’ unique surroundings
of Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park in the heart of the capital to produce a London-specific eau de
toilette of botanical grassy notes from the Royal Park juxtaposed with urban
benzoin and asphalt. The unisex fragrance “captures the experience of visiting
the Galleries and the Park” says Serpentine Director, Julia Peyton-Jones and
Co-Director, Hans Ulrich Obrist, who have also commissioned Tracey Emin to
design the fragrance’s artwork. Emin’s characteristic monoprint aesthetic depicts
a lovers’ embrace with handwritten text that reads, ‘The Grass, The Trees, The
Lake, And You’, which will be printed in luminous silver foil on the
transparent bottle and packaging.
Artwork detail by Tracey Emin
While SERPENTINE marks the first
collaboration between Comme des Garçons and a cultural institution, the
avant-garde luxury label is well known amongst the art crowd. Under the direction
of founder and designer Rei Kawakubo the brand’s Dover Street Market outposts in London, New York and Tokyo present
a seasonal programme of conceptual retail environments designed by
international artists and creators that house wardrobe staples for the
curatorial chic. This latest addition to the Comme des Garçons Parfums
collection will undoubtedly vie for attention amongst the critical eyes and
noses of the cognoscenti.
SERPENTINE will be available exclusively at the
Serpentine Galleries gift shop, Dover Street Market and Comme des Garçons Perfume Shop from 28th April 2014 following a worldwide release on 5th May 2014 - the unisex eau de
toilette will retail at £56.00.
Image courtesy of Serpentine Galleries
