Truffle Hunting

Since 1481, truffle hunting has been a prized pastime, first by peasants and pigs, later by Parisian nobility and in recent years, by the employees of Williams Sonoma, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. You can now add the definitive and coveted perfume labels of Tom Ford, Valentino, Stella McCartney and CB I Hate Perfume to the list.

The fragrance makers hav broken through kitchen and fragrance boundaries by infusing the oily and earthy essence of truffle into their namesake glass bottles: Noir de Noir, Valentina, L.I.L.Y. and 2^nd Cumming, respectively.

“America is in the midst of a great sensory reawakening,” perfume expert and author Avery Gilbert explains in his book What the Nose Knows: The Science of Scent in Everyday Life (Crown/Random House, 2008). “We are more open to new foods and flavors and smells than at any point in our history.”

If unconventional model Freja Beha Erichsen is any indication, fashion A-lister Valentino clearly thinks so. The muse stars, with her mousy bed-head and absence of even the sheerest slick of gloss, in the new flirtatiously provocative commercial for Valentina. The perfume in question—a floral laced with spicy, oriental notes and the musky essence of white truffle—is now synonymous with youthful, rebellious style.

Clearly, if the cool kids enjoy snuffling lumpy, warty fungi with the same reckless abandon once favoured by a hairy boar, you’ve made fragrant history and you’re here to stay.

Valentina by Valentino EDP, $125 (80 ml), www.valentino.com, www.murale.ca

Not shown:
Stella McCartney L.I.L.Y EPD, $90 (50 ml), www.thebay.com, www.holtrenfrew.com, www.sephora.com, www.murale.ca
Tom Ford Noir de Noir EDP, $215 (50 ml), www.tomford.com, www.nordstrom.com
CB I Hate Perfume, 2^nd Cumming, EDP, from $69, www.cbihateperfume.com