Barb Atkin

Vice-president fashion direction at Holt Renfrew, Barb Atkin, talks about perfume and the role it plays in her high-style life.

QUESTION: First fragrance and how did you come to wear it?
ATKIN: My first fragrance was Canoe, given to me when I was 12 by my first boyfriend, who overly drowned himself in it every time we went out on a date. It was one of the first androgynous fragrances and had a cult-like following back in the ’60s.

QUESTION: Favourite fragrance?
ATKIN: I like a subtle, androgynous fragrance with more of a hint of masculinity than a flowery feminine scent. The notes tend to be lavender, rosemary, Sicilian citrus, Bulgarian rose, jasmine, amber and light musk. Complex smells that start off clean-citrusy but finish with a woody scent are my favourites. Fragrances like Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille, which I wear and have been since its launch in 2007 which I favour more in colder months; Aqua di Parma Colonia, which I have been wearing in warmer weather for the last 20 years; Creed Imperial Millesime; and I sometimes play around with classics like Calèche by Hermès, a scent that my mother wore, and L’Air du Temps by Nina Ricci, the scent my grandmother wore.

QUESTION: Why do you love these scents?
ATKIN: Scent is like a great memory that takes me back to a happy, safe, childhood time. Whenever I wear Calèche I think about ending my day with my mother reading me bedtime stories. That’s why many of the scents I choose have the same notes as those in Calèche.

QUESTION: How important is fragrance to you?
ATKIN: Fragrance is the finishing touch to my daily wardrobe, it’s part of branding who I am, when you leave a room you always leave a subtle scent of yourself behind.

PHOTO: BARB ATKIN (ABOVE LEFT) SHOWN IN CONVERSATION WITH JEANNE BEKER; GEORGE PIMENTEL, SOURCE: HUFFINGTON POST. 

AN EXCERPT OF THIS INTERVIEW FIRST APPEARED AT HOLT RENFREW MUSE.