Elizabeth Arden Red Door Aura

Following up on its 100^th anniversary, Elizabeth Arden introduces Red Door Aura this fall—a cheeky new floral inspired by the brand’s original oriental of 1989.

And while that iconic, 23-year-old fragrance typified the heady orientals of its time with rose, ylang-ylang, orange flower, sandalwood and oakmoss; the new Aura targets a younger audience with a lighter, fruit-tinged rethink of that formula.

Arden would approve. After all, she was a modern thinker who supported change—and the evolving needs and wants of her clientele.

Born Florence Nightingale Graham, she was an immigrant entrepreneur who opened her own New York City salon and reportedly walked hand-in-hand right past her shop’s signature fire-engine red door with 1920s suffragettes, united by their red-painted pouts.

And we’d bet good money that Arden was wearing a good perfume.

We also think Arden would like perfumer Carlos Benaim’s fresh new Aura, which opens with au courrant notes of raspberry and bergamot, centres on a floral orange flower-rose-jasmine heart and warms to a trail of amber, sandalwood and musk.

Red Door, but for a new generation.

Red Door Aura EDT, $60 (50 ml), www.elizabetharden.com

PHOTO: ELIZABETH ARDEN, CIRA 1895