Purple Magazine
— F/W 2009 issue 12
Daphne Guinness
At the Carlyle Hotel, a Rosewood Hotel<br />James Boehmer for NARS COSMETICS, make-up<br />Red silhouette belt and top CHRISTIAN DIOR,<br />scarf BALMAIN, and stockings FOGAL<br />Portrait by Maciej Kobielski
interview by OLIVIER ZAHM
OLIVIER ZAHM — Why did you call your perfume Daphne?
DAPHNE GUINNESS — I’ve put so much of myself into every element of the scent that it’s really an extension of myself. I’ve been mixing my own scents for as long as I can remember.
OLIVIER ZAHM — What is the symbolic significance of your name?
DAPHNE GUINNESS — The myth of Daphne and Apollo is a very compelling one. I’ve felt fear. I’ve experienced being pursued, sometimes in a terrifying way, and there have been times when I wished to be in a safer place. Unfortunately, there was never a river god around to help me out! My creations come out of my will to survive.
OLIVIER ZAHM — Some women use perfume only as one element of their beauty, but you have a deeper relationship with perfume.
DAPHNE GUINNESS — I’ve always made my own perfumes. Honestly, if you could see all the different oils and concoctions in my bathroom, you’d understand. It’s my laboratory.
OLIVIER ZAHM — Most people think of perfume in terms of sexuality, but you also connect with it on a spiritual level. You’ve said that scent “borders on the sacred.”
DAPHNE GUINNESS — Spirituality mixed with sexuality is a very potent combination.
OLIVIER ZAHM — Can you envision men wearing Daphne?
DAPHNE GUINNESS — Yes, my scent is absolutely not exclusively for women.
OLIVIER ZAHM — Tell us about working at the Givaudan perfumery, which dates back to 1796. What was working with Antoine Lie like?
DAPHNE GUINNESS — Working at Givaudan, for Comme Des Garçons, was such a privilege, and so illuminating. The laboratory we worked in is extraordinary — the NASA of fragrance, fascinating on every level.
OLIVIER ZAHM — You love the poets Byron and Shelley.
DAPHNE GUINNESS — Yes, I do. As well as Shakespeare and Keats. They renew my faith in life and the human soul.
OLIVIER ZAHM — Is it also that perfume is for you like a talisman that protects you like an invisible armor?
DAPHNE GUINNESS — My scent is a kind of protection for me. And it reminds me of home when I’m away.
OLIVIER ZAHM — What about the way people perceive you? How do you feel about sharing your scent?
DAPHNE GUINNESS — I’m a very private person. Of course people label you — it’s par for the course. But I do want to share things with others.
In Ovid’s Metamorphoses the myth of the nymph Daphne is transformed into a love story in which Eros, angry with Apollo for making fun of his archery skills, uses one of his magical arrows to ignite Apollo’s passion for the river nymph Daphne. Daphne prays to the river god Peneus for help and is transformed into a laurel tree. Her hair turns into leaves, her arms become branches, and her feet transform into roots, but the shine of her beauty remains as an aura. The laurel tree thus becomes sacred to Apollo, and its branches are used to crown the victors at the Pythian Games.
