ALLÉGORIE DE L’ÉTÉ

Eau de Parfum

This giddy, coquettish perfume bubbles with bittersweet summer blush. An allegory is defined as a painting, poem or other piece of writing that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, more often than not political, moral or religious. This seemingly innocent, orange-flushed perfume uses sparkling aldehydes to suggest sunlight flickering in a summer garden, warmed by cinnamon and the sunbaked liquorice nuances of immortelle.

The capricious vibe is further enhanced by a witty use of a Chinotto note in the bright head notes. Chinotto is horticulturally citrus myrtifolia, a small dark orange from the myrtle-leaved orange tree but is also the name for a popular carbonated drink in Italy and Malta. Similar to Coca Cola in its deep caramelised hue, it has a distinctive pithy bitterness underpinning the sweetness. In Allégorie de L’Eté the Chinotto note, both dark bitter fruit and fizzy fun play a part in aerating the other notes, complimenting anisic fennel and the grassy tobacco hint of hay.

Jean Honoré Fragonard’s famous painting The Swing is called L’Escarpolette or Les Hasards Heureux de L’Escarpolette, which sounds infinitely better than the English translation Lucky Accidents of the Swing. Strictly speaking, Escarpolette is a garden swing, one with ropes. And in Fragonard’s delicious pretty painting, a young woman wearing frothy pink silks swings high and her slipper is seen to be flying through the air in a sensual blooming garden over the head of a young man reclining on the ground.

There is little mystery in where his eyes are focussed, and this gives the painting a frisson of naughty assignation or voyeurism. On the right, in shadow is an older man, perhaps her cuckolded husband or a member of clergy, looking on with a mix of disapproval and attraction.

In many ways Allégorie de L’Eté is the lush embodiment of L’Escarpolette, an artwork that scandalised contemporaries. The fabrics, shades of pink, the fertile garden, crimson swing seat, blushing skin and suggestion of wrong-doing in Eden reflect the stylised flightiness of Miskeo’s perfume. The perfume is beautiful to wear, a perfect blend of melting summer and a darker, more bittersweet exhilaration.

Composition

• Chinotto, Aldehyde
• Immortelle, Cinnamon
• Labdanum, Fennel, Hay

Perfumer: Marie-Pierre Blanchette, 2025

MATERIAL HIGHLIGHT

24 naturals (72%) and 15 synthetics (28%) form the concentrate.

Myrrh: Balsamic licorice resinous note

Bitter orange: Dry bitter orange note

Immortelle absolute: Spicy tobacco floral note

inci list: Alcohol, Parfum (Fragrance), Limonene, Citrus limon peel oil, Dipropylene glycol, Linalol, Eugenol, Vanillin, Tocopherol, Camphor, Benzyl benzoate, Geraniol, beta-Caryophyllene, Terpinolene, Citral, Citronellol