The world of haute parfumerie welcomes Heron Preston and Sabrina Albarello as they embark on a new and meaningful journey of creating their own scents. Preston and Albarello are no stranger to curating moments that last. To the streetwear power couple, perfume is no different than fashion. Drawing parallels between the olfactory and visual sense, Preston and Albarello understand the power fragrances wield and how they can evoke immeasurable experiences, unlock the deepest memories and stir up strong emotions. The bespoke and luxury perfume house of Henry Jacques has enlisted the duo to create their own individual scents as a part of the brand's In All Intimacy Collection. The pair is the second couple to release fragrances under the collection as they follow in the footsteps of tennis icon Rafael Nadal and his wife Maria Francisca Perello in 2022.
For the launch of the fragrance, Preston and Albarello spoke with Hypebeast on their two-year long journey of creating the perfect scents that best reflect their individual personalities and characters. Inviting audiences in to their love story and relationship, the two creative and life partners have created portraits of themselves with their own Henry Jacques perfume. With Henry Jacques, Preston and Albarello stressed the importance of authenticity when it came to sharing a fragrance that is whole heartedly a representation of one another. The beginning of the process was a lot of trial and error. Preston shares, "Sabrina and I were presented with a whole entire world of raw materials. We spent an hour right at the start just smelling different scents and we noticed, coincidentally, that we gravitated towards similar materials. All this led to us having a similar makeup in our fragrance." Common scents allow the two individual perfumes to complement each other, just as the couple does with one another in real life.
For Preston, he explained, "I was trying to capture a certain mood or an emotion based off of past experiences of my relationship with fragrance, with scent. It's a combination of many different things that I like to wear. It's a bunch of things that equate to this subtle scent. Nothing that's super overpowering, that takes over a room completely, but more so, blending in and integrating into every day." Preston went through 17 different iterations before landing on the scent, tweaking and perfecting it at every step. Similarly, Albarello was conscious to ensure that her fragrance was light and clean, "I would love for people who wear this perfume to make it their own and connect it to their own experiences and memories. I heard people saying, 'Oh, it smells like a garden or it reminds me of a good night out.' I'm so happy about the way people have described our perfumes." Working with a bespoke parfumerie like Henry Jacques was especially important to the couple, "It's just incredible to see how they use the raw materials and how everything is really authentic. I think that what we usually look for in partnerships is authenticity and we share the same values with Henry Jacques," explained Albarello.
"It's about finding that balance, which I like to call, 'instant language.' It's not too foreign, but it's familiar and feels new at the same time."
While Preston and Albarello are experts in their own craft when it comes to fashion, it was a quick learning curve for the couple. For the dynamic duo, the creative process for fashion and perfume is no different than any other project. In fact, when discussing if they encountered any challenges, Albarello said, "I didn't find it to be a challenging process. Henry Jacques gave us the luxury of time. It was not like in fashion where there's the pressure of deadlines. It all came to me very naturally." As for Preston, he admitted that it was frustrating at times, wanting to connect his brain to his nose better when identifying scents. But overtime, it unlocked a whole new experience for both. Successfully working together as both life and creative partners has not been a fast journey. Preston and Albarello were quick to share that it took years before they found the rhythm. While supporting one another was important, so was giving each other space at the right time. This was especially evident with their fragrance -- quite literally allowing breathing time so that their ideas and own experience would shine through with each scent.
The entirety of the process continues to go back to the idea of authenticity. From the storytelling aspect, Preston is excited about the project because it draws "attention to bridging different worlds to unlock or create new formulas." He adds, "It's about telling new stories instead of the same old stories. There's a lot of parallels in all of these worlds -- fashion, design, art, music, fragrance, food. I take my work and I use it to identify these parallels. It's about finding that balance, which I like to call, 'instant language.' You just instantly get it -- it's not too foreign, but it's familiar and feels new at the same time. There's a sort of dance that you have to master and it takes time to get there." Albarello chimes in and breaks it down philosophically, "It's not about creating something new. It's about how we can use nature to make something really meaningful. I think that's what the younger generation is looking for, because I just feel like they're tired of the same thing. This is authentic and the real thing. It's cool and it gives more meaning."
Throughout the entire process, Preston and Albarello welcomed their baby daughter Nova, who at the time of writing, is only nine months old. Seeing the birth of their daughter as well as their joint perfumes, this project is quite literally the definition of authenticity to the couple. The originality of their ideas transformed to a memorable, olfactory sense is combined with the ever so complex journey of becoming parents. For Albarello and Preston, their Henry Jacques marks the beginning of a new era for the couple and their growing family, making this project that much more significant.
The Heron by Henry Jacques and Sabrina by Henry Jacques fragrances are now available for purchase online.
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