Arizona is a floral fragrance launched in 2018 by fashion design company Proenza Schouler. Fashion designers Jack McCullough and Lorenzo Hernandez worked with perfumers Carlos Benaim and Loc Dong to create Arizona, the company’s first fragrance.
In an interview with Vogue, the designers explained that “the fragrance is less about Arizona the state, and more about the state of mind. It’s more focused on the spirit of the desert…. And the journey inward!”
The Hype
It’s been a while since I can remember a perfume release with so much hype surrounding it for so long. Proenza Schouler contracted with L’Oreal to produce this fragrance over two years ago. Then McCullough and Hernandez set out on a road trip, to disconnect and search for inspiration. They claim to have smelled every perfume in Sephora, and various other references, before deciding to base their fragrance on a scentless flower, the night-blooming cactus. Two weeks before its release, and less than a month into 2018, Harper’s Bazaar proclaimed it “best new perfume of the year.”
I am not Proenza Schouler’s customer, and I’m sure they don’t mind. I buy my ashwaganda powder from Moon Juice, Jack prefers Sun Potion. I’m considerably older, and arguably less cool, than Proenza Schouler’s “girl.” I don’t get their aesthetic, particularly their obsession with Neuzeit S font for everything, all the time. I’m quite sure they wouldn’t get my aesthetic of “braless maxi dresses and flip flops with everything” either.
Nonetheless, it was hard for me to resist the hype surrounding this perfume. It sounded intriguingly unique. Anyway, I have this way of becoming absolutely corrupted with curiosity about how something smells once I know that it exists. After seeing their product line, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the fragrance (unlike this $2900 mink floppy purse) was quite affordable. So I pre-ordered a bottle of Arizona through the Proenza Schouler website and anxiously awaited its arrival.
The designers from Proenza Schouler said that (besides the Arizona state of mind), their inspiration for the fragrance was the night-blooming cactus. It has a large, delicate looking white bloom, and practically no smell at all. So the designers and perfumers “started inventing and designing what that would smell like.” The result is Arizona, the perfume, with what they are calling a unique cactus flower accord. They wanted to play off the contrasts of a dry, spiky cactus and a soft, white flower.
The Fragrance
Arizona opens with a strong blast of green jasmine. As it begins to breathe, the scent of orange blossom unfolds into the jasmine, but with none of the waxiness or indole that I typically love about white floral fragrances. These are daytime white flowers — fragrant but not narcotic. The base of Arizona is a rooty, green iris. It’s dry, for sure, but not delicate and powdery. It’s not carroty either. It’s earthy, and more like the papery “peel” of an old rhizome.
As Arizona warms on my skin, the moist, green jasmine fades and a mineralic note becomes more apparent. It smells like a deconstructed mitti attar. The elements of earth are there, but they’ve been rearranged by human hands. The effect is somewhat like when you turn on music and the equalizer settings are off; you recognize the song, but it doesn’t sound quite right. Ever-present in the background are salicylates, providing the solar notes to remind you that this night-blooming cactus is now strutting around in the daylight.
Over time, the florals in Arizona seem to transform from white to purple. From clover, to lilac, to orchid (which could smell like anything), and finally to freesia. Although there is nothing fruity in Arizona, the fragrance, there was an hour in the middle where it smelled a lot like Bubblicious wild strawberry gum.
The salicylates in Arizona are a lot like acetate fabric. At first it feels silky and luminous, but as it wears the fibers get abraded and it starts to be slightly prickly. This was the feeling that Arizona gave to me over time. A metallic note weaves in and out. Little tiny snags pull at my senses. Rough patches appear.
The designers of Proenza Schouler described Arizona, the fragrance, as “a Georgia O’Keefe world”. This seems like a very fitting description, as the fragrance takes its inspiration, the night-blooming cactus flower, and paints it at an exaggerated scale, in the glare of the desert at high noon. It is an elements of nature presented in dramatically abstracted form, with skewed proportions and amplification of detail.
In my mind, I was expecting one of two things from a fragrance named “Arizona.” Either a petrichor and soft floral version of the desert just after a storm, or something hyper-natural with a new-agey vibe. It is neither of these things. The designers talked a lot about one of the themes of their travel being “disconnection,” and I feel like they’ve achieved that here. Arizona, the fragrance, is like going to a completely foreign place, and then later trying to describe that place to someone who is also unfamiliar with that place and its constituent elements. So it isn’t about the state, and is about the state of mind. It’s a new conceptalization.
Proenza Schouler’s Arizona is high-concept art, just like their fashion line of clothing and accessories. To me, it smells like “if Mugler’s Alien and Secretions Magnifique had a baby….” It could also be the really quirky, much younger half-sister of LouLou by Cacharel. (Like, if LouLou’s dad had a late midlife crisis and ran off to start a second family with a much younger woman). I don’t think it will be a favorite for me, but Proenza Schouler and “their girls” shouldn’t be discouraged by that. I grew up wearing Jean Patou’s Joy — I’m not their target audience. I can envision a lot of young women loving this fragrance. The fact that not everybody understands it just adds to its coolness factor.
Arizona by Proenza Schouler is a decidely feminine fragrance, which fits their market. Men who enjoy florals could wear it easily though.
Manufacturer’s listed notes are orris, white cactus flower, jasmine, orange flower, solar accord, musk, and cashmeran. Longevity on me was about 8 hours (with the solar accord persisting longer), and sillage was low-moderate.
Proenza Schouler’s Arizona is presented in EdP formulation. It is currently available for $100 per 50mL at https://www.proenzaschouler.com.
