All photos Matthew Brookes /Courtesy Alexis Mabille

For his Fall 2017 Haute Couture Collection, Alexis Mabille was inspired by the association of scents with colors and presented 20 feminine looks that often played on gradation of colors, and offered plenty of drama with a profusion of tulle and feathers.

Mabille’s keen sense of smell was further honed when he worked with Rodrigo Flores-Roux, a senior perfumer at Givaudan, to create his “Beau Bow” fragrance for Six Scents in 2010. The fragrance is crisp and fresh with top notes of mandarin, cedrat, bergamot, lavender, bitter orange, basil, mint, violet leaf, galbanum and lentisque resin, and has a heart of jasmine, magnolia, rose, cyclamen, and honeysuckle, with a base of vetiver, moss, iris and woody notes.

For his Fall 2017 collection the designer found inspiration in the scent of peonies, carnations and geraniums to create a series of blood red looks that includes a long silk velvet dress with dramatic cape sleeves in flounced pleated and frayed organza in gradation of red to pink and a flirty smoking bustier dress in blood red crepe and satin with ostrich feathers for the skirt, again in a gradation of red to pale pink.

The scent of almond, cherry blossom and rose water inspired a few nude looks, such as a bustier gown with flounced sleeves in gradated white and nude pleated tulle embellished with midnight satin ribbons, while the scent of fig and musk inspired a corseted gown with midnight blue satin-leather skirt embellished with matching pleated organza as well as an elegant long-sleeved bustier gown in midnight crepe trimmed at the neckline and cuffs with pleated, frayed organza “fur” in gradations of midnight blue to violet.

The most dramatic look was a faux-fur blouson created in gold laminated rose flowers delicately embellished with tiny crystals. The blouson was inspired by the scent of bergamot, tonka beans and opoponax (or sweet myrrh), and was paired with a silk slip dress tied with a large bow, a signature for the French designer.

Eschewing a runway presentation, the designer selected the spectacular rooms of the Hôtel d’Evreux, with its high ceilings and gilded walls providing a dramatic backdrop to the , for a static presentation, which gave viewers the ability to take in the craftsmanship. (Sadly the rooms were not perfumed!)

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