Maison Margiela has never been about following trends. The iconic French fashion house has always celebrated—and embraced—the subversive and uniquely unconventional, constantly pushing the boundaries of modern fashion. Through the fearless and masterful deconstruction of clothing, the proposition of extreme proportions and bizarre shapes, and the thoughtful reinvention (and oftentimes, fusion) of masculine and feminine silhouettes, Margiela has created a new technical vocabulary.
It should come as no surprise that Replica, its scents line, dares to reinvent the language of fragrances, too. Typically, perfumes or eau de toilettes are distinguished by their scent profiles and notes and the general emotions or feelings they evoke. These are usually encapsulated and communicated in their name, branding, or even advertising (usually featuring an A-list Hollywood celebrity in a rich, evocative setting). However, Replica breaks that norm and is carefully crafted to replicate (thus, the name) very, very specific and familiar memories. These scents instantly evoke precise images and sensations, and this vivid spark of imagination and personal nostalgia has attracted more than just Margiela fans, it has made fragrance enthusiasts, fashionistas, and anyone who wants more than a commonplace and conventional scent and sensation just as curious and inspired.
Inspired By Maison Margiela
Reminiscent of Maison Margiela’s minimalist yet iconic hallmarks like its signature white lab coats and its famous brand label with three rows of numbers from zero to 23 fixed with four stitches at the corners, the Replica bottles are marked with cotton labels that fill in some blanks to help you better conjure the memories in your head: firstly, the fragrance’s name, usually a recognizable moment or scene like Bubble Bath or Flower Market, or something a bit more surprising (and specific!) like Whispers in the Library. Fragrance Description doesn’t identify ingredient notes but rather points out familiar items—linen, fresh rain, coffee, and even leather—whose scent might trigger a memory. Provenance and Period gives you a city and a year to contextualize the setting more concretely. The only thing that stays constant is Style Description, which plainly states “Memory in a fragrance.”
Memories are often personal, and yet Replica manages to choose scents that still resonate collectively. Martin Margiela, Margiela’s iconic designer and founder, famously and fiercely kept his identity shrouded in secrecy and anonymity, as he wanted the focus to be on the clothes and not on his personality.
Similarly, Replica fragrances are inspired by moments and memories that could be anyone’s. You can definitely enjoy Sailing Day even if you’ve never leaped off a yacht into the crystal clear waters of Paros, Greece, and you can fall in love with Flower Market even if you didn’t wander through the Marché aux Fleurs in Paris in 2011. While the scents invite you to relish and relive significant memories of the past, they also equip and embolden you to create new ones.
A Robust and Diverse Collection
Replica always has a robust and diverse collection of roughly 16 scents at any time, featuring different memories brought to life by a range of notes and inflections. Lazy Sunday Morning is one of the brand’s best-selling fragrances and is often described as fresh, clean, delicate, and comforting, as it conjures up slow Sunday mornings lingering in bed. The sensation of freshly washed linen on your skin comes from the pure lily of the valley and comforting white musks, while powdery iris and ambrette seeds add a warm, sensual feeling of morning sun rays on your skin.
On the other end of the fragrance spectrum but still beloved in the Replica collection is Under the Stars, which brings to mind the memory of a starry night spent outdoors. It features oud essence, a rare and intensely fragrant oil extracted from tree resin, that lends the intrigue and mystery of night. Labdanum, meanwhile, is a warm and ambery ingredient that recreates the warmth of a summer night. It’s capped off by leather accord that infuses an element of raw, untamed nature into the fragrance.
Other fan favorites are Beach Walk, a radiant and invigorating fragrance that reminds you of summer days spent slathered in sunscreen and walking on sandy beaches; and Jazz Club, a warm, heady, and intimate fragrance that captures the elegant scent of premium cigars and rich cocktails in a woody club.
Replica Lazy Sunday Morning Eau de Toilette
P5,150, Rustan’s
Replica Under the Stars Eau de Toilette
P5,150, Rustan’s
Replica Beach Walk Eau de Toilette
P5,150, Rustan’s
Replica Jazz Club Eau de Toilette
P5,150, Rustan’s
From The Garden
Their newest fragrance, From the Garden, is an incredibly unique and inventive launch. Conceptualized and crafted by master perfumer Olivier Cresp and his son Sebastien (also a perfumer), the scent immediately sends you to a scene straight from the movies Under The Tuscan Sun or Call Me By Your Name—a sunny afternoon spent in a lush Italian garden, with your hands plucking ripe tomatoes and digging around the moist, damp soil while gardening. “My father made me smell the garden plants, and I did the same with my son,” recalls the elder Cresp, revealing how the memories of his family’s heritage and this precious bond shared over the years gave birth to this fragrance.
Grassy, earthy, and slightly damp notes are taken from a specific variety of patchouli to recall hands making contact with a verdant patch of soil, and these are delightfully topped with bright, juicy, and tangy notes from tomato leaf accord and green mandarin to evoke the crisp sensation of plucking fruit from the stem. As the scent lingers, aromatics from geranium essence become more pronounced, leaving delicate floral notes. It is an impossibly vivid, incredibly unique, and endlessly fresh fragrance that celebrates moments of enchanting, sun-kissed moments of tranquility spent immersed in lush nature.
Replica From the Garden Eau de Toilette
P5,150, Rustan’s
First Boutique in Manila
The best way to discover and experience Replica is in Maison Margiela Fragrances’ newly opened boutique in Greenbelt 5. The first in the Philippines, the sleek store boasts a meticulously curated concept and elegantly minimalist design, and both Replica fans (who used to have to travel to different cities to experience the impressive and immersive retail selection) and curious newcomers can finally indulge in the full lineup of all 16 fragrances on an island pedestal at the center on the store, where they can spray the eau de toilettes on carefully reprinted labels or themselves.
Replica’s fragrances are unisex, just as Maison Margiela challenges gender norms in their fashion, so the entire collection is set up and arranged from the fresh, light scents to the darker and moodier ones. (From The Garden is currently at the center, with its balanced profile.) Both men and women are invited to go on a personal, memory-evoking journey in the store and explore their own feelings, emotions, and preferences, instead of being nudged towards traditionally masculine or feminine scents.
Each scent is paired with a thematic key visual representing the memory or emotion of the scent, which is also found in the fragrance box. These key visuals are blown up in lit, square photo boxes and highlighted on a discovery wall, to allow for those who are inspired by visuals and vibes to find their fragrance.
Aside from the eau de toilettes, the boutique showcases an entire wall of Replica’s home scenting and bath and body options. After the Replica fragrance line was founded in 2012, the brand began to develop and launch new products in the succeeding years to complement the shopper’s fragrance lifestyle. High-quality candles and diffusers extend those rich, memory-evoking scents into living and work spaces, creating the perfect ambiance for any occasion. Meanwhile, Lazy Sunday Morning, Sailing Day, and By The Fireplace scents are available in shower gels, perfume lotions, and scented hand creams. These help prolong the scent on the skin through an additional layer, as well as add an exquisite sensorial experience.
A Personal Margiela Memory
Replica’s personalization station has become a draw for the store and the brand as well. It’s a great way to participate in how Martin Margiela put in his spirit and signature in his garments; now, as fans remember and recall memories when they are finding their signature scent, they have a chance to make their bottle truly their own by writing their own story on the label. Guests who purchase a 100ml Replica perfume can personalize the label of the bottle and fill in the blanks with their own thoughts and memories. They can also choose and print out their photo and make it their selected key visual, which will be printed and elegantly inserted into a specially designed pouch.
Maison Margiela creates an exceptional, unexpected, and yet deeply affecting experience in every detail. Through their rebellious spirit, expert craftsmanship, and irrepressible imagination, Replica has captured “memory in a fragrance” and allows us to relish in the joy and reminiscence of our collective human experience. But our own experiences color our memories differently, so each scent remains unquestionably unique for everyone. There’s a scent and memory for everyone and anyone at Replica.
The Maison Margiela Fragrances Boutique is located in Greenbelt 5, Makati City. The Maison Margiela Replica Fragrances are also available in-store at Rustan’s (Alabang, Makati, Shangri-La Plaza), Greenbelt Boutique, Power Plant Mall, Rustan’s Cebu (coming this June 2024); and online at Rustans.com.
