Created by Inno Sotto with Charabot, one of the leading fragrance makers in the world, the trio of scents defies popular convention – that is, avoiding the prevailing trend in the perfume industry by forming another nose-irritant (essentially scents so strong they could pass as a pest-control formula). "It’s always been a natural inclination of mine," Sotto declares, "not to look, sound or smell like anyone else." The rebel sartorialist, often mistaken for someone in the music industry because of his long hair, which he humorously claims was "ahead of Rapunzel’s," categorizes his style as strictly individualist. The fragrances reflect Sotto’s leanings, their unusual combinations a sensory surprise. "It’s difficult to verbalize a scent," he explains. "It’s an inherently personal experience," a fact which he appreciates. "That’s the great thing about it – it’s dynamic. Because of our chemistry with fragrances, scents smell different on each person."
Sotto drew on the smells of his childhood and his favorite things, like the essence of fresh linens, the smell of infants and his fondness for lavender and incense, as inspiration for the three ISM scents, each a character in itself.
Based on that bastion of upper-class exclusivity, a resort in France that’s played host to Coco Chanel’s first shop and – later on – became ground zero for her empire, Deauville is equal parts pure and sultry. Chosen because of its relation to Chanel, a fact Sotto mentions as particularly relevant to him, the seaside town has been claimed as a holiday destination by the moneyed elite (and literary luminaries like Gustave Flaubert and Marcel Proust). Its summery weather and picturesque landscape became the provenance for this fresh scent. Characterized as a cooler and milder fragrance, Deauville evokes a freshness of spirit, due in part to its tangerine and bergamot top notes. Cedar wood and musk, taking their place as bottom notes, add a sensual undertone.
Surrealist painter Joan Miro evoked a sense of playfulness in his art, transposing hard objects into bursts of bright color and iridescent squiggles onto canvas. This same playfulness forms the basis of Sotto’s scent, Miro. Dubbed the more assertive and colorful of the three fragrances, its ideal wearer is a man unafraid of experimenting – in life and in fashion. With its freshly-cut wooded scent, Miro makes the most staid of men into someone a little more adventurous and just a bit more roguish.
Thanks to the inspiration-laden land of Grasse, France, the locale that inspired Sotto’s signature scent Huit, French for the number eight, the fragrance lends itself a distinct quality, a fresh spiciness akin to women’s eau de parfum. Don’t be fooled by the similarities, because the scent was meant for men of power. "It’s confident," says Sotto, "and entirely different from others on the market." The number eight is of particular interest to him because it resembles the figure of a woman, a shape that’s guided his career as an influential womenswear designer. "It’s also a balanced figure – no matter which way you turn it, it looks the same." With his roots set squarely in counterculture, Sotto is proud to declare Huit the most unfamiliar of scents, rather sui generis, a mark he seems to think should be saved for only the most irreverent of individuals.
"As a child, I was never interested in joining the rest of the pack," Sotto states. "I was more interested in doing my own thing." Now, there’s a man with a scents of self.