What do 'anti-perfumes' smell like?

After making its name in fashion, Commedes Garçons blazed a trail in the perfume world with the very same qualities that made it a fashion iconoclast: these weren’t your typical designer creations but “anti-perfumes” that were avant-garde, unconventional and unafraid to mix the synthetic with the natural to come up with entirely new aromas that were never, ever smelled before.

CdG’s latest fragrances, which are collaborations with style icons or cultural institutions, continue the house tradition of creating the most modern yet strangely compelling scents.

Daphne

Inspired by: Daphne Guinness, daughter of a baron and heiress to the Guinness beer fortune. Daphne has dabbled in the arts but is best known as a collector of haute couture — the style icon with the skunk-striped updo who’s inspired Alexander McQueen, Karl Lagerfeld, Francois Nars and now Comme des Garçons to want to cloak her in their creations. “I’ve had an unusual trajectory in life,” Guinness declares, “with such extremes that I can see how things fit together that mightn’t at first sight.”

Scent recipe: Taking smells from Guinness’s favorite places on earth, Daphne has a top note of incense, a heart of tuberose and a base note of oud.

Who can wear it: Definitely not a wallflower scent, rich, heady Daphne is surprisingly accessible and addictive. Fashionistas, arty types and scent connoisseurs who want heads to turn in their fragrant wake should definitely check this out.

Standard

Inspired by: Finnish design studio Artek’s philosophy on standard thinking, based on founder Alvar Aalto’s idea of systems and standards in furniture design. Comme des Garçons first collaborated with Artek in 2007, at the latter’s exhibition of “second-cycle” furniture at London’s Dover Street Market and Comme des Garçons’ main flagship store in Tokyo.

Scent recipe: Since both players are modern and minimalist, Standard combines synthetic and natural elements like ginger, lemon and cedarwood with Finnish Labrador tea, metal and rust.

Who can wear it: Men and women who dislike frou-frou and prefer pared-down elegance with a futuristic edge.

Scent One: Hinoki

Inspired by: Hinoki takes its name from the hinoki cypress, a tree that only grows in Japan and is the preferred wood for building palaces, temples, shrines and the finest wooden soaking baths. Hinoki was inspired by a visit to Tawaraya, a famous three-century-old traditional Japanese inn located in Kyoto. Soaking in the legendary open-air hinoki ofuro (wooden bath) filled with warm spring water on a chilly morning, the idea for the perfume was born.

Scent recipe: The ofuro is captured perfectly in the full, rich scent of the wood, the smells of the surrounding greenery, the soft touch of meditative incense, and the memories of native moss, resulting in a dry, woody-fresh scent with an intangible ”something” that gives it a mystical edge.

Who can wear it: Macho men, athletes of both genders and outdoorsy types.

Incense Series 3

Inspired by: Spiritual scents that have stirred monks, high priestesses, and holy men throughout the ages. Magic and ethereal yet bound to the earth, these five ancient and evocative scents — Avignon, Kyoto, Jaisalmer, Zagorsk, and Ouarzazate — represent a pilgrimage to all corners of the globe.

Scent recipe: Though all are based on incense, of course, supporting notes like coffee, amber, patchouli, vanilla and everlasting flower differentiate each fragrance so that each conjures the exact emotion and feel of the idea behind its creation and name.

Who can wear it: Sarah Jessica Parker made Avignon famous when she disclosed that she loved layering it with a drugstore musk and Egyptian oil to create her signature perfume; these unisex aromas can also be enjoyed by anyone comforted by the relaxing atmosphere of a spa, the hushed reverence of a church or precious memories of a spiritual sojourn.

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Comme des Garçons fragrances are available only at Adora Department Store, on three levels of Greenbelt 5, Ayala Center, Makati City.