Byredo's New Scent Is Inspired By an Iconic Photo From the Tumblr Era

Today, Oct. 6, Byredo launches a brand new romantic fall fragrance, Eyes Closed. The popular Stockholm perfumery describes the scent as one that “configures a world where love eclipses all difference and division.” The intention is unity and connection, themes always top of mind during the holiday season.

The scent greets you upon entrance with notes of sweet, candied spices of cinnamon and cardamom. It then guides the wearer through a tour of earthy and natural flavors, with middle notes of carrot, ginger, and orris butter. As for bottom notes, the fragrance dries down to a grounding mix of base notes of patchouli and papyrus. Byredo designed the perfume to invoke a feeling of warmth, tenderness, and familiarity, the feeling of autumn, of a hypnotic teenage crush. 

Byredo credits the inspiration for its latest Eau de Parfum to legendary British photographer Alasdair McLellan, whose work spans multiple decades and industries, including music, fashion, and celebrity portraits. Specifically, his famous photograph featuring two boys titled “The Perfect Kiss,” which appeared in the 2012 Gay issue of Man About Town, influenced the new scent. Almost immediately following its publication, the photo became an iconic image of the Internet natives of the 2010s, pinned and reposted on queer, romantic Tumblr mood boards all over the world. Byredo refers to the product of this deep inspiration as a collaboration between the brand and the photographer. 

Byredo Eyes Closed $200.00

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For a brand like Byredo, which is as often associated with poetry, places, moods, and art as much as scent, culturally-inspired fragrances (like Mojave Ghost and Mumbai Noise) are right in their comfort zone. Eyes Closed is no different. The fragrance creates a sense of harmony and balance between love and division.

Of this latest release, Byredo’s founder and creative director, Ben Gorham, explains that “distance and separation have been a recurring theme over the past few years, and I wanted to capture a scent that supersedes this fragmentation." The scent is as much about intimacy as it is our current times, adding that by "pulling away from screens that imitate closeness, we might be more in tune with each other if we simply close our eyes and shut out the physical world.”