In my previous newsletter, I reported on the Grand Tour through Switzerland. This week I am again doing a small part of this tour in another region and I am travelling with my Alfa GTV 2000 from 1974.
It’s exactly the same car as my dear uncle used to drive. During his lifetime he bought three times this beautiful designed model by Bertone. Now that I myself drive this vintage Alfa, the Grand Tour has an even more nostalgic character. In terms of speed, the GTV 2000 goes well with modern traffic, but you drive without a safety belt and of course the ventilation leaves much to be desired and when you drive you permanently smell the aroma of petrol around the car.
Porfirio Rubirosa liked to soak up the smell of Petrol when driving his Ferrari. At the beginning of the sixties he even planned to develop his own men's fragrance with a hint of gasoline. He did not succeed because of his fatal accident. Hence I honoured him with YVRA 1965. To realize that suggestion of pleasantly smelling gasoline in a fragrance, the use of red pepper oil is crucial. Just squeeze some red peppercorns together and you will find out for yourself.
With a stopover at Brenners Park Hotel in Baden Baden, I stayed at the Lake Neuchatel. I do not share the opinion of my beloved writer Oscar Wilde by any means. He once said about Switzerland: ‘That dreadful place, so vulgar with its big ugly mountains, all black and white like an enormous photograph.’ The Grand Tour proves that Wilde was wrong.
My first fragrance YVRA 1958 has a strong link with the phenomenon of travel and in our collection we also offer scented pads. These days I badly need them in my over heated car. The scented pads can also be used for a musty sports bag or in your wardrobe. During the last few days we entered into a partnership with Travelteq. The company makes ideal bags for transporting your daily belongings and computer. Their bags are made of beautiful Italian leather and have handy storage compartments, even with a separate storage compartment for cigar and telephone. Every customer of their new bags will receive the scented pads in the near future, with which the bag will smell optimally for a long time.
Keep you all posted and safe travels,
Yvo van Regteren Altena
Dear reader
Many of you will have missed in recent months worldly delights such as concerts, shopping or the visit to restaurants. The nice thing about that lack is that you tend to think back to the best experiences you had before restaurants turned to a lockdown.
In the past, I have written about both the most spoiled restaurants as the simplest places where you can still find your culinary salvation. And just like with perfumes, good food is always about the right ingredients and the right proportions. For this occasion, I would like to connect 3 of my most appreciated experiences of the past months. And just because I’m obsessed with fragrances, I would like to make a connection with my own fragrances as well.
Lemon
For a long time, my favourite dessert was the crostata di frutto di bosco at the Florentine Trattoria Cammillo, but when I got a dessert of a crispy lemon from Menton with white peach and verbena in Paris at Epicure my preference changed. I was taken straight away into culinary ecstasy… Perfectly dosed, fresh and sparkling. A delicate freshness that I also strived for in my first fragrance YVRA 1958. Do not hesitate in buying this one, the 25% off deal ends on the 5th of September!
Wood
I discovered an amazing wine list by Margot Los in Amsterdam at Café Parlotte. Take the two Chablis houses of Raveneau and Dauvissat alone, which are extremely delicate with the use of wood. For me it’s also essential in perfumery. The trend of heavy Oud scents is not for me, the delicate scent of cedar wood or the slightly resin-scented Guaiac wood applied in YVRA 1979 are much more refined.
Pepper
My most simple, but tastiest pasta I had in Rome at Roscioli Salumeria con Cucina. It is a very well-supplied delicatessen shop, where you can also eat delicious food. I love their Pasta Cacio e Pepe. A super simple, but tasty sauce with ingredients such as pepper, pecorino and parmigiano, and essentially the water in which the pasta is cooked. This pasta is all about the right preparation and proportions. Just like my fragrance YVRA 1965, which contains a lot of red pepper, you also have to be careful with this dish that you dose it perfectly.
It is a good prospect that these locations will be open again these days and let's hope that this situation will hold up this fall. A life without sensory perception in which smell and taste have to be quarantined will hit hard...
Kind regards,
Yvo
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Last September I made a European road trip for various magazines.
For example, I visited the Champagne house Veuve Clicquot because in their cellars they have captured the scents of the various grapes that they use in their champagne in a barrel. You literally smell grape varieties such as Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. A very special experience that you reach via an imposing staircase where the top years of the house are mentioned.
Then I moored in Provence at the spectacularly located hotel La Bastide De Gordes. This is an ideal location with fantastic views. Then I continued my route for a week in Tuscany to moor on the way back at the Grand Hotel Tremezzo on Lake Como. Many rooms overlook the lake where the paddle boats of yesteryear still pass by on their way to the highly romantic Bellagio on the other side.
As the last station I visited for a report on the star restaurants of the Swiss Park Hotel Vitznau. The hotel enjoys a superb location on the shores of Lake Lucerne. Life can't get much more spoiled than in this art-infused hotel with only individually designed suites. The hotel also houses an unprecedented wealth of special wines. For example, they have all the vintages of the famous Sauternes Château d'Aquem. And of course, I could not resist photographing the year 1958, while there was also a bottle from 1885.
When I got home, the trip seems like a long time ago and it will probably be my last report again for a while, due to the new measures that are restricting us. A desolate prospect where we even face a mini lockdown. Let's hope that this brake on social life will soon pass. If you want to brighten up the semi quarantine, there is still our YVRA 1958 Room Spray that evokes thoughts to happier times.
With kind regards,
Yvo van Regteren Altena
In my opinion there is no film series like the James Bond cycle that impresses in terms of superior locations, understated style and perfect decoration. From the furthest beaches to the most expensive champagnes and sophisticated clothing. All these pillars come into the picture in every new Bond adventure.
In the late 1990’s I wrote a story about Venice where I had a long interview with Arrigo Cipriani, owner of the famous restaurant Harry's Bar. A beloved Venetian haunt for famous artists, art collector Peggy Guggenheim and writer Ernest Hemingway. I knew that Arrigo collected yellow ties and that’s why I had bought a nice yellow Hermès tie with playing seals. He was clearly thrilled with it and immediately got his fantastic cookbook with recipes like Carpaccio (invented at Harry's Bar) which I still make from time to time.
Arrigo took me on a short boat trip because he had to arrange something concerning the film festival. We moored at a scaffold where three men sat. One of them was still in a white bathrobe despite noon. At first, I didn't even notice, but when he turned around, I was face to face with Sean Connery. I was so amazed that I couldn't put out much meaning and said something along the lines like: ‘Always dreamed of being James Bond myself’, to which he replied: ‘You can always give it a try.’ Even though Connery passed away last weekend at the age of 90; I will never forget his sonorous voice.
Many years later, after an Amsterdam Bond premiere, I had a brief encounter with Pierce Brosnan at the Amstel Hotel. The happening was a standing buffet where a friend of mine had put his knife and fork in the breast pocket of his tuxedo jacket. Brosnan said wittily: ‘Are the gentlemen enjoying the party or are you just stealing the cutlery from the Amstel Hotel?’
Of course, the sophisticated world of James Bond is also surrounded by delicate fragrances. Bond creator Ian Fleming was a perfume aficionado and featured them in several books. During his morning writing sessions, he was always enveloped in a richly scented cloud of Floris No. 89.
Bond actors Roger Moore and Sean Connery have not followed in the footsteps of creator Ian Fleming. Both actors had a unanimous preference for the historical and sultry scented Jicky of Guerlain. Later Connery switched to the sensual smelling Habit Rouge of the same house. Many ingredients, like lemon, bergamot, sandalwood and patchouli, that figure in Habit Rouge also figure in YVRA 1979. Too bad Connery never smelled it..
Kind regards,
Yvo van Regteren Altena
As the end of the year approaches, it is a good time to reflect on the past months. The year has turned lives upside down and forced us to change our lifestyle. As a travel journalist I sometimes made 3 return flights a month, while now I have only flown back and forth to Switzerland twice since March.
Not traveling does activate your memories of the last long journeys you have made. For example, I have been thinking back a lot about the trip I made to the Andes where I visited the Andes Mountains in Peru, to an altitude of more than 5500 meters. I wrote a reportage about the very rare black Alpaca with its fantastically soft wool. Now it seems like an endless time ago.
I also think back to the long journey I made two years ago to Namibia. A journey that contributed to the development of the recently launched YVRA 1500. I got the idea of developing a perfume with a sort of shock effect from a memorable encounter. I made a long car trip by 4-wheel drive from the capital Windhoek to the North, towards the border with Angola. All the way in the North you sometimes do not encounter a single living being during a day's drive and the world seems endless. After hours of traveling through endless sandy plains, I ended up in Kunene where I saw a deserted settlement of a Himba tribe. You cannot imagine how isolated these nomads live together with their cows and goats under the most primitive conditions. They own little more than a cabin and some water from a nearby well.
Both men and women hardly wear any clothes. Their traditional clothing is made from the skins of slaughtered animals. Because water is scarce, Himba women never wash themselves, but rub themselves in with ash and otjize, which is an extremely strongly scented mixture of goat fat, herbs and ocher. In puberty, girls braid their hair into little ponytails that are rubbed with this red colored mixture. The scent of Himba women, and especially their hair, is so extremely strong that you have to turn away from it at first. If you did not know that that striking scent comes from people, you would think that the scent comes from an old donkey.
Together with my guide, I gave a Himba girl a ride to a nearby community. A day after she got out of the car, the car still smelled of the bizarre scent mixture, which, despite the vehemence, had something interesting. The same is true with the recently launched YVRA 1500. At first, the scent is very intimidating and you can almost smell it with your stomach, but over time the scent also takes on something intriguing because you have not smelled it before. This powerhouse, consisting of osmanthus, bitter orange and mint can now be enjoyed by a group of enthusiasts. At YVRA, we are already looking forward to a life where there is again room for positivity, travel and winter sports. To celebrate that new era, we are already working on a new energetic and fresh formula that should please both women and men.
Keep you all posted and kind regards,
Yvo
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Dear friends,
Many had looked forward to a liberating week of skiing at the beginning of this year. I myself have long been eyeing my favorite areas such as the Swiss Engadine with its vast snow-covered lakes and beautifully situated hotels. I am a fan of the Waldhaus at Sils Maria. It is a 15-minute drive from Sanit Moritz and time seems to have stood still in the hotel. In the common room, where music is played in the evening, you are not allowed to touch your mobile, because that disturbs the peace…
And what a shame not to be able to go up and down to a village like Gstaad these weeks and visit the Palace Hotel where in the past Roger Moore could regularly be found at the bar.
Not standing on skis forces you to think back to the past. A time where all limbs were still intact and you skied without a helmet and an old-fashioned salopettes on 2-meter-long skis from the roofs of completely snowed-under chalets.
Or the days when you went on the slopes with friends who have difficulty with the regular ugly ski clothing and therefore appear on the slopes in a stylish tuxedo.
Who knows that later this year it will still be possible to go to the crackling snow with an après ski around a fireplace. During winter sports I am not really concerned with fragrances, but I recently realized that the YVRA 1500 L’Essence de Distance is a perfect fit for a cold walk through a snow-covered forest. The strong wood tones and some smoky ingredients make this fragrance the ideal choice for winter sports in my opinion. For now, just stay in your own house and keep your spirits up.
Of course, you can cover your own house in our YVRA 1958 L'Essence de Résidence room spray dreaming of new winter sports trips in the near future.
Kind regards,
Yvo van Regteren Altena
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Dear friends,
Oger and YVRA can both look back on a long history. Our collaborations go back as far as the early 1990s. In the field of Italian clothing, the Netherlands was a relatively unexplored area as a Corneliani suit of around 1000 guilders was almost the highest attainable. Oger was together with a specialist in Italian clothing Jan Dodeman, one of the few pioneers in the Netherlands who managed to put refined Italian customization on the map here. With a passion for detail, customers have opened their eyes to the great private pleasures that are hidden in a tailor-made suit.
The store opened in 1990 and would slowly but surely expand over the decades with the highest reachable in the field of suits. In the meantime, people interested in the field of sublime textiles have become quite spoiled with attractive suit brands such as Attolini, Brioni, and Isaia. Over the past 3 decades, YVRA and Oger have regularly found each other. Since the very beginning of the business magazine Quote, where I wrote frequently about all the small hidden details of Italian tailoring items of the Oger store were put under the public eye. Many readers of Quote Magazine turned out to be customers of Oger, so an exciting collaboration was bound to happen.
Once a 1-day flight was made by private jet to visit a Napolitan atelier with a group of extremely good and motivated customers. Everyone was sewed into a tailor-made suit with great dedication. And of course, we learned that the pizza tastes best at the foot of the Vesuvius as the ovens in that small area are fired with apricot tree branches which gives it that very special extra flavor to the pizza. Many of the Oger tailor-made group immediately stocked a kilo of buffalo mozzarella for the flight back and everyone spoke of an unforgettable Italian adventure.
Oger himself and both his sons, like to keep their sights on Italy. The store now offers an unprecedented range of suits, shirts, and shoes and not just formal attire. The casual range with numerous Italian brands is also impressive. Every year the store fills up with collections that have been purchased with their own taste and style.
The world of fine fragrances has always been an essential part of the relationship with Oger. I myself share with father Oger the predilection for fresh fragrances, but we had also succumbed to the delicious smelling potpourri of the Profumeria Santa Maria Novella during the Pitti Men's Fair in Florence in the nighties. No wonder the heavenly smelling bags are still available at the Oger stores. In the past Oger decided to developed his own fragrance together with the former publisher of Esquire Jan Weduwer and me. I remember the golden cap which was cast in the shape of a crown. I could not have imagined that 20 years later I would end up at the Oger stores with my own fragrances. It was an honor to make my entrance with my fragrances and what a triumph that my creations quickly conquered a place in the Amsterdam PC Hooftstraat after the launch.
Best regards,
Yvo van Regteren Altena
Dear friends,
In some cases, fragrances can turn into miracles… Take the 1974 film Profuma di Donna by Italian director Dino Risi. A suicidal war veteran decides to live on because he is inspired by a woman's perfume. In 1992 the remake Scent of a Woman, was made with a legendary lead role for Al Pacino that would earn him an Oscar. In both films, the scent of the lead actress brings back memories of happier times in the veteran.
Most prominent, however, was the presence of James Bond in the guise of Roger Moore. The Palace bar was the ideal meeting place for him. For a long time, Roger Moore lived in Gstaad and very often he met in the bar and brought his friends here. You can still feel that cinematic history of the hotel, thanks to a nice selection of photos that hang there.
At the Palace, which has been in family hands for generations, they love to beckon bygone atmospheres anyway. For example, hotel owner Andrea Scherz is organizing again the Gstaad Palace Challenge this year: ‘The most exclusive vintage vehicle rally in Switzerland.’ After returning home, I immediately sent the YVRA perfumed windshield wiper fluid to him, especially for vintage open cars, this product remains a must.
After my tour it was time to focus on YVRA again. At the moment we are busy releasing our fragrances in a slightly lighter summer version that we will also produce in the smaller size of 50 ml. With the YVRA Eau Fraîche we offer an affordable alternative that is ideal for traveling and will soon be available. To determine which of the three YVRA fragrances you like the most, our sample set also remains the ideal choice. Find more about it here.
After all the wanderings now back in my own country where I have settled in a beautifully situated dune house on Terschelling. Despite the high season, you feel like a kind of Robinson Crusoe here, especially in the evening, because the beaches are completely deserted at the end of the day and beautiful sunsets and stars are waiting for you.
Keep you all posted and don’t forget to try out our Discovery Set.
Yvo van Regteren Altena
Louis XIV ordered 45.000 pairs of gloves for his court. When the goods arrived, the courtiers were very much taken by the lovely scents. This happened not only at the French court, but also in Italy, Germany and Sweden. This brought about an enormous demand for essences of lavender and roses - which would mark the beginning of the commercial perfumery. During his lifetime Louis XIV only took a few baths, fearing he might catch some disease. However, he did change his undergarments twice a day and made heavy use of powerful perfumes.
Speaking of scents… Our new Room Sprays are highly praised for their rich aromas. We are giving 3 of them as a gift to those who have responded in an original way to my request to think about the 4th fragrance. We received more than 250 replies and we will definitely learn from these. It was truly inspiring to read your recommendations. Maybe they will find their way into our new scent, expected in the Autumn. These are all the people whose recommendations are honoured with a gift Thomas, Marte en Peter.
Many thanks, sincerely,
Yvo
Fortunately, most of us have now been freed from harsh quarantine and borders with alluring destinations such as Italy, France and other countries are open again. Thinking back about the quarantine you feel it forces you to deal with your business in other ways, and it is nice to discover that other small businesses are also busy compensating for their lost sales. That's how I came across Nølson shirts. Just like with selling fragrances, you would think that selling a shirt digitally would not be easy either. But this company - www.nolson.nl - succeeds very well in selling their predominantly slim fit shirts online. During the quarantine, we provided their products with our scented pads, which enabled us to realize a new group of interested parties.
As I said, the borders opened again this month and that is how I ended up in the Luberon with colleague globetrotter, journalist and photographer Pierre Darge who writes about exactly the same things as I do for other media in Belgium. Together with his wife Cathy they run Maison Valvert, the perfect destination for people looking for a casual, yet sophisticated atmosphere. In addition to a few lovely rooms and some separate apartments, the big attraction is a very stylish tree house where I spent two nights with great pleasure. You are completely enveloped in greenery and in the morning, coffee is brought up in a birdhouse. Highly recommended for those who need to be near Bonnieux. You can find more about their domain at www.maisonvalvert.com.
Knowing the region so well Pierre introduced me to the 5 star property of Villa La Coste which is located in the middle of the vineyards and surrounded by buildings designed by a number of world famous architects including Tadao Ando, Frank Gehry and Jean Nouvel. In addition, Villa La Coste houses an unheard-of art collection with works of art from Calder to Picasso and numerous great masters and photographers. Really worth a visit and don't forget that sooner or later you will sniff the dominant scent of lavender in this area…
Talking about strong smelling scents.. In my last fragrance, YVRA 1965, there is also a very dominant ingredient: patchouli. It's a wonderful green bushy herb belonging to the mint family. The herb is graced with delicate pinkish-white flowers and aromatic leaves that have been used for centuries in perfumery, due to their wonderful and strong scent.
Patchouli is native to tropical regions of Asia, but it grows well in all warm to tropical climates. The name patchouli derives from the old Tamil words patchai, meaning green, and ellai meaning leaf. The plant was brought to the Middle East along the silk route, and it was thanks to the famous conqueror Napoleon Bonaparte, that patchouli reached Europe. Napoleon brought to France a couple of patchouli-scented cashmere shawls that he found in Egypt. The shawls were redolent of patchouli oil, which was used to repel insects and protect them from moths, but the origin of the scent was held as a closely guarded secret.
Well… enough raw material history and let me invite you to smell YVRA 1965 L’Essence de Flamboyance with its rich bouquet of powerful patchouli.
Kind regards,
Yvo
YVRA 1965 L’Essence de Flamboyance 100ml in honor of Porfirio Rubirosa is a new seductive fragrance dedicated to the most famous playboy of the 20th century.
The fragrance is seductive, sexy and very powerful. A lot of high-quality raw materials refer to Rubirosa’s life; for example, hints of leather (Polo) and an ingredient such as pink pepper honors his nickname, the peppermill. There is bergamot, lemon, orange, incense, cedar, musk and lots of patchouli. Sophisticated, refined and very distinctive!
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Maybe I sound a bit gloomy, but as mentioned scents can cheer you up. When I smell YVRA 1979, I immediately feel comfortable, cheerful and relaxed. The fragrance is my happy reflection of the year 1979 when I lived in Florence. The year 1979 brings together in a bottle the memory of that special year. Many positive things came together: an eye for elegance and the appreciation and interest for high-quality raw materials that are crucial for an intriguing perfume.
It’s a nice statement that also applies in reverse. Because the special thing about YVRA 1979 is that it is highly valued by women as well. We often hear about women who smell the scent on the cheeks of a man and then decide to buy a bottle for themselves! As a perfume maker, it’s so nice to discover that your creation pleases the noses of both sexes.
A good perfume starts with the use of the right ingredients. YVRA 1979 is made up of a number of high-quality and carefully selected ingredients such as Gaïac wood from Paraguay, Cardamom from Indonesia and other exotic woods. This powerful seducer makes that 'je ne sais quoi' difference with so many other fragrances. Who knows, maybe YVRA 1979 could also be a good way for you these days to muse about better times
Take care the coming weeks and many thanks,
Yvo
YVRA 1979 L’Essence de Présence is Yvo's dreamy reflection of the year 1979 when he lived in Florence. A year in which everything came together: a love affair, an eye for elegance and the appreciation for high-quality raw materials that are indispensable for a perfect perfume as for a good dish.
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The very heavy lockdown in many countries may have been mitigated, but in recent months we've become all the more aware that a great-smelling living environment is as essential as bread and water. Thanks to the new L’Essence de Résidence a stuffy room is transformed through a single spray into a very pleasant-smelling ambience.
Plein immediately smelled the hearty notes of pink pepper. The story of Rubirosa and his nickname the peppermill were greatly appreciated. The sentence on the box: "Keep out of reach of spoiled children.” was shown immediately to his young girlfriend.
Pleins fragrance No Limit$ is in the form of a black credit card and plays with ingredients such as black pepper, agarwood and leather. All this leads to a powerful creation. Almost as strong as my own long-lasting YVRA 1965 that effortlessly lingers around you during many long hours in a nightclub.
Keep you all posted,
Kind regards,
Yvo
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It was nice to discover that my perfumes are so appreciated in Moscow. I owe that mainly to a fantastic reception for a presentation at the Restaurant Tifliss yard and Cigar lounge club.
I was photographed with countless beautiful female influencers and with lots of interested male bloggers.
During the presentation, I felt for a while like a perfume rockstar. I owed this great welcome to my Russian distributor the Exility Group with the very enthusiastic Alla Sazanova. She brought me into contact with all the boutiques where YVRA is for sale. My visit was made extra special by my stay at the Four Seasons Hotel on the red square with a fantastic Spa and I was lucky enough to end up in many glamorous restaurants such as Beluga and White Rabbit where I discovered a Rubirosa worthy pepper mill.
And of course, I also did what the regular tourist would do and I ended up in the metro where I walked past the bronze dogs where according to good Russian custom you give a pat on the nose to be allowed to make a wish. So I patted that nose and expressed the wish to return to Moscow for new presentations in even more stores!
Yvo
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But it was Rubi’s success with the fair sex that made him a legend. He was widely seen to be in the same class as Don Juan and Casanova. His conquests included Eva Perón, Ava Gardner, Jayne Mansfield, Veronica Lake, and Dolores Del Rio; the full tally, though, will never be known…
One friend confirms that Rubi, who married the two richest women in the world, one after the other—Doris Duke and Barbara Hutton—slept with ‘thousands of women’ while living in Paris in the 1950s and 60s. Columnist Taki Theodoracopulos recalls that when Rubi got drunk he would take out his guitar and sing, I’m just a gigolo.
Our new YVRA 1965 L’essence de Flamboyance will honour the most famous playboy of the 20th century. A scent that has the gift to seduce both sexes. Lots of ingredients refer to Rubirosa’s life. Hints of leather refer to his love for playing polo and pink pepper honour his nickname.
Watch the Introduction Video
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