Eye, Hatshepsut | The Fragrance Brief

I’ll never forget my first trip to Egypt. From moment one, I was drawn in by the country’s awe-inspiring architecture, its epic folklore, and of course, its longstanding connections to perfume. During that trip, I was introduced to the stories of Hatshepsut, and her rather unconventional rise to power. I was instantly hooked (the female heroic, the gender nonconformity, the expansion of trade…). Below are just some initial notes and ideas from the evolution of the fragrance brief for Eye, Hatshepsut. The scent is inspired by her refusal to conform to the expectations of gender and her ability to always overcome the seemingly impossible.

Like Christopher Street and Asphalt Rainbow, Eye, Hatshepsut continues the CM mission to challenge olfactive gender norms. This fragrance draws inspiration from Hatshepsut’s masterful manipulation of the gender narrative on her path to power (a story recorded on the walls of her temple at Dayr al-Bahri). The structure of the fragrance takes shape from the various depictions of Hatshepsut as a female figure in male dress, assuming traditionally masculine roles. It juxtaposes softer, sweeping floral arcs with starker, contrasting resinous edges, blending them together against the backdrop of the crystalline sands of the Sahara. From beauty ritual to royal ceremony, it is an olfactory reflection of Eye, Hatshepsut.

Pharaoh Hatshepsut (1507–1458 BC) is best remembered for how, during her rise to power, she reappropriated the traditions and styles of her male predecessors while maintaining a distinctly feminine mystique. This she did in both presentation (sometimes wearing the kilt, headdress, and false beard of tradition) and in commissioned likeness (rounded, curvier statues and depictions). Regarded as “the first great woman of record,” she reigned during the Middle Kingdom for 22 years, overseeing a period of great wealth and prosperity for the Egyptian peoples, mostly due to the reestablishment of trade with neighboring Punt and Nubia. She bears the distinction of being the only female of Egyptian blood to be named full-fledged pharaoh.

Remnants of Hatshepsut’s legacy still stand throughout the Nile region: Dayr al-Bahri, her great temple, welcomes you at the entrance to the Valley of the Kings; her red granite obelisk towers high above the skies at Karnak; and the spiced and incensed goods from the lands of Nubia and Punt waft throughout the tented-streets of Egyptian bazaars. And there, in the shadows and corridors of her greatest accomplishments, is where part one of the olfactive narrative of Eye, Hatshepsut begins.

“Ka-Ma-Ra, the Horus of Gold, Bestower the Years, Conqueror of all Lands, Vivifier of Hearts, Chief Spouse of Amun, and the Mighty One.”

At this time in her history, she adopted the name Hatshepsut (the male form of her given name). She also is rumored to have begun wearing the shendyt kilt, the nemes headdress (with its uraeus cobra and khat headcloth), and the postiche false beard. This is reflected in the many stone sculptures of her scattered throughout Egypt and Nubia. In this statuary, Hatshepsut is depicted with muscular arms on a curvier body form, with a more rounded face dressed in the traditional garb of her male predecessors: a beautifully queer convergence of gender traits meant to honor the traditions of the past while respecting her present role.

For 22 years, Hatshepsut’s rule brought about a rise in wealth and prosperity. She opened trade with Punt, fought on the battlefields of Nubia, and added architectural wonders to Luxor and Thebes. Controversy surrounds these marvels, however, as she too is thought to have had an affair with their architect, Senenmut (with some going as far as to speculate that her daughter was actually their love child). Hatshepsut lived into her mid-40’s, and is thought to have died from cancer, possibly caused by carcinogenic lotion used to treat eczema (made from nutmeg, palm, fatty acids, tars, and resins).

After her death, Thutmose III and his son, Amenhotep II, ordered the defacing or destruction of Hatshepsut’s likenesses, attempting to scrub away her legacy. For this very reason, Hatshepsut was unknown to historians until the 19th century when the hieroglyphs of her temple were finally decoded.

To see life through her eyes is to see Egypt like no other time in its history.

From her kyphi, we turned to other elements from Hatshepsut’s life as a way of modernizing the ancient recipe. For example, the scent of smoke was added to the fragrance to mimic the burning of kyphi while also blurring and lifting each of the other materials in the formulation: a trail of smoke that first appears in the top notes, wraps around the body in the heart, and then grows to a more corseted jacket of haze in the base. The smoke carries with it scents from the banks of the Nile that dissolve across the sands of the Sahara.  Formulaically speaking, this meant a slow, controlled progression of materials, not a booming loud, church-inspired cloud of resins. This progression was further emphasized by adding in the waxy, animalic scent of tallow candles.

Of course, no story of Egypt and tradition can be absent lotus and papyrus. Lotus was symbolic of creation and life. The sun god, Amun-Ra, was said to have risen from the petals of the lotus blossom (like the blue lotus flower of Egypt opening and closing with the rising and setting of the sun). Conversely, papyrus was representative of strength. It provided a canvas for the proud Egyptian tradition of recording knowledge a la scrolls housed within the walls of the great library at Alexandria. Lotus and papyrus were also the symbols of Upper and Lower Egypt, united together through the ankh (balance and harmony).

Inspiration for the shape and structure of Eye, Hatshepsut was also found in the wadjet (Eye of Horus): a symbol of protection and healing. Each piece of the wadjet represented one of the six human senses. Wadjet was also used to denote fractions (as in the reference image). The fractions that make up the wadjet equal 63/64, with a missing unknown 64th component (thought to be Thoth’s magical breath from the myth of Osiris’s resurrection). When the wadjet is the right eye, it represents the sun and the cycle of birth-death-rebirth.

Guided by wadjet, the more traditional elements of Hatshepsut’s story were married with pieces from her daily fragrance rituals. A second reference to this eye structure can be found in the scent of kohl, a dark substance Egyptians applied to the eyes as  adornment and sun protection. Kohl was made from grinding antimony, malachite, and black galena, and was worn by all genders (though the styling of the eyes varied). Other daily beauty rituals included things such as honeying of the skin, and incensing of the body (considered a blessing of the gods as well as further protection from the desert elements).

Finally, we examined the practice of mummification: a fascinating process of preservation making use of many olfactive materials. First natron, an Egyptian salt, was applied to the skin. The organs were then removed to alabaster jars, and the body cavities filled with flowers, spices and herbs. The body was then wrapped in linen treated with fir and pine resins, beeswax, myrrh, palm, wine, cassia, camphor, and other substances known for their drying or anti-bacterial properties. By introducing materials from mummification into the formula, the idea was to complete the circle metaphor of life-death-rebirth so inherent to Egyptian creation.

“My fragrance is like a divine breath; my scent reaches as far as the land of Punt; my skin is that of pure gold…I have no equal amongst the gods who were since the world was.”