The maison’s founders recall many summers spent in the region.
Diptyque pays tribute to Mediterranean nature by dedicating its entire summer collection to this inexhaustible source of inspiration.
A nature that is simple and authentic and opens onto the sea: the Mediterranean landscapes where Yves Coueslant and Desmond Knox-Leet, two members of the trio who founded Diptyque, loved to recharge their batteries and from 1960 onward, brought back plenty of materials and memories for the creations and perfumes to come.
Summer 2022 sees the emblematic Mediterranean scents highlighted as olfactory reminiscences of the landscapes of Italy, Provence, and Greece. Here, the two friends valued the unadorned beauty. In the Mediterranean, they found their “landscape of the soul”—the place where they felt most fully themselves.
This is also a location where Matthieu Cossé loves to portray the sun-kissed landscapes seen from a neoclassical, poetic and colorful view. The young French artist has been invited to create drawings visualizing the world of the summer collection.
It was inevitable that he would one day collaborate with Diptyque, for a number of reasons. Traits marking him out as a natural choice include his love of color, shared by the Maison since its early days and its first fabric collections, plus his fondness for gouache and watercolor techniques, which are in line with those used by Desmond Knox-Leetand diptyque’s celebration of the simple, essential qualities of nature.
One summer in the Mediterranean viewed via the artist’s perspective and imagination, the inspiration for this limited edition collection takes on the form of a poetic celebration.
In his own manner, he rekindles the beauty of the light and of the natural world of the Mediterranean. Keeping faith with his own style, he depicts the region’s colors radiating freely, embracing with a spirited gesture the essence of the Mediterranean setting—the sea, the sun, and the native flora.
He gets through to the essentials, just like the collection itself—an amalgamation of objects combining beauty, simplicity and utility, reproducing as closely as possible the scents of that sun-drenched soil.
The sun lies at the very heart of Ilio, the eau detoilette of the summer collection, also available as a hair mist. It takes its name the Greek word for “sun” and characterized by prickly pear (an emblematic, unconventional fruit from the Mediterranean basin), bergamot, iris, and jasmine.
Lemongrass is another characteristic summer scent, known and valued for its tangy coolness and its mosquito-repellent properties. Two new limited edition scented candles enrich this summer collection: a candle in the classic 190g format and the larger 1.5kg size, the latter entirely decorated with Cossé’s illustrations.
Diptyque has also developed a bodyspray with base essential oils of lemongrass, geranium, and lemon eucalyptus, all known for their abilities to repel mosquitoes. It is softened with floral notes and a closing touch of musk.
The maison also reinvents its famous Vinaigre de toilette, one its first products, in a new creation. This Mediterranean edition is inspired by the traditional recipes of the region with its infusion of rosemary and thyme highlighted by a lavender sprig inserted specially into each bottle.
