Sunday Ehigiator in this report writes about the recently launched ‘Town & Country’ perfume from the Crown Perfumery archives of Clive Christian, in collaboration with Seinde Signature in Nigeria, which reenacts the smell worn in 1925 by former British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill
Crafted from the Crown Perfumery Company archives from 1925 to join the Crown Collection in 2023, ‘Town & Country’ was recently launched in Lagos State Nigerian by Clive Christian in partnership with Seinde Signature and by extension, Providus Bank, to give fragrance lovers in Nigeria a feel of Winston Churchill smell in 1925.
The Famous Crown Love Story
“The foundation of our brand is rooted in a British great love story and it centres on Queen Victoria and Prince Albeit. When Victoria became Queen at 18 years old all the people around her didn’t think she could rule on her own and there was a lot of pressure on her to find a husband.
“So the husband she ended up settling for was Albeit who was her cousin, a German Prince. They had a long, beautiful, lasting relationship centred around one particular flower, the orange blossom.
“The orange blossom was so important to them because, in the early British days, they were not expressive emotionally. British people are more reserved, particularly in the nobility classes; they find it hard to express deep emotions, so they develop this cool language, which is the language of flowers called ‘Floriography’.
“And with this language, I could give you a flower and it will say everything I want to say. So I don’t have to say a word at all. You see someone you like and you give them a flower, they know it is time to break up and give you a flower you know a give you a flower you know it is over. The message is in the type of the flower. You could communicate deep emotions with flowers.
“So Albert and Victoria meet each other, they like each other and there is a problem, Albert cannot propose to Victoria because she is the Queen. You are not worthy to propose to a Queen so only Victoria can propose to Albert. And when the Queen proposes, you can’t say no. So when Victoria proposed, Albert said yes but he was always worried that she would never know that he loved her because she would think he married her. After all, he had to.
“So when she proposed he gave her beautiful brooches designed with the orange blossom and in the language of flowers Orange blossom means my love is true, my love is eternal. And it meant absolutely everything to them so their whole life centred around this flower.
“On her wedding day, she wore orange blossom earrings and a necklace and carried Orange blossom in her bridal bouquet. They had lots of kids and in 1861 Albert got sick and died. Queen Victoria spent the rest of her life mourning him for forty years and she famously wore black for forty years. In those years, the single focus of her life was to remember Albert, she went to West London, and half of it was built with monuments to Albert.
“All she wanted was to stay home and think about her late husband. The mourning clothes she wore used to come with what was called ‘The Widow’s Veil’ but you can’t wear the crown and the veil together because of the way it was designed.
“She has to choose to wear the crown or the veil and she picks the veil all the time, so a special Jeweler in London designed a very special crown that she could wear together with the veil and this is a crown that is commonly associated with Queen Victoria, it is called ‘The Small Diamond Crown’.
“When she died, this was the crown that was placed on her coffin. But in all those times that she was doing all that to remember Albert, one of the things that she did was that there was a man called William Thompson who used to help Victoria and Albert design perfumes for each other, they were big perfume lovers.
“Victoria would sit with William Thompson to make a perfume for Albert and Albert would sit with him to make perfume for Victoria. So when she was remembering her dead husband, she gave the exclusive right of ‘The Small Diamond Crown’ to William Thompson in 1872 to use this special small crown on every product he would ever use for the rest of eternity.
“So no other company except William Thompson’s company called ‘The Crown Perfumery Company’ and his descendants can use the image of it. So this is the crown that you will find on top of all our bottles.
“The Crown Perfumery Company later became Clive Christian perfume in 1999. So we carry this beautiful heritage and legacy of the famous British love story.”
The above is a background to how Clive Christian came to be using the signature small diamond crown cover on all her bottles as narrated by Clive Christian’s Regional Director for Northern European, the UK and Africa, Mr Tate Torongo, during the official launch of ‘Town & Country’ in Victoria Island, Lagos.
Clive Christian
Clive Christian went on to become a luxury British perfume house that creates the world’s finest perfumes. Timeless classics, with intense, exquisite and lasting formulations for pure perfume pleasure, which is the ultimate form of self-expression.
The brand’s predecessor, the Crown Perfumery Company established in 1872, is the only house ever to have been granted permission to use Queen Victoria’s crown on its bottles, an image that defines every bottle of Clive Christian perfume to this day.
In 1999 Clive Christian Perfume launched the Original Collection, pairs which include 1872, X and No.1.
This was followed in 2010 by the Private Collection. The Noble Collection, whose first pair launched in 2016, celebrates eras of architectural and horticultural prominence and style.
The perfume house launched Addictive Arts in 2017; inspired by mood-enhancing ingredients. In 2019 launched the pinnacle of luxury perfume, before eventually launching ‘Town & Country’ in 2023.
The Crown Collection
The Crown Collection first launched in 2020 and has risen to become one of the leading collections under the Clive Christian perfume house.
In its eye-catching signature red bottle, these perfumes tell a story from the past, a secret formula from the brand’s archives in the storied Crown Perfumery Company, re-imagined for the modern-day connoisseur of this luxury perfume house.
Celebrating a unique heritage, guarded by the Clive Christian brand, the Crown Collection sits at the very heart of the perfume house’s story; from its intimate relationship with Queen Victoria to its position as a leading house for the eras.
Town & Country
The Town & Country Perfume is no exception to Clive Christian’s lists of luxury niche perfumes. First crafted in 1925, the perfume is said to have been worn by Winston Churchill and was a defining scent for the house loved by British and global royalty, celebrities and influencers of the day.
“Paying tribute to a heritage like no other, this modern-day blend pays tribute to the sophisticated elegance of London Town and the quiet rejuvenating freshness of the country”, says Torongo.
According to him, “Today, Town & Country takes the signature herbaceous blend referenced from the old formula books with clary sage and juniper. Mossy and musky woody tones echo the heritage woods and spice of 20th-century storytelling.
“It is reimagined with the Clive Christian hallmarks of complexity, concentration and dedication to the finest ingredients- perfectly crafted for self-expression.
“It consists of 207 ingredients, belonging to the ‘Spicy Woody Amber Fragrance Family, with 25 per cent concentration.”
“It is crisp with refreshing notes from the most elegant of herbs resting on a deeper base, capturing the natural beauty of the countryside and the elegance of London Town.
“The top notes are lemon, juniper, bergamot, and clary sage. The heart notes are, cardamom, white tea, sandalwood, and olibanum, while the base notes are, grey amber, cedarwood, Kashmir fusion, and patchouli.”
The Partnership
Speaking on the partnership with Clive Christian and Providus Bank, the MD/CEO of Seinde Signature, Seinde Olusola, said, “Clive Christian coming into the Nigerian space with their prestige all over the world further projects what we stand for as the best in the country.
“Apart from validating our business, that we don’t do fake, and being in direct communication with niche manufacturers, Clive Christian’s partnership further expands the Nigeria niche market.
“This Town & Country cost £400 and we sell in all our stores at the Naira equivalent. So even though they are not exclusive to us alone in Nigeria, they approached us for collaboration. And after several meetings in Italy and London, we finally made it happen.
“This is the first time it is launched in the Nigerian market with the help of Seinde Signature Limited.
“Clive Christian is about 150 years old, we have all their other products in our store, but Town & Country is just being introduced to the market and they are doing so through Seinde Signature.”
Speaking on the partnership with Providus Bank, he said, “Our partnership with Providus goes as far back as October 1, 2022. We understand that if any of their customers use their cards in any of our stores they get a specific discount, while they talk about us to their customers.
“So the partnership at both ends is all about customer acquisition. We get customers through them and they also get customers through us.”
