Ben Gorham Breaks Down Byredo Fragrances

MISTER MARVELOUS

“For the fragrance Mister Marvelous I chose to highlight a male figure who currently embodies the idea of the fragrance. The first ever Mister Marvelous features world-renowned hair stylist Christiaan Houtenbos. I met Christiaan a few years back through friends. Beyond being a hair stylist, he is an extremely creative person that also works with pottery and wood work, and I think we share an idea of creativity that made him an obvious choice for Mister Marvelous. We have just created a collection of 200 signed, limited edition boxes for the fragrance in tribute of Christiaan, this collection is available online. In terms of the name Mister Marvelous I often write small descriptive texts like the one below.”

“Marvelous is a grand word, is it not? As it rolls off the tongue, it feels quite like it means. And it has history; France’s post-revolutionary dandies called their equally exquisite ladies Les Marveileuses. Marvelous means wonderful, exquisite, and astonishing. With a bit of strangeness as well – as indicated by the old Latinmirabilis. A marvelous thing must be strange in that it must be like nothing else. We celebrate all of this. Because when things are just a bit off kilter, a little twisted or turned in shape, they become that much more interesting. Such qualities areprima facie for a thing to be called marvelous. For a man to be called Mr. Marvelous. Our hats off to the one and only Christiaan.”