Bond No. 9 - Washington Square - EdP
[Bond_WashingtonSq]

Bond No. 9 - Washington Square - EdP

By definition, the city park is the epitome of a place to relax and unwind. But what happens when the neighbourhood surrounding that park is already unwound? Then you get that elegant yet iconoclastic urban oasis called Washington Square. Located at the base of Fifth Avenue in Greenwich Village, surrounded by stately Greek Revival townhouses and NYU mega-buildings, Washington Square is a world class public space - frequented by students, professors, drifters, hipsters, chess players, guitar players, bocce players, moms with their kids in strollers, and a steady stream of visitors sauntering along the gently curving walkways that surround this park’s very own triumphal arch. Mark Twain came here, as well as Charles Dickens, Pete Seeger, Stanley Kubrick, Buddy Holly, Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, and (last but not least) Henry James, whose novel Washington Square has its setting here.

Washington Square is pervaded by a spirit of rebelliousness – a place which was named after the leader of the band of revolutionaries who founded the USA. For the centennial of Washington’s inauguration in 1889, Stanford White (the great architect of the Age of Opulence) designed a wood-and-stucco arch in the style of Paris’s Arc de Triomphe, to reside at the north end of the square. It proved to be such a success that White was commissioned to render it in more permanent marble. The result is a stately and imposing structure that reflects power and might, even as it continues the rebel spirit of this landmarked public space. In 1917, the playfully scandalous Dada artist Marcel Duchamp and a group of friends ascended the arch, lit a bonfire, and read a resolution proclaiming the Republic of Greenwich Village, which they toasted with Champagne.

The fragrance

Washington Square by Bond No. 9 is an iconoclastic, thoroughly modern rose-inflected eau de parfum that Bond No. 9 hastened to debut on the occasion of the park’s reopening following a lengthy refurbishment. The Washington Square EdP pairs the rather old-fashioned purple rose with tarragon, vetiver, and an unexpected leather accord that surprisingly appears in the base note. The result is an assertively nonconformist scent that never forgets to be beautiful and graceful...

The bottle

The flacon displays a contemporary vision of Washington Square, viewed through its arch past casually dressed park-goers in the foreground. This photo-negative image is so detailed that you can even see the coffered square panels of the arch’s interior - each square with a carved rosette at its center. Rendered in filmy, faded blue, the surface design recalls the muted tones found in antique daguerreotypes. The bottle, as well as the square, is both old and new, and masterfully combines modernity and a hint of nostalgia ...

Composition: Description
Head: Italian Bergamot, Geranium, Terragon
Heart: Purple Rose, Honey
Base: Vintage Amber, Leather, Vetiver, Musk