Everything's Rosy

We Catch up with Julie Masse, the nose behind the latest Armani Si Rose signature

- Jackie May

It’s no wonder that Julie Massé was chosen as one of the noses behind the much-loved Giorgio Armani Sì fragrance collection – she’s been something of a flowersmelling professional since childhood. The collection’s latest release is Sì Rose Signature EDP (R1 634, 50ml), a limited edition launched earlier this year.

Julie’s childhood saw her visiting her family in Grasse, the perfume capital of France, where trees and flowers surrounded her, standing her in good stead for the career path she’d choose to one day follow. ‘I’d visit every holiday and while there I was always in nature.’

Julie’s training began early. Her father worked in the perfume industry, bringing home raw materials with which the young Julie became obsessed. ‘When I invited my friends to parties, I would ask my father to create a game around the raw materials,’ she says.

When asked if she remembers her first memory of smell, she recalls it being of her parents and of tatami, a type of traditional flooring found in Japan, where she was born and where her parents worked for seven years. The floors of houses are traditionally made of rice straw. ‘The smell has strong associations for me,’ Julie says.