Think about the smell of your favorite club and it might put a sour taste in your mouth: stale cigarettes, pissed off bathroom stalls, an imperceptible stickiness. But there is also glamor and a feeling of magic there: leaving the club and enjoying the sunrise in Ibiza, chatting in a smoky corner and dancing until your sweat smells of absinthe. Capturing these night scents is Perfume brand Discothèque with a new collection that reflects the essence of the legendary disco nightclubs.

This debut collection spans iconic party cities, harking back to some of the most famous clubs in their prime: Ibiza in 1989, LA in 1986, Paris in 1979, as well as New York, Tokyo, Marrakech and Mykonos. Stroll down a side street in Shibuya and visit Tokyo's Womb, known for its surround sound system, giant descending mirror ball, and legendary techno and house line-ups. Or queue for Nell's in New York, the intimate club that hosted legends and was the last stop for Andy Warhol. Each scent is accompanied by a sensual fictional narrative created by New York-based erotica writer Jessica Garrison, bringing them to life.

Founders Jessie Willner, Hanover Booth and Whitney Moulton invite you to enter their hedonistic playground. Discothèque was born from her love of completely losing herself in a moment, in a time when most experiences are curated through screens. Emphasizing ethical and sustainable practices, the team wanted to create scents that transport us to a time when nights were raw, unfiltered and uncompromisingly alive. We contacted Discothèque to find out more about the collection and the stories behind the scents.

Why did you choose to focus on disco for this debut collection? What touches you about this scene?

Discotheque: Much of what we are experiencing now is like a simulation; You don't actually have to be there to see or hear it. You can just scroll endlessly from your bedroom. Discotheque was born from our love of being completely lost in a moment, especially on a dance floor, and having nothing else to do for that moment important.

We were obsessed with a time earlier than ours, when people were forced to live in this exact moment, when the internet didn't exist and you had to actually go out to get inspiration, you had to listen to a DJ's set to discover your next favorite unknown song, or head to the club to see what everyone wore. They were just people loving every second they spent, you can hear it in the music and you can see it in the way they pushed each other to go further and embrace what they were feeling .

How did you go about creating a scent for a specific time and place?

Discotheque: The development had two sides. The first and broader task was of course developing the scents themselves. First, we narrowed down which clubs, places and stories we would base these scents on. We interviewed many different friends and heard many wild stories. And we had what felt like a thousand brainstorming and research meetings until we decided on the final seven that we had planned for the first collection.

Once we had this foundation, we worked with our perfumers, who are so incredibly talented and each of them deserves praise (Elodie Durande, Christian Provenzano, Jean-Charles Mignon, Julie Pluchet). We worked on each scent individually because we wanted each one to feel like its own world. Then we started putting them together. It was an amazing process of associating notes with different emotions and places, recording memorabilia, or the plants we knew grew in a particular city, or someone telling us a story about a very specific thing happened there one night, and incorporating it into the scent somehow. It was really important to us to create unique scents that you immediately feel connected to, as if they open up that part of us that was already there and allow incredible things to happen when you wear them.

Why did you choose these particular years and cities? What made her special?

Discotheque: Each fragrance began with a club that had some personal or cultural significance. Then we picked the years when the clubs were thriving and built everything else around that time. How did people feel when they were there? What was the city like back then?

Many brands have They honored a time and place through scents that meant something to them, but there's something special about honoring places that are seared into the collective memory of an entire generation and still mean something to generations that follow. Those thugs had weight because they were there So much culture was created: new music, new fashion, new ideas. All the nightclubs we chose were things that came together in a way that helped define an era.

In addition to the glamour, nightclubs are also associated with less enticing aspects such as sweat, dirt and cigarettes. Did you use unconventional notes to represent the rougher side of nightlife?

Discotheque: This is a two-dimensional answer because when you remember an evening, you don't think, “What did it smell like,” but rather, “How did it feel?” That's why we say that most scents come from the feeling and not from the Club itself are inspired to spare us the pure smell of spilled drinks and cigarettes. But on the other side, overlaid with some notes that evoke vivid memories: a life-changing conversation in a very smoky corner, a new friend for life while dancing until your sweat smelled of absinthe. The result doesn't smell like the actual club walls or dancing bodies, but rather the best Memories of it, and we tend to let our imaginations run wild.

Could you imagine the brand exploring other music genres or legendary nightlife scenes, such as techno or hip-hop, in future collections?

Discotheque: Yes! Both music and scent are such evocative senses, which is what gave us the idea of ​​mixing them in the first place. All candles and now perfumes pay homage to clubs that pioneered different genres in their cities. One of the aspects of the brand that excites us the most is that it is inspired by an endless world of music and club culture, and the possibilities for what to do next seem endless.

What's next for the future of the discotheque?

Discotheque: We're so excited about the future because the brand has really taken on a life of its own and combines all the things we and everyone involved care about…which lends itself to so many crazy ideas and possibilities. Our vision is constantly evolving and getting bigger The brand is growing, so we can't wait to follow it and bring everyone with us while driving and ensure that you smell incredibly good on the go.

The Discotheque fragrances are available exclusively at Selfridges.