Trey Taylor’s approach to scent echoes his instinct for offbeat storytelling; it goes beneath the skin, with a sneaky, subversive note to throw you off, then pull you in
- Who is it? Serviette is the debut perfume line of Canadian-born, New York-based editor and writer Trey Taylor
- Why do I want it? Narrative-driven perfumes that play with cultural codes, curiosity, and scent as its own discreet language
- Where can I find it? Serviette is available directly through the brand’s website, as well as Stéle, New York. For upcoming stockists, subscribe to Serviette’s newsletter
Who is it? Growing up in small-town Canada, Trey Taylor’s first conception of scent came through the ambient smells of his Rocky Mountains upbringing: snow-capped landscapes, frigid skies, thin air breathed through red, raw noses. Aside from gifting his mum Estée Lauder’s Beautiful, “I never interacted or came across fragrance in the way that it was bottled,” he reflects. “There was nothing in the way of commercial fragrance.” Now, as Taylor launches his perfume line Serviette, one of its debut scents – Frisson D’Hiver – magnificently encases that early childhood imprint: florals and citrus cutting through the sting of freezing air.
One of Taylor’s first entry points into cultural storytelling came through fashion magazines – worlds spun from image, subtext, and nuance. On a family trip to Washington in the US, “I went to this bookstore that stocked magazines I’d never seen before, like AnOther,” he laughs. “That was my first-ever purchase of a magazine that wasn’t, like, Better Homes and Gardens.” When the opportunity to intern at Dazed in London arose, he booked a flight on the spot. “To this day, that was my saving grace,” he says. “Dazed was the best time of my life.”
As the magazine’s film editor, Taylor became intrigued by how actors prepared for roles, particularly through scent. He wrote an article titled What Does a Celebrity Smell Like? for The Face, and contributed a piece to Gestalten’s book, The Essence. “The thing that always intrigued me,” he remarks, cheekily, “was that the face of any major commercial perfume – Johnny Depp, Robert Pattinson, Jake Gyllenhaal … these are kind of notoriously the smelliest men.”
The idea for Serviette crystallised during the pandemic, as Taylor experimented with scent as a new form of storytelling. He taught himself perfumery from scratch, learning from friends like independent nose Marissa Zappas, books, and online forums. “There’s a quote – when Azzedine Alaïa was asked about Karl Lagerfeld, he said something like, ‘Karl never touched a pair of scissors in his life,’” he laughs. “And for me, that meant I wasn’t about to launch a fragrance brand without knowing how to actually formulate it myself.” When his designer friends at Studio Select offered to create the branding, it was the gentle push he needed to bring Serviette into the world.
Why do I want it? Taylor’s approach to scent echoes his instinct for offbeat storytelling; it goes beneath the skin, with a sneaky, subversive note to throw you off, then pull you in: always intelligent, often a little wicked, never quite what you expect. Each composition rewards curiosity: there’s more than meets the nose, if you’re willing to dig deeper (and, as he might suggest, do your own research). Take Byronic Hero, for example – a deep, jammy rose with oud, undercut by a sharp note of diesel exhaust. “It’s almost as if you’re sniffing this gorgeous rose,” he explains, “and a giant lorry drives by and smacks you in the face with exhaust.”
The name Serviette plays on this idea of cultural curiosity à la sociologist Pierre Bourdieu: how knowledge, taste, and subtle codes of behaviour can determine one’s access to class. “That was my experience when I moved to London, keeping in mind where I came from and what was culturally available,” he says. “I found that people were able to move through rooms and classes and spaces based on what they knew.” Fragrance, he realised, can operate under similar terms. “The cultural currency of perfume is so interesting,” he says. “It’s not like, ‘I smell good, so I’m the most stylish person in the room.’ It’s kind of the opposite. The more obscure the answer, the better.”
Each perfume is accompanied by an actual serviette – yours to use however you like – but its origins nod to Victorian times, when people would douse a swatch of cloth in perfume and hold it to their nose to mask the odours of the street. This historical quirk gestures toward the broader sensibility of Serviette: to prompt people to think – and smell – for themselves in a world increasingly shaped by pre-packaged answers. “I want to engender that curiosity again,” Taylor explains. “I want people to pick up a bottle of my fragrance, maybe subscribe to the newsletter, maybe dig deeper into the story I’m telling.”
Where can I find it? Serviette is available directly through the brand’s website, as well as Stéle, New York. For upcoming stockists, subscribe to Serviette’s newsletter.
