Xerjoff, the Turin-based luxury perfume house celebrated for its artisanal craftsmanship, joins forces with the legendary British band Duran Duran to unveil two new olfactory creations: Black Moonlight and NeoRio. The collaboration, born from a shared passion for pushing creative boundaries, fuses music, art, and fragrance into a single multisensory experience.
The partnership began on the set of Duran Duran’s Black Moonlight music video in 2023, where Xerjoff’s Dama Biancaperfume made a cameo. “I had the chance to chat with the guys,” recalls Xerjoff founder Sergio Momo, “and I realised we actually have a lot in common. Their way of creating music is very similar to my way of creating perfume: blending emotion, structure, and art.” From that moment, the spark for collaboration was born.
What followed was an intricate creative process that unfolded across continents. “At the beginning, I’d bring over extracts of raw materials, and we’d explore them together,” says Momo. “Then I’d make some blends, and we’d discuss what the scents evoked — Where do the woody facets take you? What does Duran Duran smell like?” Each member — Simon, Nick, Roger, and John — contributed their own sensibility, shaping not only the scents but also the design and visual identity of the bottles. “It was a true coming together of forces,” Momo adds.
The result is a duet of fragrances mirroring the band’s duality. Black Moonlight evokes Duran Duran’s darker, gothic side — mysterious and sensual — with notes of bergamot, saffron, lavender, and vetiver. NeoRio, by contrast, captures their vibrant, ever-evolving spirit through bursts of fig, rum, and rose oil. “With Duran Duran, we created two scents that tell two stories,” says Momo. “NeoRio is their past, present, and future; Black Moonlight embraces their shadows.”
For Nick Rhodes, the experience was like composing music in another dimension. “As a band, we’ve always been interested in arousing people’s senses through sound and vision,” he reflects. “Engaging an additional sense was hugely appealing. We were striving for something seductive, unique, and irresistible. and Xerjoff was the perfect partner.”
Together, Xerjoff and Duran Duran have composed symphonies of scent, timeless harmonies where luxury meets rhythm, and every note lingers long after the final chord.
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