By Chrissy Iley
The red lacquer box is beside me. It’s the perfect red between pillar box and scarlet. It’s Jack Piccadilly 69 and I’m well informed by its creator Richard E. Grant it’s the smell of sex. He tells me it’s called 69 because that’s the year he first came to London as a pre-teen. “I came out of Piccadilly Circus tube and Eros was a swarm of hippies and the smell of patchouli, incredibly indelible. My parents took me to see Hair at the Shaftsbury Theatre which had full frontal nudity. We went for tea at Fortnum’s, Earl Grey tea and that was the basis for including bergamot.”
Piccadilly Circus was so busy with traffic he wanted to include a note of petrol and in Fortnum’s you smell the leather of the banquettes so it all captures a time and a place and Richard E. Grant’s first French kiss so that’s why it’s called 69 as well as 1969, to make it reminiscent of more intimate things.
I’ve taken it out of its box and inside is the same Union Jack flag packaging. A little cotton bag with a mini luggage tag so you can send it to your beloved. The perfume is unisex so it can be boyfriend to girlfriend, girlfriend to boyfriend etc. I know the bag well. It houses my jewellery that I take across the planet in my hand luggage. It’s a very handy size for that.
Jack Piccadilly 69 is an incredible perfume. It’s dark but also light. It’s multi layered and mucho sexy. I’d say it was heavenly but it’s also very much of this earth. It’s so good it almost has its own heartbeat.
It’s in Liberty and Selfridges and online at jackperfume.co.uk