I was looking at S.Coups' new Trudon shoot and got curious about the Abd El Kader candle, so naturally I ended up falling into a whole historical rabbit hole π
First: who is Abd El Kader?
Emir Abd El Kader (1808β1883) was an Algerian Muslim religious and political leader, military commander, writer, poet and philosopher. Born near Mascara, Algeria, he became one of the most important figures of the Algerian resistance against the French conquest in the 19th century.
And then I noticed something that made me pause:
Why does a French luxury maison have a fragrance collection named after him?
Because Trudon is very French. Its history goes back centuries, while Abd El Kader is most famously associated with resisting the French conquest of Algeria.
But Trudon's own story behind the fragrance is actually quite beautiful.
The brand connects Abd El Kader with Mascara and the Algerian landscape, describing a βgust of freedomβ coming from the coast and mountains, carrying fresh mint, ginger, tea and tobacco. The fragrance itself has notes of mint, lemon, ginger, clove, blackcurrant bud, apple, jasmine and vanilla.
Trudon also describes Abd El Kader as an enlightened and cultivated man, a writer and philosopher who was highly respected even by his enemies, and calls him βthe friend of the French.β
So they aren't really selling the story as βhere is a man who fought France.β They're taking a historical figure associated with Algeria, freedom and resistance and translating that history into a fragrance inspired by the scents and atmosphere of his homeland.
And then there's S.Coups.
For the shoot, he didn't just randomly get assigned a perfume. He chose Carmen as his own pick, which makes sense because Carmen is the fragrance he personally connected with.
So I actually find the styling of this shoot really interesting:
Carmen β the fragrance S.Coups personally chose.
Abd El Kader β the scent used to create the atmosphere around him.
And suddenly the whole shoot makes a lot more sense to me.
You have S.Coups, who is talking about his personal relationship with fragrance, surrounded by a scent whose entire concept is built around Algeria, freedom, mint tea, spices and the historical figure of Emir Abd El Kader.
I genuinely love when a random product name turns out to have an entire historical story behind itπ₯Ή
βeven when youβre 50, youβll always be the maknae to meβ
scoups tearing up while watching dino perform in his solo concert π₯Ί he must be so proud of dino