Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Lifestyle
Lara Owen

Duran Duran launch their own unisex perfume

Eighties pop band Duran Duran are launching a bespoke unisex fragrance (Alan Gelati/PA) -

British pop band Duran Duran are launching a unisex fragrance, created in collaboration with Italian luxury perfume house, Xerjoff.

The ‘Hungry Like The Wolf’ artists have created two scents, named Black Moonlight and NeoRio (a nod to the band’s seventh hit single, ‘Rio’) inspired by style and sensuality.

“As a band, we have always been interested in arousing people’s senses, primarily through sound and vision,” explains Duran Duran’s founding member and keyboardist, Nick Rhodes.

“The notion of engaging an additional sense in our universe was hugely appealing.”

The band formed in Birmingham in 1978 (Alamy/PA)

Duran Duran shot to prominence with their pop hit ‘Girls on Film’ in 1981, which was launched alongside an innovative but controversial music video, cementing the Birmingham-born band as founding fathers of the ‘New Romantics.’

With eight lifetime achievement awards, a James Bond theme song and a performance at both Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee and the 2012 Olympics – the band have become emblematic of English culture.

Duran Duran performed at the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)

“Duran Duran have shaped music and style for over four decades, making them the perfect partners for not just one, but two [scents],” explains Xerjoff’s founder, Sergio Momo.

“Collaborating with the band members on every detail of this project has been a very special experience.”

Duran Duran and Xerjoff’s founder Sergio Momo (Xerjoff/Duran Duran/PA)

Their scent NeoRio is inspired by past, present and future, as the band set out to create a fragrance as ‘magnetic and unpredictable’ as themselves.

Infused with notes of candied fig and rum, with the fiery warmth of saffron and rose oil, all anchored by the rich scent of Tonka bean.

The NeoRio scent (Xerjoff/PA)

Black Moonlight on the other hand is inspired by the band’s so-called ‘darker side’. Said to be an homage to some of the eerie and mysterious subjects the band explore in their music and videos.

This fragrance combines the freshness of mandarin, saffron, lavender, sambac jasmine and hazelnut, grounded by the base notes of patchouli, vetiver and tonka bean to create a rich and more seductive scent.

Black Moonlight fragrance (Xerjoff/PA)

Both bottles feature singer Simon Le Bon’s handwritten signature of the scent.

“During the creation of these perfumes, we realised we were striving to achieve similar criteria as we do when writing songs,” says Rhodes, “ultimately aiming for something seductive, unique and irresistible.”

Both scents are available to buy now worldwide at xerjoff.com

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.