Mojo Magique's Louisiana Fragrances

No one agrees on who first uttered the line “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” The quote is variously attributed to Steve Martin, Frank Zappa, Elvis Costello, or the comedian Martin Mull; but it illustrates the challenge of employing one art form to describe another well enough to get the point across. The quotation came to mind while I was interviewing John Kennedy, the co-founder of Mojo, the West Monroe-based casual clothing company famous for T-shirt images that capture the whimsical, country-meets-Cajun-with-a-touch-of-the-supernatural spirit of rural Louisiana. Why? Because John and his brother, the artist Doug Kennedy, are now producing original fragrances with a mission to embody Louisiana’s inimitable, indomitable joie de vivre in a scent. A major part of the project: creating artwork that expresses the essence in each bottle. So how do you draw a fragrance? Read on.

In the two years since this project began, John and Doug Kennedy, working with their sister, Kim, have carved out a respectable niche for themselves and their north Louisiana hometown alongside the cosmopolitan urban centers commonly associated with the perfume industry: New York, Paris, and Grasse, France. Working with well-regarded perfumers from those cities, the Kennedys have developed five distinct, and distinctly Louisianan, scents, named “Magique,” “Belle,” “Seer,” “Voodoo Child,” and, most recently, “Pixie Rose.” They’re all very different from one another, but, as John explained, what they have in common is a bright-but-earthy floral signature created to express Louisiana’s semi-tropical fertility and the riot of floral exuberance that it ushers into being. 

“In perfume, the fashion right now is for heavier dark, woody scents,” explained John. “Dark and sticky, like a burnt woodpile. But there’s enough darkness in the world, and sometimes we need to kind of turn it off because it’ll sink you into the abyss. We choose to turn it off and surround ourselves with happy thoughts, positive images, and beautiful fragrances. We wanted our fragrances to be more upbeat and happy and easier to wear, so we gravitated to the earthier, floral fragrances.”

[You'll like: "Museum Quality Miniatures of Historic Louisiana Buildings."]

John pointed out that, as a vehicle for artistic expression, a perfume can be as evocative as a picture. Possibly even more so. “There’s nothing like a fragrance for eliciting memory recall,” he noted. “Perfumers are not only artists, they are scientists, too. They’re basically painting with scent.” 

Charged with assembling fragrances to reflect the fecund, multi-layered environment of Louisiana, the Kennedys worked with renowned perfumers, including Jean-Marc Chaillan and Pascal Gaurin, to develop scents that evoke not only a Louisiana summertime but also reach back through time to capture elements of a carefree rural upbringing. Mojo’s Pixie Rose was created by master perfumer Carlos Benaim, the nose behind the original Ralph Lauren Polo, among others. Overwhelmingly floral, Pixie Rose opens with the scent of Turkish rose overlaid with waves of fruit, spice, and crushed violet leaf. “Our mother grew roses,” noted John. “We were surrounded by roses as long as we can remember. So the inspiration, both for the fragrance and the art that Doug Kennedy chooses to express it, is inextricably tied to the environment that shaped them. Pixie Rose’s label and packaging depict sprays of red roses with little flute-playing pans (representing Doug’s sons) and fairies cavorting upon the leaves. “My mother is one of the fairies in there,” noted John. “This perfume is kind of in honor of her.” 

A similar story—all goodwill, enchantment, hot summer nights, and exuberant life—emanates from each of the images that illustrate Mojo’s perfumes. Magique—the first Mojo scent, arrives in a box decorated with flower-draped vines that unfurl between a star-studded sky. All along the branches perch pixies and sprites, owls, fireflies, frogs, and a top-hatted elf spraying a mist of perfume over the scene. 

Intentionally masculine, Mojo’s Seer is a piney, earthy, basil scent. So its artwork is decidedly more woodsy, with a feel that lies somewhere between men’s hunting lodge and an illustrated book. Belle, a gardenia and jasmine floral “… dirtied up with a bit of patchouli to temper the sweetness,” arrives in a box across which tiptoes a hoopskirted lady beneath a moss-draped oak tree. “If Belle were an actress, she would be Blanche Dubois,” noted John. 

One thing is clear: there is nothing haphazard or unintentional about the Kennedys’ vision, regardless of whether it is conveyed visually or olfactorily. All is unmistakably Louisiana, by choice and by design. “Economically speaking, Louisiana has never been at the top,” noted John. But “there’s a lightness and a happiness that’s always been there. Granted, we’re poor, but our heart is in the right place. We’re good people. Evidence is out there that this is a happy place, despite all the problems. We all need to appreciate the world around us, and we want to create art that conveys that.”

This month, Mojo Magique will be the subject of a profile on LPB’s Art Rocks—the televised weekly showcase of Louisiana’s visual and performing arts hosted by Country Roads publisher James Fox-Smith. For a look inside the Kennedys’ Monroe studio and to watch how the fragrance and the artwork get connected, tune in to Art Rocks on Friday, September 23 at 8:30 pm and September 24 at 5:30 pm. 

Mojo Magique

206 Trenton Street

Monroe, La. 

mojomagique.com

myshopify.com