Sequins, Sweat, and Champagne—This Editor-Beloved Perfume Is the Fragrance Equivalent of a NYC Party Girl
The newest It scents on the scene.
You don’t have to be an ENT specialist to understand that scent is the most transportational of the human senses. Sure, hearing the right beach song might drift you to your happy place, but nothing zaps you back to a specific moment in time—or plants you into situations you’ve never lived—faster than fragrance. Triple-board-certified neurologist Leah Croll, MD, previously explained this phenomenon to Who What Wear, saying that scent has such a profound impact on memory because of its direct link to the human brain.
“There is an incredibly short distance between smell neurons in the nose and the emotional and memory centers in the brain,” she states. “No other sense is processed on that kind of ‘expressway.’ The result is that scent isn’t just perceived; it’s felt.” The cold, hard fact that scent can transform and transport is exactly what drives the trailblazing fragrance brand Discothèque to create the unique concoctions that it's slowly becoming famous for.
What Is Discothèque?
Born and raised between Los Angeles and London, the young fragrance brand—incepted in 2024—sits at the crossroads of beauty and nightlife. Cofounders Jessie Willner, 32, and Hanover Booth, 37, describe their personal and business relationship as “cosmic,” not only because they spent years traveling the globe together through work in the fashion industry or because they became fast friends in their teenage years, but because they found out years later that their respective parents had dated each other once upon a time. “We always say we should have been sisters, and now we kind of are,” Willner jokingly tells Who What Wear.
Willner goes on to explain that Discothèque was essentially a “passion project taken too far.” The duo, who previously worked together at Willner’s luxury outerwear brand, The Mighty Company, were enamored by their shared memories on random dance floors scattered across the globe. “We wanted to bottle that feeling,” Willner wistfully explains. The pair’s goal became creating something that could either whisk you back to a specific moment in time—sweat, champagne foam, falling confetti, and all—or inspire you to make incredible new memories with friends, lovers, and strangers alike.
Discothèque cofounders Jessie Willner and Hanover Booth
“Every fragrance starts with a club, feeling, city, song, etc., that holds significance, whether personally or culturally,” she explains. “Then we narrow it down to a night or even an exact moment, real or imagined, within that world. A secret encounter in a coat check, the dawn at first light.” These world-building moments help the visionaries select their notes, create layering acts, and build an eccentric fragrance wardrobe.
“We were obsessed with an earlier time than ours, before the internet, before you could infinitely scroll from bed and live in a simulation of someone else’s life,” Willner adds. “You actually had to go out to get inspired or be on a dance floor to hear your next favorite song.” Below, the seven Discothèque fragrances that will twirl you onto the nearest dance floor.
Another shot of Willner and Booth
Shop Discothèque Fragrances
Key notes: Baies roses, white chocolate, orris, amber | Inspired by: New York in 1992
“Lola at Coat Check was Jessie’s first idea,” the brand’s copywriter, Jessica Garrison, tells us. The scent—a smoky, woody elixir with a touch of gourmand sweetness—is one of the best examples of this brand’s range. “There were whispers on lips from behind velvet ropes, but her name was only uttered in love letters or curses. She was Lola. She would take your coat. She would hang it and slip inside its pocket a small white chocolate, a surprise for 4 a.m.,” the site reads, the muse coming to life. You can almost smell it—the sultry plumes of sandalwood and amber from the men in tailored suits; pink pepper, grapefruit, and jasmine blooming from the hazy cocktails at the bar. The scent is complex: fruity, sweet, and smoky all at once. It’s something you have to smell to believe.
Key notes: Violet leaf, jasmine, orris, sandalwood | Inspired by: Paris in 1979
If you’re looking for a sophisticated scent with a whisper of a wild side, look no further than Baise Moi On the Dancefloor. Inspired by open water and bubbly flutes, this uptown fragrance is chic and streamlined—but that doesn’t mean that it lacks complexity. Marine components and powdery orris tangle with the sultry notes in a fanciful frenzy, making it a perfect date-night scent and general confidence booster. “I literally wear Baise Moi to sleep because it douses me with dopamine,” says Willner. (Pro tip: She recommends layering this scent with Lola at Coat Check because of their sister orris notes.)
Key notes: Palmarose, sweet grass, suede, sandalwood | Inspired by: Los Angeles in 1986
An earthy delight and a cardamom-infused fantasy, Heathens, Cowboys and the Santa Ana Winds has all the grit and friction of your favorite old Western. The grassy scent opens with notes of, well, sweet grass, flecked with tea leaf, palmarosa, and a woody medley before settling into a sensual mash of ambery musk and suede. Inspired by Los Angeles in 1986, this scent evokes images of a saloon-themed bar with a flickering neon sign in the shape of a cowboy boot out front—all you need to do is spritz it on and open the door.
Key notes: Grapefruit, black pepper, saffron, vetiver | Inspired by: Ibiza in 1989
Teetering on the turn of the decade, All Night Until First Light holds onto the campy glory of '80s excess for one last moment. Inspired by sunset-striped Ibiza skies and juicy fruit on salty seashores, this fragrance captures the energy of the Spanish island in a mirrorball bottle. Notes of grapefruit, heady rum, and black pepper come alive with the levity of magnolia and saffron before coming back down to the shore in a crash of cashmere and amber grass. It's the citrus scent you never knew you needed.
Key notes: Absinthe, sea salt, mimosa, cedarwood | Inspired by: Mykonos in 1995
This one’s for the musk fanatics—the ones who pine over the scent of their lover’s neck and revel in the fragrance of damp earth. A brisk snapshot of Mykonos in 1995, this perfume captures the salty waves crashing against ancient limestone and the sensual undertones brought to life by cedarwood and natural musks. It’s a little frenzied, slightly sophisticated, and downright sexy on anyone. If you want a genderless fragrance that tells a story, you’ll revel in the scent of sweat, tears, and paradise.
Key notes: Violet, ylang-ylang, jasmine, amber | Inspired by: Tokyo in 2000
The brightest and most floral of the Discothèque discography thus far, Call for a Good Time is the sweet summer scent that even gourmand-haters can’t help but drool over. Its full-bodied makeup is a fractal bouquet—as if a gardener dropped an armful of wild violets, night-blooming jasmine, ylang-ylang, and yuzu fruit and tied them all together with one piece of twine. Pink pepper and “shimmering” musk bring this scent back to Earth, but its colorful brightness lingers far after you’ve left the party. Plus, it attracts every compliment imaginable.
Pro Tip: Booth recommends layering this scent over a base of Heathens, Cowboys and the Santa Ana Winds. "We recently described this duo as 'midnight in Tokyo meets L.A.,' with a bright, white floral and golden sandalwood."
Key notes: Damask rose, black plum, leather, patchouli | Inspired by: Marrakesh in 2003
If Call for a Good Time were yang, Dark Imagination would be yin. This deep, utterly rich scent—layered with rose varieties, black plum, leather, and patchouli—elicits visions of thick air, desert flowers, beads of sweat, and supple chaises. It's another great contender for anyone looking for an androgynous scent, and it's a beautiful base for layering. However, why mess with perfection? The scent tells a story on its own.
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It's impossible to decide right away, so invest in the discovery set first to see which calls your name the most. (And so you can slip in and out of these fantasies at any given moment.)
Spoiler alert: They also make candles! "My two faves to burn right now are Lola at Coat Check (our newest release!) and Crisco Disco, which are both inspired by New York," says Hanover. "Maybe because my dad is from there—I’m a New Yorker at heart!"
A sueded, citrusy scent that makes your home smell like the inside of a chic store.
This candle blooms at night. Light her up when you want to summon swirls of marine salts, comforting sandalwood, and blooming jasmine.
