In 2021, the thought of a gender neutral fragrance isn’t recent. Area of interest perfumes have a long-standing legacy of smells that transcend the binary and even mass-market players like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Fendi have already tapped into the sector. But what a couple of fragrance that takes things one step further and creates an environment of queerness without boundary lines and embodies passion without inhibitions? 

Based out of Moscow, Russia, Konstantin Shilyaev first launched his eyewear brand FAKOSHIMA in 2013. Since then, he has created a cult following behind the label’s signature oversized, geometric frames with Nicki Minaj, Roìsin Murphy, and alien beauty icon Tilda Swinton all a part of the fandom. In reality, it’s the time Shilyaev met Swinton in Moscow and showed her the prototypes that marked the official birthday of the brand. “From that debut of my first collection, I used to be enthusiastic about using fragrance within the packaging however it was just an idea, nothing more,” explains Shilyaev.

It wasn’t until summer 2019, when he was spending time together with his friend and perfumer Yaroslav Simonov that Shilyaev began believing it might be a reality. Simonov had just began working with fragrance and was fooling around with different samples, when the designer discovered this one bottle. He describes it as a raw essence of passion. “It was like I smelled something strong like poppers. It’s not a superb idea to explain fragrance like geometry, however it was like a scent with angles and edges. I felt the goosebumps on my skin, and the sensation was like I opened the door of a sex club. I used to be a bit afraid, but enthusiastic about the chances.” He remembers taking it with him and wearing it for months, before deciding to really turn it into the official FAKOSHIMA fragrance.

In 2020, the duo developed and produced 30 bottles of the scent, which they titled Tear You Apart in reference to its intoxicating combination of spicy and woody notes with a leathery character. In Shilyaev’s mind, it presented a sense of happening a wild night out, with a mixture of sweat and alcohol reflected in notes of rum, tobacco, oud and warm spices. They gave this primary batch away to friends, and the feedback was surprising even to them. “They might tell me how they’d great sex, a very good date… That they feel really strong and assured. That’s after I realised it’s a smell of lust,” says Shilyaev.

This 12 months, they’ve launched a stronger version of the perfume called Tear You Apart Extrait, which is currently available on the market online only in Russia because of the restrictions of international delivery of perfumes via AirMail. To have a good time the launch, Shilyaev worked with music video director Alexander Devyatchenko Soldak on making a video campaign that encapsulates the spirit of the scent. The ad, starring two guys and a woman, sees the trio in a passionate embrace, involved in a sweaty three-way make-out session. “It was really difficult to seek out models because lots of them said no after seeing the outline. They didn’t wish to kiss a man in a public space or have a three-way kiss. Despite the fact that a few of them were gay, they didn’t wish to have this seen by the general public,” explains Shilyaev. The ultimate three that were solid were ex-model and DJ Valentina Nemchenkova, OnlyFans entertainer Nik Fros and musician and model Nariman Malanov. 

Being based in Russia, a rustic known for its anti-gay laws, FAKOSHIMA is unarguably a label with a queer identity. Shilyaev himself is openly gay, and a lot of his brand’s visual narrative involves other queer artists. But its founder rejects the thought of being called an activist. “I don’t go protesting on the streets, because I do know the consequences of it. But I’m trying to point out my vision through my work – photoshoots, videos… I’m not trying to seek out my audience within the gay community, I’m just trying to supply my vision and tell my story.” Surpassing the rigid homophic standards of Russia, Shilyaev is subversively crafting his own creative universe where boundaries, labels and discrimination don’t exist. He explains that 75 per cent of his fragrance’s audience are in reality female. “They told me they really like naked men, irrespective of their sexuality,” he laughs.

Konstantin Shilyaev and Yaroslav Simonov are currently preparing to launch their second scent which is inspired by the movies of Pedro Almodovar and their interpretation of affection stories. Also they are developing the third and fourth fragrance, as they plan to construct a complete of 5 initial scents on this line. As Shilyaev puts it: “At the tip of the day, my evolving relationship with Yaroslav is the major engine of this project and that’s why we decided to place human feelings on the core of this project; because human feelings are so multi-faceted and we’re attempting to portray as a lot of them as possible.”

The FAKOSHIMA fragrances can be found here