The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Miller Harris launched Wander Through the Parks in 2018 as part of the FORAGE collection, a trio of fragrances built around the idea of urban foraging, drawing from London's hidden green spaces. The concept was simple: take the wild plants that grow between the cracks of the city and turn them into something wearable. Mathieu Nardin built the fragrance around stinging nettles, a plant that grows freely across London's parks and rooftops, often overlooked or stepped around. He wanted to capture that raw, bristling quality and translate it into a composition that felt both naturalistic and refined. Blackcurrant and fig keep the green from becoming too austere, while a violet leaf drydown delivers an impression that feels like the moment after rain, dewy and quiet.
The green accord is the point. Nettle and galbanum together create a sensation that is simultaneously vivid and slightly bitter, not the green of air freshener or summer lawn, but the green of actual plant matter, the kind that stings if you touch it. This is what makes Wander Through the Parks unusual: it doesn't hedge. The sharpness is intentional, and it earns its place. Blackcurrant and fig provide the sweetness that keeps the composition from becoming purely academic, while pink pepper adds a soft spice that rounds the edges.
The evolution
The opening hits bright and tart. Blackcurrant and pink grapefruit arrive almost immediately, with the grapefruit lending a clean bitterness that prevents the blackcurrant from becoming too jam-like. The galbanum asserts itself as the composition develops, that sharp, green, slightly bitter note that defines the fragrance's character. The nettle is felt more than smelled: a bristling quality that adds texture without aggression. Fig and Indian tuberose arrive next, bringing a milky sweetness that softens the green without diluting it. The heart phase is where Wander Through the Parks earns its name, an impression of standing somewhere overgrown, surrounded by living plants. The drydown belongs to violet leaf. That dewy, almost rain-soaked quality lingers in the base alongside cashmere wood, musk, and patchouli, creating a closing that stays close to the skin but refuses to disappear.
Cultural impact
Wander Through the Parks arrived in 2018 as part of Miller Harris's FORAGE collection, a trio of fragrances built around the concept of urban foraging in London's hidden green spaces. The collection, HIDDEN on the Rooftops, LOST in the City, and WANDER through the Parks, positioned London's overlooked wild plants as material worth capturing. The nettle-galbanum combination is unusual enough to provoke a reaction, but the overall balance makes it wearable enough for daily use. It sits comfortably in the green-fruity niche without leaning into the aquatic or ozonic territory that dominated the category in the late 2010s.
