Beyond bolstering its product arsenal, Louis Vuitton also stresses that for the company, perfume is the final piece of the puzzle.
“Perfume today has lost its soul. It is far too mass and too marketed, lacking in personality.”
That was Michael Burke, chairman and chief executive of Louis Vuitton, talking last month about why, after a 70-year hiatus, the French luxury house has been quietly plotting a high-profile return to the global finefragrance market.
“We see a big growth opportunity in offering artisanal fragrance that harks back to the ways they used to be conceived of and purchased,” he said. “But that means doing things the right way, and the right way takes time.”
It also takes, apparently, a new home base in Grasse, a picturesque town nestled amid fields of roses, lavender, jasmine and tuberose in the sun-soaked hills above the French Riviera — and the perfume capital of the world.
That’s where, in 2013, Vuitton bought Les Fontaines Parfumees, a terra-cotta hued 17th-century perfumery surrounded by lush lawns, fountains and more than 350 species of flowers and plants.
The estate had spent much of the 20th century in a state of disrepair, having opened its doors as a perfumery in 1640. Vuitton renovated it and installed a state-of-the-art laboratory on its top floor, with Jacques Cavallier Belletrud, a third-generation Grasse-born perfumer and industry supremo, at its helm.
There, Mr. Cavallier Belletrud, 54, was given free rein: “no brief, no budget,” he told reporters assembled in New York in July.
What scents have blossomed from these hefty investments remain highly confidential. The expectation is that there will be seven new perfumes, infused with notes including leather, tuberose and other florals, housed in crystal bottles designed by Marc Newson and unveiled this September in Vuitton’s 473 boutiques worldwide.
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