Francis Kurkdjian is a famous nose. A perfumer who knows how to brew up beautiful scents. Between creating Jean-Paul Gaultier’s Le Male, in 1995, and Kenzo’s Eau de Fleur de Magnolia, in 2009, the 42-year-old Frenchman invented dozens of fragrances for houses as varied as Dior, Armani, Guerlain and, um, Bebe. Despite that impressive resume, he was no shoe-in when the perfume company BPI issued a brief for a debut eau de parfum for the couturier Elie Saab (who is famous for creating Halle Berry’s Oscar dress in 2002 when she won the golden statue).
Kurkdjian was chosen to do Saab’s scent ultimately for the juice rather than his pedigree. “Elie Saab’s gowns are feminine and airy,” Kurkdjian told me Monday at the Sunset Tower Hotel in Los Angeles, the latest stop on a press tour that has spanned from Beirut to Paris to New York. “He is Lebanese but he identifies more with the West than the Middle East. So I wanted to create something warm but not sweet. Addictive but not gourmand—in English that has a culinary or sticky, jammy sense.” Instead of the heady ambiance of oils, Le Parfum is a bright floral, very feminine, almost old-fashioned. Kurkdjian calls it a “French perfume” in that it is a non-trendy scent meant to transcend age and cultural borders. A French perfume, he explains, will naturally pay homage to the Middle East. “The Mediterranean countries gave birth to all the source ingredients—orange, jasmine, cedar, ylang ylang.” I wrapped up the interview by asking Kurkdjian what he wears himself. “Nothing!” he said, scowling and taking a drag off a cigarette. “I wouldn’t be able to stop working if I was wearing fragrance. I’d be thinking of what it needed.” Le Parfum launches this fall in Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom stores. A one-ounce bottle will sell for $60, and the collection is rounded out by body lotion, body cream, and shower cream.