We had a conversation about a perfume by Guerlain called Nahema and about the rose accord in it. My theory was that it was made in a certain way, Dominique's theory was that it was made in a different way. And then we sort of looked at each other like, oh, maybe we just take that rose accord and put a huge part of it in the product. It was the probably the biggest eureka moment in my thirty-plus years in perfumery. It was amazing, to completely turn the thing around.
— Frédéric Malle, on developing Portrait of a Lady with perfumer Dominique Ropion. Read more in History of the Hero: Frédéric Malle Portrait of a Lady at Harper's Bazaar UK.