French niche line Frédéric Malle will launch Heaven Can Wait, a new fragrance developed by perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena…
I’d rather go to the V&A than to Sephora
I have an eclectic taste for art and perfume, but I have rules on how to select perfumes. They have in common inventiveness, character, signature and this way of making one with the wearer. I have never watched other people’s work. Not out of contempt but I don’t think it elevates you. Art is a better source of inspiration. I’d rather go to the V&A than to Sephora.
— Read more in Perfume publisher Frédéric Malle: ‘I’d rather go to the V&A than to Sephora’ at The Evening Standard via Yahoo! Life. Malle is sponsoring this year's The Evening Standard Art Prize.
Uncut gem
Man + motorcycle, for Frédéric Malle Uncut Gem.
The biggest eureka moment
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 [Ropion]'s theory was that it was made in the 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 Portrait of a Lady. Read more in History of the Hero: Frédéric Malle Portrait of a Lady at Harper's Bazaar.
It hasn’t changed my business so much
It hasn’t changed my business so much but what has changed is that we are a bit slower from the moment we finish a fragrance to when we go to market, because there are more procedures involved, but in the end it’s the same,” he says. “They’re not going to kill a golden goose. They don’t want to spoil the quality and the talent.
— Frédéric Malle on being acquired by Estée Lauder. Read more in Luxury perfume pioneer Frédéric Malle on hot China market, wannabe niche fragrances and buying perfume online at South China Morning Post.