Louis Vuitton’s new perfume range: meet the master maker

In terms of pedigree, Louis Vuitton’s master perfumer Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud, is the cream of the crop. A native of Grasse which is famed for centuries of perfume manufacturing, “my family have been in the region for five centuries,” Cavallier-Belletrudsays. He is also the third generation of his family to work in the business, his father and grandfather were both experts in the field.

When we meet at Louis Vuitton’s new centre of perfume, Les Fontaines Parfumées, a property acquired and renovated by LVMH, dating back to the 17th century, Cavallier-Belletrud’s teenage daughter is also there and thinking of following in her father’s footsteps.

Cavallier-Belletrud is responsible for some of the most recognisable perfumes of the last 30 years: Christian Dior’s Midnight Poison, Giorgio Armani’s Acqua di Gio and Issey Miyake’s L’Eau d’Issey. But at Louis Vuitton he has been tasked by the LVMH group to create the first perfumes for the brand in 70 years. The result? A collection of seven sophisticated scents, that took him a total of three years to develop, in what could be this year’s biggest beauty launch.

The scents carry a fair amount of mystery: there’s the airy Rose des Vents, musky Dans la Peau, the innocent Apogée, the darker Matière Noire, the intense, sweet Mille Feux, Contre Moi and Turbulences. Each comes in a Marc Newson-designed bottle with a hint of reference to the brand’s past perfume bottles.

“I worked so many different ideas. I was totally free,” he says. “I took a lot from the emotions of visiting the brand’s ateliers and talking to people who worked there and discovering what they were doing.”