Francis Kurkdjian appreciates a good luck charm. For 30 years, the inimitable “nose” (and current Perfume Creation Director for Dior) has carried a little piece of white sugar cube in his pocket when he has very important VIP meetings. It’s a trait he shares with the legend Christian Dior himself, who famously sewed petals of lily of the valley into the hem of his couture creations and was known to carry a ring of amulets everywhere he went, his most revered, a tiny stick of wood. This common superstition inspired Kurkdjian’s latest in Dior’s La Collection Privée, Bois Talisman. But like all good tales, the story goes deeper.
To create this new invisible lucky charm, which Kurkdjian believes should become “a part of one’s skin, something you can’t go out without or you will get lost,” he imagined meeting Christian Dior on the street, and like a secret handshake through time melding their tokens, the idea for a highly elevated concoction of wood and sugary notes was born.
Notes of cedarwood and vanilla mingle for a genderless scent that’s warm and enveloping, a cocoon of comfort. Why cedarwood, specifically? “Pencils are made out of cedarwood and this is what Christian Dior used to draw designs,” Kurkdjian explains. And draw he did. Before creating a collection, Dior was rumored to isolate himself for a month or so, emerging once he had 500 sketches.
But when it came to bringing this scent to life, Kurkdjian had a much more seamless process. Unlike most fragrance creations, which take multiple iterations to land on the perfect formula, Bois Talisman came together quickly because “the story was crystal clear,” he says. And the name was a no-brainer, bien sur. “Talisman is very French,” Kurkdjian assures. Just like the heady sweet and earthy notes of the gorgeous pink-amber juice, “it’s voluptuous.”
Dior Bois Talisman, $330 for 3.4 oz, dior.com
