What better flower to symbolize the courage, strength and beauty of women in all their dimensions than the mighty rose? But just as the notion of femininity today is non-cliché, sometimes a rose is a rose — and then some. For Louis Vuitton’s latest fragrance, eLVes (pronounced “elles”) in-house Master Perfumer Jacques Cavallier Belletrud gave the classically romantic bloom a decidedly subversive twist, at once familiar but with a silent message not to be underestimated. “When you love someone, you offer roses, and roses have this eternal aspect of a perfume everyone knows from childhood,” he explains, “but if you take [a rose] the wrong way, it can hurt you.”
To tap in to the eternal beauty of the flower — with a subtle reminder of thorns — he blended deep, velvety Bulgarian rose absolute with airy CO2-extracted Centifolia rose then laced in delicate, dewy lily of the valley, for the first time “giving a voice” to this note through a never-before-used extraction process developed in his native Grasse. A cornucopia of juicy fruits and spices further infuse a pulse of energy. Think blackcurrant, peach and a hint of creamy coconut milk plus exotic spices including cinnamon and ginger. Finally, the scent unfolds in amber, which the perfumer believes represents “the epitome of 21st century sensuality,” and a hit of patchouli, always reminiscent of unbridled freedom.
The complex scent took Belletrud five years to develop and, in the end, over 100 takes. But he looked to a familiar muse for the final stamp of approval. “When my wife is coming back to me saying ‘you’re destroying the beautiful perfume you gave me before’ I know I have to come back to what makes the perfume beautiful.”
eLVes Louis Vuitton, $330 for $3.4 oz., louisvuitton.com
