New scents come with design credentials

The bottles of a group of recently launched fragrances are more than mere vessels. Considered objects, some are shaped from materials more regularly used in a sculptor’s studio than perfumery laboratory, others are the creations of award-winning architects and industrial designers.

At Louis Vuitton, Fantasmagory, the seventh scent of the maison’s Les Extraits line, is the work of in-house master perfumer Jacques Cavallier Belletrud. Here, the key note is vanilla: Cavallier Belletrud chose tahitensis vanilla, whose pods, once sourced in Papua New Guinea, are pulped and then cryogenically frozen, before CO2 extraction captures their aroma. Fantasmagory’s flacon is equally visionary, as Louis Vuitton’s signature rounded glass bottle (designed by Marc Newson) is topped with a silver metal cap in the shape of a wind-blown flower, as sketched by Frank Gehry.

French creative Philippe Mouquet designed the bottle for Barénia Eau de Parfum Intense by Hermès. A follow-up to 2024’s Barénia Eau de Parfum, for this year’s iteration the brand’s in-house perfumer Christine Nagel swaps the formulation’s patchouli note for the rich scent of a patchouli absolute. Mouquet is well versed in Hermès’s visual vocabulary, having previously designed printed silks, timepieces, including the Heure H, and the Terre d’Hermès bottle, among others. This new flacon is lightly dressed in an amber tone degrade lacquer, its metal plate inspired by Hermès’ Collier de Chien bracelet.

Another French heritage business, Trudon has introduced Nuit Rouge, a new collection of three night-time fragrances. All three, including the amber woody Midnight Omen (by perfumer Émilie Bouge), come in ruby-red lacquered glass bottles with golden metal name plaques. At Perfumer H, a golden beetle sticker is placed on limited-edition issues of Rose With Insect, for which Lyn Harris added the scent of peaches, neroli, cardamom and musk to rose. Gold tones also come to the fore at Dries van Noten. An olfactory interpretation of nights in Cuba, perfumer Jordi Fernández’s Havana Gold blends the scent of liquorice with tobacco, all captured in an amber-tinted glass flacon with an aged brass base.

Also of note are Eragon by Parfums de Marly – one of three fragrances that make up the brand’s new Les Extraits offering, which is inspired by guillochage, a centuries-old mechanical engraving technique, and which come in glass bottles topped with tactile, engraved metal caps – and Lazuliou by Diptyque. Themed around peacocks and the bird’s striking plumage, Lazuliou’s paper box is decorated with a watercolour by artist Nigel Peake. A textured illustration also features on the glass bottle, framed in Diptyque’s signature oval.

Elsewhere, it’s the possibility to personalise that makes flacons stand out. Dior’s Rose Star is a thematic tribute to Christian Dior’s favourite flower and his lucky star. Created by the maison’s perfume creation director Francis Kurkdjian, 100ml and 200ml bottles of Rose Star can be ordered with Couture caps – embossed with Dior Oblique, Cannage, Houndstooth, Toile de Jouy, Plan de Paris or an animal-theme Mitzah pattern – as well as complimentary engraving.

Staying with caps: at Loewe, the lids of three new Crafted Collection bottles (Roasted Vanilla, Iris Root and Bittersweet Oud) are sculpted from pale white granite.

Finally, Ffern. The creations of the Somerset-based company are released seasonally and available by lottery. If successful, expect to receive new scents with each season’s solstice or equinox. At Ffern, sustainability is writ large. Outer packaging is free of plastic, there’s a kraft paper tube in lieu of caps, and the glass bottle is fully recyclable via regular recycling collection.