Dior&rsquo;s award-winning nose Francis Kurkdjian has reimagined Dior&rsquo;s signature scent, stripping it down to essential floral notes, a new harmony, and joy.

When you have a conversation with <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/lofficiel-nose-francis-kurkdjian-2019">Francis Kurkdjian</a> about fragrance, you won&rsquo;t find yourself talking about scents and flowers, but rather about art, in an array of mediums. The award-winning founder of Maison Francis Kurkdjian luxury fragrances and Perfume Creation Director of Parfums <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/dior-nose-documentary-secrets-great-perfume-movie-perfumier">Christian Dior</a> has an impressive vocabulary about the creative process, a lexicon that he is constantly expanding.
At one point during our interview, he compares creating perfume to playing the piano. At another, he hones in on how fragrances can be as sharp as Pointillism or as abstract as <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/vincent-van-gogh-inspired-fashion">Impressionism</a>. References to Damien Hirst, Salvador Dal&iacute;, and Andy Warhol roll off <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/best-gender-neutral-unisex-fragrances-perfume">Kurkdjian</a>&rsquo;s tongue, as if art is a language one can be as fluent in as his native French.
All that is to say, these various channels inform his perfume creations. Kurkdjian is able to visualize fragrance like no other. Take, for example, the new <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/natalie-portman-miss-dior-perfume">L&rsquo;Or de J&rsquo;adore</a>&mdash;the perfumer&rsquo;s new launch for Parfums Christian Dior that reimagines the classic scent. The floral fragrance becomes simultaneously streamlined and bold. Kurkdjian compares his approach to the process of how gold is refined&mdash;reducing it to its liquid state, where impurities evaporate. What&rsquo;s left behind are <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/miss-dior-beauty-pop-up-nyc">bright, reflective florals</a>&mdash;jasmine, rose, ylang ylang, lily of the valley, and violet&mdash;familiar from the original J&rsquo;adore perfume created by Calice Becker in 1999, but conveying a new harmony.

A gilded bottle of L’Or de J’adore.

&ldquo;The beauty of J&rsquo;adore, the original [eau de parfum], is you smell flowers, but they&rsquo;re very abstract flowers,&rdquo; <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/shopping/fragrances-to-shop-spring-2023-perfumes-scent">Kurkdjian</a> shares. For the new fragrance, he wanted to create a &ldquo;rounder&rdquo; impression, in which the contours of each element are defined. &ldquo;To reach that idea of softness and roundness, it&rsquo;s about finding the right balance so there is not an ingredient that takes over. So it&rsquo;s pointillism for a kind of abstract result,&rdquo; he says.
And while reworking an iconic fragrance might sound daunting, Kurkdjian chalks it up as just part of the job. &ldquo;When you know that you&rsquo;re going to be at Dior, you understand right away that you will be part of the history of the house, and that you not only have to create new things but you also have to take care of the heritage,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;If you look at the <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion-week/dior-haute-couture-fall-winter-2023-collection-every-look-paris-fashion-week">fashion side</a>&mdash;<a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/dior-cruise-2020-highlights-2019">Maria Grazia Chiuri</a> or <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/kim-jones-takes-dior-mens-pre-fall-2022-on-the-road-jack-kerouac">Kim Jones</a>&mdash;they all went back to the archives and they all made symbols in their own way. They have their vision of the Bar suit and other iconic lines of the maison, so I think in a house like Dior, it&rsquo;s part of the game.&rdquo;
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a privilege because you can&rsquo;t be in another house and pay tribute to <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/dior-makeup-artist-peter-philips-jewelry-designer-yoon-ahn-interview">Dior</a>,&rdquo; he continues. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like in art, where you have Salvador Dal&iacute; putting a mustache on Mona Lisa, or Andy Warhol using the face of Marilyn.&rdquo;
Over the years, J&rsquo;adore has seen several iterations, but <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/popular-perfumes-tiktok-trending-rihanna-maison-francis-kurkdjian">Kurkdjian</a>&rsquo;s is perhaps the most emblematic to date. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m very lucky because it&rsquo;s an amazing perfume. To maintain this level of popularity for a fragrance 25 years after its launch, I&rsquo;m not saying it&rsquo;s unseen, but it is very rare,&rdquo; he says.&nbsp;
To find the identity of L&rsquo;Or de J&rsquo;adore, the <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/ultimate-perfumes-spring-summer-2021-chanel-marc-jacobs">perfumer</a> started with its concept rather than the raw materials. &ldquo;You have to think creatively first, but then rationally very soon after that, like the second after,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;I always think that a great perfume comes from a great story. Same thing with writing, if you don&rsquo;t know what to write, you&rsquo;ll never get a good book. You have to be able to sum it up in a very few lines because if it&rsquo;s a long story, you&rsquo;re not going to be able to make your statement.&rdquo;
Later, he offers another analogy: &ldquo;To me, <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/the-journey-of-perfume-jacques-cavallier-belletrud-2018">creating perfume</a> is like playing the piano. You have a right hand and a left hand, and they don&rsquo;t do the same thing. One side of your brain has to dream. The other has to be super-rational because you have to make a decision; the ingredients have to work. In French, we say sent-bon, meaning &lsquo;smells good.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Writing, music, perfume&mdash;whatever the medium, composition is key. Getting the <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/gender-neutral-fragrance-brands-perfume-cologne" style="letter-spacing: 0px;">new fragrance</a> right took more than 130 tries. Ultimately, the team selected version 88. &ldquo;If I were only by myself, it would be a never-ending process,&rdquo; Kurkdjian says of <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/how-to-wear-apply-perfume-fragrance-tips" style="letter-spacing: 0px;">perfecting the perfume</a>. &ldquo;But when you work within a team, you have a dialogue; you have to trust each other. This is very important.&rdquo;

Sketch by Polly Brotherwood

FROM LEFT: Storyboard from the 1999 Dior J’adore commercial featuring Carmen Kass, Dior J’adore magazine ad from 2000

When the original <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/slogan-tees-are-the-latest-y2k-trend-making-a-comeback">J&rsquo;adore</a> fragrance launched at the turn of the century, it was the onset of the digital age, and our relationship to the Internet was nascent. Now, we&rsquo;re at another inflection point with technology&mdash;much like the uncertainty of <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/early-2000s-movies-for-y2k-style-inspiration">Y2K</a>, the future of AI poses more existential questions than answers. Bringing this larger context into the conversation of his work, Kurkdjian reflects: &ldquo;The world is much faster because of the Internet. Because of technology, we get things right away; we don&rsquo;t like waiting. And I think one of the consequences is to have a very straight-to-the-point pitch. Not only do you need to grab the attention of the client, but also what you tell them must be meaningful, because there are so many things we&rsquo;re bombarded with. You need to be essential in what you say.&rdquo;
That&rsquo;s why stripping back L&rsquo;Or de J&rsquo;adore to its <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/shopping/womens-summer-perfumes-shop-le-labo-versace-loewe">floral signatures</a> resonates so strongly, along with reintroducing <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/film-tv/charlize-theron-movie-transformations-bombshell-prometheus">Charlize Theron</a> as the face of the fragrance. In a split second, you know it&rsquo;s J&rsquo;adore. &ldquo;It is a part of our mission at <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/how-beauty-companies-prepare-for-a-greener-future-sustainable-makeup-products">Dior</a> to elevate the perception of perfume. It&rsquo;s not only just a scent,&rdquo; the perfumer says. Like the iconic Bar suits and toile de jouy print that have become synonymous with the maison, Kurkdjian is helping define what he calls the &ldquo;olfactive silhouette&rdquo; of <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/model-dilone-dior-stands-with-women-chin-up-international-womens-day-campaign">Dior</a>.
Beyond the luxury and house codes, Kurkdjian wants to create <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/fragrance-perfume-trends-beauty-history">fragrances that bring joy</a>. &ldquo;What we do is not necessary; it&rsquo;s not vital,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;What is vital is that we need to bring happiness to people. We need to bring dreams.&rdquo;

Francis Kurkdjian at work. Images courtesy of Dior.

Perfumer of Dreams: Francis Kurkdjian on Dior's Signature Scent

Perfumer of Dreams: Francis Kurkdjian on Dior's Signature Scent

Tags

Related Articles

Beauty

L'Officiel Nose: Francis Kurkdjian

Beauty

Christian Dior Opens Tokyo Exhibition 'Miss Dior: Love N' Roses'

Beauty

How to Wear and Apply Perfume Like a Pro

Recommended posts for you

Fashion

Emma Chamberlain, the voice of Gen Z

Shopping

8 Balaclavas to Keep Your Face Protected All Winter

Beauty

5 Beauty Microtrends We’re Taking Into 2025

Fashion

Every Time David Corenswet Stepped Out Looking Like Clark Kent

Fashion

See How Fendi Did This Year's Holiday Capsule

Fashion

The Best Online Thrift Stores to Shop in 2025

Fashion

Mariah Carey Signs off for the Holidays With Chic Aspen Look

Pop culture

How the Royals Are Spending Christmas 2024