Words: Zak Maoui
Francis Kurkdjian is a master of his craft. Since October 2021 he has assumed the role of Dior's perfume creation director, a title he holds in addition to being the founder of his own line, Maison Francis Kurkdjian.
Since joining Dior, he has masterminded the house’s Esprits De Parfum collection, while he has been silently working on serving a new Sauvage to the masses. The jewel in the crown of Dior's male fragrance catalogue, Sauvage is the number one selling fragrance in the world, year in, year out. And Kurkdjian, upon arriving at Dior, was tasked with mixing it up, and delivering a fresh take on the instantly recognisable scent.
And he's done exactly that. The original Dior Sauvage came out in 2014 (an update from an older Dior fragrance, Eau Sauvage, which was released in 1966), and was the brainchild of Dior’s in-house perfumer, François Demachy. The sweet vanilla, ambroxan, citrus and ambergris scent has become an icon in its own right, with Demachy creating Parfum, eau de parfum and elexir iterations of it.
Dior Sauvage eau Forte. £103 for 100ml. dior.com
Kurkdjian's new take, Dior Sauvage eau Forte, is the first alcohol-free, water-based male scent that the French maison has produced. As fresh as an eau de toilette, but as intense as a parfum, the new scent is inspired by stretches of "wild virgin land" and mingles water with an oily fragrance concentrate. The scent is a revision of the OG, and has woody and musky notes, as well as, and importantly to Kurkdjian, drops of fresh lavender.
We sat down with Kurkdjian in the ironically arid Utah desert to discuss his new water-based, alcohol-free take on Dior Sauvage, as well as the future of fragrances...
On finding inspiration…
You have to lift up the stone and see if there is something inspiring here. Everytime I have a project we get together once a week to discuss the project and how we can move forward with regards to the storytelling around the scent. I’m the head in terms of vision, but we have people working with me and, just like a fashion team, we have a whole team. And we work together to create the story.
On diving into the archives…
We have a dedicated team that looks after every bit of brand history. It’s about four or five people. From 1905 when Christian Dior was born, up to now. So when you have a subject, you can send the team an email and you can ask ‘do you have anything related to lavender’, for example, and the team there will send you a file with all information, whether it’s movies or other assets, relating to it. The archives are very important, because they give you a first step. Obviously I do think some things aren’t so relevant anymore. For example, when Christian Dior said, “after God flowers are the most beautiful creatures on earth.” I am not so sure. That was said in 1947, and it’s not so accurate now.
On respecting the past…
Everything before October 2021, when I joined, is the past of the house in my eyes. It is a heritage and I have to take care of it. That is the Dior archive and I respect it.
On Dior Sauvage…
Dior Sauvage has captured, to me, what men’s fragrances at the beginning of this century. It’s a great synthesis of what masculinity stood for ten years ago. Because of the power of the brand, and having Johnny Depp on side, it has become iconic. It became a reference for capturing masculinity. It captured the synthesis of the moment and it has managed to maintain its position.
On going alcohol-free the new Dior Sauvage Eau Forte…
The water-based scent gives something that is impossible to create. It presents that lush effect, which I think is a certain feeling. It’s not adding a note, it’s a feeling. It’s the way the water hits your nose. It’s smoother. We wanted to make something smooth. There are some technical limits. It is a little more difficult than when using alcohol. Also this fragrance leaves a little wetness on the skin, which some people might not like. It’s a big shift. For decades we have been infused with the idea of alcohol-based scents. Ten years ago this was not a possibility at all. 2014, no one really cared about sustainability in the way we do now.
On the future of fragrances…
Right now we are alone in the market. Dior that is, as we have already created alcohol-free fragrances for women. When you’re alone, it’s innovation. But you can’t be alone for a long time, because to be alone means you are wrong. Imitation is key, in my opinion, and a signifier of success. You need two or three years to create something new, so we will see whether this will be the future of fragrances in a few years.
There are technical limits with alcohol-free. Concentration-wise it can be difficult, and so you’re limited to how much oil you can put in the finished product, and so the fragrance it’s a lot more fresh than some.
On what Dior Sauvage eau Forte represents…
I wanted to work around the smell of lavender, while working with the original scent. Lavender can be very clean, but also extremely deep. It’s the only male flower. It is the only flower used in male fragrances. At the end of the 18th Century it was forbidden for women to wear perfume, and lavender was heavily used.
On creating fragrance…
I never think about the customer. I care about providing the best product, but I don’t have a certain person in mind when creating a fragrance. You just think about the product, the story, the brand, yourself and the quality. I try to avoid thinking about the target and if someone will like it. We do no testing before launching. We test after it has been released. And then we look at the numbers. I love numbers. Testing product doesn’t lead to success. So many brands put so much money into it, but in the end they’re not successful. The end product is an amalgamation of everything from the smell, the consistency, the bottle and the ambassador. It’s not just about the smell, so testing can’t mean success. When you have the number one fragrance in the world, as Dior Sauvage is, it’s difficult. But we wanted to see if we could move the market a little, and so we introduced this fresh scent.
On trends…
I don’t look at trends. There are trends in fragrances, as with fashion, but I avoid them. I follow the history of the brand I am fuelled by that instead. I take the brand, and I take the era, and shake it.
On dupes…
The enemy of the brand. It kills the business. We lose millions because of it, even with my own brand it’s damaging. You can sue for the bottle, the name, the labels, but for the perfume inside, there is nothing we can do about it so far. It’s terrible. And I think fast fashion is responsible for it.
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