Pharrell Williams has just unveiled his debut fragrance for the house of Louis Vuitton and it’s the holistic elixir you didn’t know you needed. Dubbed LV Lovers, the aroma aims to imagine the scent of the sun, not so much the fiery ball of gas that floats through the universe, but the light and warmth that emanates from it, at once soothing and strengthening.

Calling upon master perfumer Jacques Cavallier Belletrud to craft the men’s fragrance at Louis Vuitton’s creative atelier at Les Fontaines Parfumées in Grasse, France, the new eau de parfum echoes the question posed by the creative director upon his arrival at the house, “What will you do when the sun shines on you?” Seeing the sun as a metaphor for love and as the source of life traversing all human experiences, the creative duo transform the abstract scent of the sun into something tangible.

In LV Lovers creation, Belletrud adhered to a cross-generational approach, involving in-house perfumer Camille Cavallier Belletrud, who trained under the master’s mentorship, in the creative process. Together, they examined the science of photosynthesis in order to identify the olfactory notes that would best represent this, imagining the “luxuriance of leaves caressed by rays; the evaporating nectar of freshly grown grass; the warm earthiness of tree trunks expanding under the forest sun”. Resulting from this, he determined that galbanum, the sappy and spicy centuries-old mythical resin of the Ferula plant that’s rarely used in modern-day fragrances, should be alchemised with bottom notes of cedarwood extracted from second-hand carpentry wood. Combined with the softness of sandalwood, the crisp energy of ginger, and fruity bergamot top notes, the perfumer has crafted a truly vitalising aroma. Belletrud comments, “The theme of sunlight that lit up Pharrell’s debut show on Pont Neuf in June 2023 inspired us to convey photosynthesis in scent. It may sound abstract, but if you look at life, photosynthesis is the starting point for everything.”

What’s more, the therapeutic qualities of the sun are conjured in the ancient healing practices tied to each ingredient. In Ancient Greece, galbanum was used to cure certain illnesses, while in Ancient Egypt, cedarwood oil was used as a mode of preservation and to ward off evil spirits. In Eastern medicine, sandalwood and ginger are widely recognised for their health benefits and across cultures, bergamot has been used to support both mental and physical renewal.

The release arrives alongside a travel case and fragrance trunk with space for three bottles cloaked in Williams’ Damoflage motif, which combines LV’s heritage Damier pattern with a camouflage print.

LV Lovers is like a spray of sunlight distilled in the Parisian house’s signature cylindrical flacon with a prismatic finish, coloured from within this golden elixir of well-being.

louisvuitton.com

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