Maison Francis Kurkdjian Captures the Lights of Paris in Two Scents
by Anna Barr
The Maison Francis Kurkdjian creates collections designed as a fragrance wardrobe, with olfactory silhouettes. Rather than trying on clothes, I’ve spent delightful hours sniffing beautiful scent blotters. Many of the hours were a journey into the Kurkdjian’s creations, having created more than forty perfumes for big houses including the iconic Le Male for Jean Paul Gaultier in 1995. In 2021 he was appointed Perfume Creation Director at Parfums Christian Dior where earlier in the year we sported his New Look.
Emblematic scents of the Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s fragrance wardrobe, Petit Matin and Grand Soir are reminiscent of the deepest emotions of Paris which are at the core of the Maison’s aesthetic. Both are elegant and complimentary, capturing The City of Lights, from dawn to dusk, into two exceptional fragrance creations perfect for this transitional spring to summer-season’s sartorial mood.
Francis Kurkdjian
“The freshness of an early morning with Petit Matin and the radiance of a grand evening with Grand Soir. I live to the tempo of an enchanting and luminous Paris. These unique, most cherished moments inspired me to create a duo of perfumes that can be experienced like an olfactory getaway in the heart of the City of Lights…” stated Francis Kurkdjian.
Petit Matin has a blend of orange blossom implying the first hint of a radiant day ahead while the essences of litsea cubeba and lavender dominate the composition of this bright and radiant eau de parfum. Adding depth is the powdery sweetness of the hawthorn accord that creeps into the core notes as AmbroxanTM underlines the base notes implying the presence of the perfume without explicitly declaring its whereabouts in this musky – citrusy scent.
For staying power into the grand evening Grand Soir is a woody-amber irresistible affair, pushing the boundaries of what an evening perfume might be. With Paris as the stage, where the evening is tinged with a copper halo; gold sculptures and domes shine before surrendering to the mysteries of the night. Grand Soir is an olfactory bursting with sensuality. At first, the depth of an accord of cistus labdanum paired with lavender and cinnamon tree leaves is revealed, while the sweet warmth of a vanilla ambery accord with accents of benzoin prevails in the base notes.
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