How do Marie Curie, Richard Wagner, Bach, Chopin or the Armenian exile fit into an interview about L'Or J'adore, one of the most glamorous fragrances in the world? Francis Kurkdjian, creative director of Dior perfumes since 2021, is a man of contexts and responses to the day that do not repeat the script. Reflections, curiosity and culture fly over the words almost on tiptoe, with the agility of the ballet dancer that he was. Creative, visionary, authentic.
“I don't believe in luck, I believe in opportunities,” he says. There is no chance in the recipe of “work, tenacity and audacity” that has led him to be considered by many as the best perfumer in the world. A prodigy of the trade – since he was 25 he has been the author of benchmark hits for different brands and his own Baccarat Rouge 540 continues to be a true phenomenon on the networks – he reinterprets in a contemporary key a J'adore (1999) that has not old fashioned.
True to his style – “I never pretend to be who I am not” – Kurkdjian has simplified the formula and maximized the flowers. L’Or de J’adore gains in fullness and opulence and goes straight to the essentials, fusing craftsmanship and technique. It took him 18 months and more than 130 tests to be satisfied with a proposal that he describes as “soft and floral, modern and radical, sexy and luminous.”
Was Kurkdjian predestined to be Dior's in-house nose?
The Armenian church I went to as a child with my parents and grandparents is just behind Avenue Montaigne. When we went out on Sundays, we stood in front of the windows of the haute couture houses and Dior in particular,” she recalls. She also remembers the wake of Poison, a reference scent of the eighties, on the Champs-Elysées at the time she decided to become a perfumer. And his father smelling of Eau Sauvage. But make no mistake, Francis Kurkdjian is practical-minded and is very clear that “Today is all about tomorrow.” And he even has science fiction visions!
What is your mission at Dior?
Redefine everything with a contemporary look, attentive to what is happening right now. At Dior, perfume has always been closely linked to fashion and femininity; I also want to work on masculinity and part of the Privée Collection that is more fluid or free gender.
What defines a Dior perfume?
Credibility, sillage, being significant... It is a powerful brand in which audacity and quality dominate and that also makes you dream. Christian Dior said: “Respect tradition and dare to be bold, because one is not possible without the other.”
Is it a bit dizzying to reinterpret J’adore, a great icon of the brand?
Not at all. When you face this work, your body and mind must be prepared for the challenge; If not, don't do it. I'm not one to complain. You have to dedicate a lot of effort, creativity, interact with the team with the idea of achieving excellence... So there is nothing you can't achieve. Talent is work.
Some luck doesn't hurt either...
I don't believe in her. At first you may need it, but then it's a matter of knowing how to choose. Luck is for the lottery.
Do you care about other people's judgment?
I think you have to focus your energy on the really important things, not on what other people expect or think about your work. My focus is perfume. I try to create an ecosystem of happiness around me because, if I am not happy at work, the result would be a disaster. I do worry about the success of L'Or de J'adore once it is finished and the feedback from the market.
To create a good perfume do you have to be happy?
The idea of being sad and desperate is very romantic, but I don't share it. There are people who believe that creation is something painful and intense. I don't. I did ballet for many years and on stage everyone smiles. You don't show how much it took you to get there.
Is a perfume emotion, art, technique...? A bit of everything?
It is not art, which is something higher, more timeless. In perfume, tastes change. We don't wear them like we did a hundred years ago, in the same way that we don't dress the same. When Maria Grazia Chiuri redefines femininity and revisits the Bar jacket, which is unique to her, she does so with the woman of today in mind. To stay alive, perfume cannot be in a museum, it needs to be worn by thousands and thousands of people. It is not art, but it can be a masterpiece, like J'adore.
Where do you look for inspiration?
I try to understand what makes Dior so unique, look for the link between Christian Dior's era and mine, what thread or phrase I can extract from the past that works now. Dior said: “My models are all the women in the world.” I love that idea. 75 years ago it was modern and today it is common sense. When Dior shows his passion for gold it helps me create. Fashion, haute couture, his relationship with the artisans, with the atelier, the raw materials from Grasse, where he and his sister Catherine grew roses, jasmine and lavender... Christian Dior is my first source of inspiration . A dialogue between him, me and the present.
There is a lot of nostalgia in fashion, does it play a role in perfumery?
Nostalgia is made for desperate people who have no confidence in the future. And you have to have it. We have to believe in science, in beauty, in the power of kindness, in collective intelligence... Sometimes it is desperate, because these are hard times, but when you come from an exile caused by a genocide like me, you see things differently. manner. From my grandparents I learned the energy it takes to survive disasters in life. You don't complain and move on. I can look back to relive a joy and pull it as if it were a thread, but without nostalgia.
Any olfactory paradise?
Well, I don't believe in paradise either. I am very pragmatic. I love having dreams, but only the ones I can achieve, even if I set the bar very high. Dreams are to be fulfilled.
Pragmatism: how do you recognize a good fragrance?
Because of its strength, because of the sillage...Long duration is one of the first criteria to recognize a good perfume, which should last on the skin for 6 or 7 hours. There are differences between a good perfume and a great perfume. The latter have an exceptional olfactory signature and when you smell them for the first time you think: “Wow, I have never smelled anything like that.” A great perfume is one that makes you feel unique.
Artificial intelligence is making itself noticed in the sector. How do you value it?
Think of Marie Curie, who discovered radium, which can be used for healing or making bombs. There's no black and white, but so far I haven't seen anything outstanding created by AI. In perfumery it analyzes and gives you possibilities, but they are mathematics, they have no meaning. When I create L'Or de J'adore I apply my vision, my knowledge. A starting point such as gold at Dior is based on many different criteria. There is something intangible that AI cannot give you at the moment. And if he succeeds, I will have already retired. AI can create pieces by Wagner, Bach or Chopin, but there is nothing exciting about them. They do not bring emotion or any new feeling.
If anyone can smell the olfactory future, it's you. Where are we going?
There will come a time when we will not need our nose to smell, we will have some device implanted in our heads for this and it will be virtual. But that's still science fiction.
What smell do you associate with love?
The one on the neck of the people I love.
