The scent of sunshine is a sensation. It is a perfume of opportunity and enhancement: calming and strengthening, an extract of energy. In his first involvement in a fragrance project for Louis Vuitton, Pharrell Williams asked Jacques Cavallier Belletrud to capture the light, the essence of LVERS, in a richly crafted men’s fragrance for a global community that is inspired in company by the warmth that radiates from the sun.
LVERS was conceived through a creative dialogue between Pharrell Williams and Jacques Cavallier Belletrud, which was crafted in Louis Vuitton’s creative atelier at Les Fontaines Parfumées in Grasse, France. For this new collaborative composition, the master perfumer has maintained an intergenerational approach and has involved Camille Cavallier Belletrud, Louis Vuitton perfumer and member of the creative studio, who trained at the Maison under the master perfumer’s tutelage for years and cultivated the house’s DNA, in the creative process.
LVERS conveys in the form of a fragrance the rhetorical yet familiar scent of the sun that radiates the skin, energises the vitality of nature and gives life to the organisms around us. With olfactory alchemy, the master perfumer transforms the abstract scent of sunlight into earthly matter. After contemplating the science of photosynthesis, the Maison’s expert identified the notes that emanate from nature as a result of the vitalising power of light: the lushness of leaves caressed by the rays, the fading nectar of newly grown grass and the warm earthiness of tree trunks taking root in the forest sun.
Galbanum, the mythical ferula resin that is rarely used in today’s fragrances, is revitalised and refined from its wild, vegetal state. The centuries-old fragrance is cultivated like a diamond in the rough: in delicate green notes, thus bringing to life the tender, spicy core of the LVERS bouquet, which rests on the base note of cedarwood. Extracted from second-hand wood from carpentry, the oil’s deep woody sensibility establishes the indefinable but recognisable olfactory sensation that everyone associates with the forest.
Harmonised with the creaminess of sandalwood, it sets an earthy yet elegant tone for the fragrance, energised by the crisp freshness of ginger. The composition is elevated by the fruity and spicy top notes of bergamot, which subtly give way to galbanum in a figurative illustration of the first rays of dawn. To bring the therapeutic power of the sun to bear, each of the LVERS ingredients is rooted in ancestral cultural practices related to notions of healing.
In ancient Greece, galbanum was used as a healing remedy, while in ancient Egypt, cedarwood essential oil was used as a means of preservation and to ward off evil spirits. In Eastern medicine, sandalwood is a key component along with ginger, which is well known for its health benefits. Across cultures, bergamot has been considered a tool for mental and physical regeneration. The healing powers traditionally linked to the ingredients infuse LVERS with a holistic air: a fragrance that is like an elixir for well-being, a spray of sunlight distilled in a bottle.
With the characteristic cylindrical silhouette of Les Parfums de Louis Vuitton, the LVERS bottle reflects, refracts and mimics sunlight. A prismatic finish electrifies the crystal structure coloured from within by a golden juice that evokes the shimmering effect of sunlight as it gilds the skin. The fragrance is accompanied by a travel case and a fragrance boot (holds three bottles) in the green Damoflage motif. At the heart of Pharrell Williams’ creative expression at Louis Vuitton, the graphic splices the Damier pattern inherited from the Maison with camouflage, a signifier in the menswear creative director’s personal style lexicon.
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