Serge Lutens: Philosophical Perfumes That Reveal Your True Self

“Perfume resides in the deepest part of us. It is a means of self-expression, a point from which to contemplate ourselves and sense who we truly are. In a way, it is also a weapon: one that seduces as a consequence rather than by intention.”

— Serge Lutens​

Basic Information

• Founded: 2000, although fragrance creation with Shiseido began in 1982​
• Founder: Serge Lutens, born March 14, 1942​
• Official website: www.sergelutens.com (Japanese website: www.sergelutens.jp)
• Current trademark owner: Shiseido, which acquired the trademark in 2015; Lutens continues to participate as creative director

The Founder and the Origins of the Brand

Born Amid the Wounds of War

On March 14, 1942, amid the Second World War, Serge Lutens was born in Lille, an industrial city in northern France. His birth was a “problem” in the society of the time: under France’s Vichy regime, laws severely punished women who committed adultery, and he was born outside marriage. Neither his father nor his grandparents wanted the child. Only his mother wanted to give birth to him and protect him.

“I was born in the midst of the Second World War. My mother was married at the time, and the situation was complicated. … My mother did not abandon me. But the laws of the time forced her to give me up. She did so to protect herself and me. I left my mother’s care, but I was not abandoned by her. It was simply that a maternal presence was missing from my life. That shaped my personality.”

— Serge Lutens, interview with the British newspaper The Independent, 2013​

Separated from his mother when he was only a few weeks old, he moved from one foster family to another. In 1943, still a small child, Serge lost sight of his mother in a crowd rushing into a bomb shelter during a Nazi air-raid warning. The terrifying memory of climbing its rusty spiral staircase would later be given symbolic form at the center of his Palais-Royal boutique.​

An Apprentice at Fourteen, Dressed in Black

In 1956, at the age of 14, Serge was sent against his will to apprentice in a beauty salon in Lille. For a boy who dreamed of becoming an actor, it was an unwelcome beginning. Yet the place opened his eyes. He developed an ability to distinguish genuine elegance from its imitation and continued taking photographs, always carrying a small camera.

There he established the hallmarks that remain his signature today: eyeshadow, porcelain-like skin, neatly cut short hair, and black. Wearing black and nothing else became central to his aesthetic.​

At 18, Serge was called up for military service during the Algerian War. After completing a year of service, he resolved to change his life fundamentally. In 1962, at 20, he left Lille for Paris.

Paris and the Door to Vogue

After the first few months, described in his official biography as “a time of security and deprivation,” Lutens took a major gamble. Carrying large prints of his own photographs, he visited the offices of Vogue, a magazine that for him represented “the essence of beauty, a kind of mythologized convent.”​

“His Instamatic camera would open some of the very best doors. He came to Paris in 1962. He was twenty.”

— Pierre Lescure, “Conversation,” published on the official Serge Lutens website​

He caught the attention of editor-in-chief Edmonde Charles-Roux and, just three days later, contributed to Vogue’s Christmas issue. Soon Elle, Jardin des Modes, and Harper’s Bazaar were calling too, and he was working alongside the leading photographers of the age, including Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Guy Bourdin, and Helmut Newton.

Christian Dior and the Makeup Revolution

In 1967, or 1968 according to Shiseido’s official press release, Christian Dior (in Japanese) was planning a new makeup line and chose the young Lutens. Dior entrusted the development of its makeup products to this 26-year-old photographer and hairstylist.

The revolutionary element lay in his use of “white.” Bold lines making full use of white sent shock waves through fashion. Diana Vreeland, the legendary editor of American Vogue, published his portrait with the declaration: “Serge Lutens, a revolution in makeup!” In 1972, a series of his photographs inspired by Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, and others was exhibited at New York’s Guggenheim Museum. In 1974, he made short films that were screened at international film festivals, including Cannes.

Discovering Morocco: The Origin of His Fragrance World

In 1968, the year he first visited Morocco on a Dior assignment, the scent of cedarwood drifting from near the souk changed Lutens.​

“I was not particularly interested in perfume until I visited Morocco. No, it would be more accurate to say that I disliked it. I went to Morocco for Dior in 1968 and became captivated by the cedar scent coming from near the souk. This is where my fragrance journey began.”

— Serge Lutens​

He had intended to stay for ten days but remained for three months. A meeting point of light, dust, and scent unlike Europe, this place, which he calls “somewhere to find a solution to ourselves,” would become the central axis of his life and creativity. In 1974, he bought a nearly ruined riad in the heart of Marrakech’s medina, or old city.​

“The eccentrics lived here at the time. It was an enchanting place.”

— Serge Lutens, Nuvo Magazine, 2022​

The Encounter with Shiseido: Bringing “Shiseido” to the World

In 1980, Lutens signed a collaboration agreement with Shiseido. The decision would transform the company’s history, helping turn a Japanese cosmetics business that was then virtually unknown internationally into a major global-market player during the 1980s and 1990s. He devised makeup, designed packaging, took advertising photographs, and fundamentally renewed Shiseido’s visual identity. His advertising films twice won the Lion d’Or, or Gold Lion, at the Cannes international advertising film festival.

In 1982, Lutens became involved in perfume creation for the first time with Nombre Noir, the first “Western-style” fragrance Shiseido launched to the world. Shiseido perfumer Jean-Yves Leroy created the scent, while Lutens devised its name and concept. Its black visuals and vision of a “harmony in black” overturned contemporary ideas of packaging. The celebrated perfume critic Luca Turin hailed it as “one of the world’s five great perfumes, simply wonderful,” and vintage bottles have continued to command high prices since its discontinuation.

1992: The Dawn of Niche Perfumery

The year 1992 was a special one in perfume history. In that year, Lutens achieved three revolutionary things at once.

First, he opened Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido deep within the Palais-Royal arcades. It was renamed Les Salons du Palais Royal Serge Lutens in 2012. The boutique cannot be entered directly from the street: visitors must pass through the Palais-Royal gardens to reach it. This was a literal embodiment of Lutens’ philosophy of “attracting only discerning clients, not casual passersby.”

Second, he released Féminité du Bois. It is considered one of four revolutions in perfumery in 1992, alongside Issey Miyake’s L’Eau d’Issey, Mugler’s Angel, and Hermès’ Eau Parfumée au Thé Vert. Putting cedarwood, which had not been used in women’s perfumes, in the leading role, it created an unprecedented world that crossed gender boundaries. Although Lutens himself says, “I did not intentionally make it unisex,” it is widely recognized as perfumery’s first unisex fragrance. Pierre Bourdon (in Japanese) proposed the idea for the composition, which Christopher Sheldrake then took over and completed.

Third, with this boutique and this fragrance, he opened the way for the movement now known as “niche perfumery.”​

2000: The Birth of the Serge Lutens Brand

In 2000, with financial support and encouragement from Shiseido, Lutens established an independent brand, Parfums Beauté Serge Lutens, later renamed Serge Lutens. The brand would subsequently expand to around 2,000 outlets in 35 countries.

On February 27, 2007, France’s Ministry of Culture and Communication awarded Lutens the rank of Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the highest rank in the French Order of Arts and Letters. At the ceremony, Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres praised him as “a true aesthete, a goldsmith of the senses, an extraordinary maker of images.”

In 2014, he established the Serge Lutens Foundation in Marrakech’s medina. Bringing together as many as 60 riads, the labyrinthine space of over 3,000 square meters was shaped by at least 1,000 Moroccan artisans. It houses one of the world’s largest private collections of Orientalist paintings, an extensive perfume archive, and a library containing the complete works of Baudelaire, Proust, and Cocteau. He has expressed his intention to bequeath the property to the Moroccan state eventually.

In 2015, Shiseido formally acquired the brand’s trademark rights. Lutens continues to lead the brand as creative director.

What Defines the Brand

Fragrance as a Journey in Search of Identity

For Lutens, creating a fragrance means telling a story. He sees himself not as a “perfumer” but as “a storyteller who tells fairy tales through flowers and wood.”​

“Perfume awakens the self that sleeps within us. It is like a mirror: you recognize yourself not when you discover something, but when you remember something. What you recognize at that moment is none other than yourself.”

— Serge Lutens, from an interview with the British newspaper The Independent​

A fragrance concept always begins with a “story.” Completion takes at least a year and sometimes as long as 12 to 17 years. Chêne and Vetiver Oriental are both said to have taken fifteen years to create.

A Longtime Partner: Collaborating with Christopher Sheldrake

The leading collaborator who has given material form to Lutens’ fragrances is British perfumer Christopher Sheldrake. Having moved to Paris in the early 1980s and worked through Quest and Shiseido before teaming up with Lutens, Sheldrake co-created more than 50 fragrances with him over 22 years. Many masterpieces central to the brand, including Féminité du Bois (1992), Ambre Sultan (1993), Cuir Mauresque (1996), and Chergui, are collaborations with him.

The Aesthetic of Black

For Lutens, black is the sum of all colors. He has worn no other color since his teens, and that devotion is reflected in the packaging. The chic black flacons of Collection Noire express the brand’s DNA visually. The original bell-shaped glass bottles known as “bell jars” are another signature. With rounded shoulders and apothecary-style stoppers, these bottles enshrine perfume as a “work of art.”

Being “Hard to Reach”

The Palais-Royal boutique cannot be entered directly from the street. Its geographical sense of being a “hideaway” is deliberate.​

“I do not think perfume should be worn every day. If you wear it, you are arming yourself: transforming weakness into strength, protecting yourself, and taking a stand.”

— Serge Lutens, quoted from an interview on Kafkaesque Blog​

The Fragrance Lineup

Lutens has created approximately 70 perfumes to date. The current range is broadly organized into several collections.

Collection Noire

The brand’s signature line and successor to the most widely distributed “export line,” this collection features black, square-shaped bottles and embodies the brand’s DNA most directly. Representative fragrances include Féminité du Bois, Ambre Sultan, Tubéreuse Criminelle, La Fille de Berlin, Fleurs d’Oranger, and De Profundis.

Gratte-Ciel

French for “skyscraper,” this collection features skyscraper-shaped bottles inspired by New York’s skyline of the 1920s and 1930s. It includes Fille en Aiguilles, De Profundis, Tubéreuse Criminelle, Muscs Koublai Khan, and Borneo 1834.​​

Matin Lutens

The latest collection: a fresh, dewy line on the theme of “water,” comprising L’Eau Serge Lutens, Parole d’eau, Dans le bleu qui pétille, and Point du Jour. Reinterpreting the morning routine, it evokes through fragrance a sense of “returning to one’s origins.”

Bell Jar Exclusives

For many years, this “Paris-exclusive” collection could be purchased only at the Palais-Royal boutique. Presented in bell-shaped glass flacons, these fragrances have been described as the brand’s “purest artistic expression,” with many more experimental and avant-garde creations. Changes are now taking place, including the incorporation of some fragrances into Gratte-Ciel.

By the Way…

• The Marrakech Palace Is a “House That Is Never Finished”
  The riad Lutens bought in 1974 eventually became a 33,000-square-foot palace, approximately 3,066 square meters, through the acquisition and joining together of as many as 60 riads. At least 1,000 artisans have taken part, and construction continues even now. “This house has no end. It will never be finished,” Lutens says. “It is more an obsession than a house.” Morocco’s King Mohammed VI is also said to have seen the building and asked for VIP tours to be arranged for guests of his Royal Mansour hotel.
• Lutens Rarely Wears His Own Fragrances
  “You cannot wear perfume while creating it” is his belief. He is said once to have poured an entire bottle of Cuir Mauresque over his body, but now wears no perfume. That itself is a paradoxical demonstration of his philosophy that “fragrance is a weapon of existence.”​
• A “Shared Birthday” with Shiseido
  Yoshiharu Fukuhara, then responsible for Shiseido’s global image and a driving force behind its collaboration with Lutens, shared the same birthday, March 14. Perhaps that too was part of the connection between them.​