Inspired by the iconic pieces & materials of the couturier Yves Saint Laurent, the exclusive collection Le Vestiaire des Parfums revisits Yves Saint Laurent’s style in a collection of fragrant tributes, in an olfactory wardrobe inspired by his signature fashion statements.
Just as Yves Saint Laurent drew his inspiration from masculine garments to reinvent women’s wardrobes, YVES SAINT LAURENT BEAUTÉ has created compositions showcasing an unexpected match of contrasting ingredients that achieve a perfect balance, reflecting the couturier’s personality. Each fragrance dresses the skin, revealing a different, distinctive trail on every person who wears it.
Today, YVES SAINT LAURENT BEAUTÉ’s edgy couture perfumery collection introduces a strikingly sophisticated addition to its elegant Vestiaire, inspired by Yves Saint Laurent’s most gender-fluid accessory: LAVALLIÈRE, a lustrous blend of pulpy fig and petally rose that gives the floral green genre a sleek, chic, androgynous twist.
LAVALLIÈRE
Gender-fluid and radiant
It is named after a woman: the Duchess of La Vallière, one of Louis XIV’s stylish favorites. But the loosely tied bow the French call the lavallière was originally inspired by the masculine jabot and is therefore, by its very nature, a gender-fluid accessory.
It is no wonder, then, that Yves Saint Laurent – who played on sartorial gender-fluidity like a virtuoso — borrowed it from the wardrobes of bohemians to turn the silky cravat into one of his iconic signatures.
From the ribbon bow-tie worn with his first feminine tuxedo to his iconic androgynous pussycat bow blouses, jauntily knotted, worn loosely over transparent chiffon, or weaving its way back around men’s necks, the lavallière was, and is, quintessentially Yves Saint Laurent.
Blurring the line between masculinity and femininity, LAVALLIÈRE’s sensual floral sillage is a fragrant tribute to YSL’s most flowing accessory, inspiring the most fluid attitude.
LAVALLIÈRE
Fig accord – Rose
“As Yves Saint Laurent did with fashion, I wanted to revisit an iconic signature of fine perfumery through the Lavallière’s creation: the rose-cassis accord. I imagined a petal-like rose supported by a creamy, comfortable woody note. I paired it with juicy blackcurrant, which I modernized with a crunchy green fig.”
Annick Menardo
Just like the supple bow that inspires it, LAVALLIÈRE is subtly, elegantly subversive. Composed by the brilliant Annick Menardo (Symrise), this delicate scent slyly defies gender expectations.
Fruity, floral, green, woody… The olfactory themes that run through the fragrance, like many-coloured threads woven into a silky ribbon, seamlessly intertwine the masculine and the feminine.
Sparkling, green, and mordant, blackcurrant bud absolute opens LAVALLIÈRE, introducing its first star player. A luscious fig accord, rich and creamy like the juicy crimson flesh of the fruit, its creaminess accented by a touch of suave jasmine sambac absolute from India.
It is LAVALLIÈRE’s floral heart that reveals its gender-fluid nature. It is a rose. But not just any rose. Radiant and dew-pearled, Rose Pétale Isparta from Turkey is a blend of rose essence and rose water, yielding a vividly natural, fresh, vegetal note.
The master perfumer draws out its many facets, until the flower translates the gender-bending panache of the iconic YSL piece, by matching the floral symbol of femininity with two quintessentially masculine ingredients.
Geranium from Madagascar, a verdant aromatic essence with rose, mint, and litchi aspects that interweaves the green facets of the blackcurrant bud and fig leaf with the fresh Rose Pétale Isparta. And vetiver essence from Haiti, whose notes of grapefruit, wood, smoke, and flint, bolsters the scent on base notes.
The master perfumer tempers its toughness with a true marvel of a man-made material. A musk, yet so much more than a musk, modern wood’s uniquely sensuous fruity, floral, woody, ambery, powdery nuances echo the many facets of LAVALLIÈRE and tie them together.
Because elegance has no gender… Take a bow.
