2000. The story of a strong yet fragile flower: Flower by Kenzo

Odile Lobadowsky joined Kenzo Parfums as managing director in 1997 working closely with Pierre Broc, founder of the company who handed the full direction of the business to her in 1999, when Mr Kenzo Takada retired. She always had, and still has, in her office the famous picture of Marc Riboud portraying a girl holding a flower in front of guns during a protest in Washington against the war in Vietnam. It had been it in mind to create a major fragrance portraying a strong yet fragile flower, like the poppy, which was Mr Kenzo Takada’s favourite flower. But it was only when she hired creative director Patrick Guedj that she was able to give shape to her vision. They worked together on the story of the poppy able to blossom in the cities and in the tiniest bits of earth, bringing poetry wherever it bloomed. This project turned out to be the most successful Kenzo Parfums fragrance. It has, since its launch in 2000, propelled the brand among the most renowned creators of fine fragrances.

The fragrance
The poppy itself is scentless. This is why Kenzo wanted to create its fragrance: pure and unusual, linking nature with urban life, emotion with modernity, just as the poppy does in its life. Among the various proposals received the team at Kenzo Parfums chose the one code named “Purple” composed by Alberto Morillas from Firmenich. It was a powdery floral fragrance with a contemporary, poetic attitude. A subtle harmony built around three chords.

Floral Parma violets brimming with energy and dynamism awaken the tenderness of wild hawthorn; cassia and Bulgarian rose blossom in this first sensual, vibrant, colourful bouquet.

Powdery warm tones of candid, voluptuous Bourbon vanilla, white musk, its warmth fixing the perfume on the skin, and oppopanax with its woody touch, offer a range of enveloping, unctuous sensations. Stimulating the hedion molecule, inspired by jasmine, and cyclosal, powerfully highlighting the floral tones, amplify the immediate freshness of this bold, yet discreet final note.

The bottle
The bottle is born of the idea of a flower blossoming. Serge Mansau together with the design agency Air Paris create a bottle slender as a tall building and bending like a flower in the breeze. It expresses the contrast between the fragility of the flower and strength of the building against which the flower is leaning. Every bottle has its own picture of the poppy to reflect the variety of nature where every flower blossoms in its own way. The hundred-millilitre bottle was higher than usual bottle sizes; it could fit the shelf-displays only if placed horizontally. The bottle reflects the art of details typical of Japan: it is wrapped in a thin paper containing a message or a picture.