Hello Vogue.
I hope you are well.
I'm Paola and today, we are in Grasse,
at the Louis Vuitton perfumery.
I'm going to pick some jasmine flowers and then I'll learn
how a perfume is made.
I am really looking forward to it.
It's going to be great.
Here we go.
It's 8 o'clock in the morning and I'm going to meet Melissa
who's going to show me how to pick the little jasmine flowers.
Hi Melissa.
Hello Paola.
So here we are at Les Fontaines Parfumées in Grasse, Louis Vuitton's perfumery,
in the jasmine fields.
You see, they are very small, very light flowers.
Jasmine can be recognized by its five petals and its very fruity smell.
Every morning there is a new bloom with beautiful flowers.
And then it goes to the factory where they will extract the essence.
Why so quickly?
To get exactly what you smell at the moment.
OK.
So that the scent doesn't become distorted over time.
To make one kilo of jasmine essence, about 600 to 700 kilos of flowers are needed.
OK!
It's very calming in any case.
Yes, very.
And what is special about jasmine from Grasse?
In Grasse, you are between the sea and the mountains which makes the smell
of Grasse jasmine very fruity, with notes of strawberry and banana.
Beautiful.
So now you're going to see Jacques and Camille to make your perfume.
I don't have many flowers...
Wait, here.
Don't say anything.
I won't.
I'm going to pretend that I've been picking
since 5 o'clock in the morning.
They're going to think I haven't done anything all morning.
Is that enough?
I think so.
Thank you very much.
See you soon.
I'll make a wish.
I don't know if it will come true.
You can make one with me too.
Come on, let's make another wish,
a second one.
Good.
I finished my little jasmine picking.
It smells too, too good.
And now, I'm going to meet Jacques and Camille, his daughter.
There they are.
Hello.
I see you've been picking.
Wow, well done.
I have some jasmine flowers.
Here we call them "La Fleur".
It is the emblematic flower of Grasse.
Like in wines, the Romanée-Conti of flowers.
We are in Grasse
and Grasse is the world capital of natural raw materials for
perfumes and for the art and craft of perfume creation.
It has been like this here for four centuries.
And this is your daughter?
Yes, Camille has been working with me for almost three years.
We have organized a workshop for you.
You can make your own perfume.
This is incredible.
We're going to find out what you like and what you would like
to put in your perfume among all the raw materials we have here.
For example, you can smell very sweet things, fruit bases.
It's harmony.
It's something that smells a bit like caramel, for example.
I would love you to be here to smell what I smell right now.
I'll take that.
Straight away.
Straight away, without a doubt.
A fragrance is an idea.
You don't say: "I'm going to put patchouli, I'm going to put this and that".
There is no coincidence.
Never.
It smells like summer.
That's good.
Blackcurrant.
I love it.
This one is a mixture of several musks.
It's very delicate.
It smells so good.
We'll pick that too.
You really have to be very spontaneous because it's your brain.
Your memory does the work.
The power of a smell can make you cry
because it take you back to something in your life.
I've chosen vanilla because I've loved that smell since I was little.
Musk will be the base of my perfume.
Blackcurrant, a fruit base, a touch of tangerine
just to bring a little freshness.
Of course, jasmine from Grasse.
I can't wait to smell my perfume.
We'll put a little more for the textures you want to bring out most.
The work of a perfumer is all about the art of proportion.
We think in percentages.
When you're a perfumer with a bit of experience, you see a formula,
you know what it smells like without smelling.
It's a bit complicated to understand.
We can already see the perfume in front of us, in our heads.
1.5 grams of vanilla or is that too little?
It will be very present, but the musk will be able to condense the vanilla.
Your tangerine will also be there to balance
the power of musk and vanilla.
You can put on 0.3 grams.
So you smell five different ingredients every morning.
I started by learning the raw materials.
I get up in the morning.
I smell five raw materials and repeat that, for example,
for one month.
And after a month, I'm sure I know all five.
Alright.
But anyone can do it.
If I give you five materials now, in a month's time,
if you smell them every day, you will know them by heart.
Is that how it's done?
Absolutely.
Here you go.
Iris.
Good answer.
Great.
Can I stay then?
Do you think that over the years,
there are more smells?
Almost everything has been extracted, cut lawn...
We try everything.
Everything.
Here, there is a know-how that is four centuries old.
The people of Grasse, including myself, know from a flower,
how to take the smell with several processes that are not chemical,
everything is natural, to make it liquid, also colorless
because it's important, so I can use it in my perfume.
And that is all the Grasse know-how.
That's why Louis Vuitton came to Grasse
because this is where the best know-how in the world is to be found.
We hold the keys.
We respect the formula.
Stop.
Perfect.
I did it.
It will be either very good or a disaster.
What we have obtained is concentrated perfume.
To make an eau de parfum, you have to mix this concentrate
in a mixture of water and alcohol.
Is there too much?
No, two, three grams is fine.
We're perfect.
Perfect.
3, 2, 1.
I love it.
It's just like her.
Floral, soft notes, contrasting with a hint of tangerine.
Blackcurrant is wonderful.
It smells like happiness.
It smells positive.
What should I call it?
My father was born in 1970.
Since I love my daddy, it's a little touch for him too.
Can we go visit the house?
The bastide?
With great pleasure.
We'll put on the masks.
So here we are on the ground floor of the bastide.
It used to be a shop where people came to fill up their perfume
from the fountains.
This is the heritage aspect of the place.
We have famous perfume bottles.
These perfumes were created here in 1924.
This is a beauty set from the Louis Vuitton 1910 collection.
There, you can find the first Louis Vuitton perfume, Heures d'absence, the famous one.
The Louis Vuitton Consultation Trunk.
Small ambrette seeds, benzoin, cocoa.
This is my office.
My personal trunk.
These are the raw materials with the bottles you have seen
to make the perfumes.
It can travel.
My mother, my aunts, my grandmother who used to collect jasmine a few decades ago.
Here is my father.
At that time, children were not allowed to speak at the table.
My parents only talked about perfume.
It's a music that everyone in Grasse knows because
they've heard it since they were kids.
What's really beautiful is that there's a real story behind
which has built up over time.
This is the nursery.
There are 2,500 raw materials.
Some people call it a laboratory.
For me, it's not a laboratory, it's really a workshop.
I am really like a sculptor or a painter who goes to his studio,
to create his perfume physically.
It's huge.
Yes, it's big.
The fountain was built in 1640, at the same time as the house.
It is really the first spring of the city of Grasse.
Moreover, it was used a lot for distilling flowers.
It's been really very interesting.
I've loved this experience with you.
We were delighted to welcome you here, Paola.
Our house is your house.
Come back whenever you want.
That's so kind. Thank you so much.
Thanks a lot.
See you soon.
See you soon, goodbye.
Well, guys, this is the end of the video.
I'm so sad, I don't want to leave you.
Don't forget to subscribe to the Vogue channel.
It's just down here.
Sending you my love.
And don't forget to put your mask on.
Very, very important.
Kisses.