Back to Marrakech: Perfume Inspiration

Back to the origins of perfume:
MARRAKECH

"Up until the late 1960s, I had no interest in perfume whatsoever. It was during a trip to Morocco in 1968 that it took hold of my senses and reawakened my past.

Over there, I saw women armed with long poles, hitting the orange trees to bring down the blossoms, which they collected in large white sheets laid out on the ground like a blanket of snow.

"Marrakesh Pink" - Royal Theatre in The Rose City/The Pink City/The Red City; 

Names for the Jewel of Morocco ~ Photography by Edwin de Johgh via pinterest

My walks through the medina of Marrakech completed this rediscovery of the fifth sense. There I felt the voluptuousness and sweetness of different woods – a mingling of air, sun, dust and the scent of animals, diffused by that confection of woods: cedar being carved in the tiny carpenters’ workshops I passed.

These impressions became so firmly implanted in my mind that, in the early 1990s, I set about creating Féminité du Bois, which made its mark in the perfumery world. A few years later, I reaffirmed my interest in perfume by creating Ambre Sultan, which began as a small piece of amber, which I also found in the souks and had kept in a small thuja wood box. The scent that was released when I opened it was exactly as I remembered it."

Serge Lutens

Karen Khoury: Perfume Inspirations for Estee Lauder & Tom Ford

"I love fragrance and I have lots of ideas. I can be inspired by a piece of art. For example, Pleasures was inspired by Georgia O'Keefe's paintings and Beyond Paradise by a painting I found in a gallery in the old section of Paris. I have fragrances inspired by travels. Fifteen years ago when I made my first trip to Turkey, I was enamoured by the spice market.

I brought some home and had them analysed and put into fragrances and in Morocco I became obsessed with the smell of thya wood and the beautiful bowls they carved out of it.
I took the pieces home and we recreated Bois Marocain for Tom Ford.

And I find women incredibly inspiring. I think women in different cultures share common threads, but the way in which they are expressed is influenced by the culture. It's so fascinating. When I start to understand that I see certain notes, certain ideas in my mind.".

Thus reminisces Karen Khoury, creative director for 27 year and Senior Vice President at the Lauder Companies Inc, responsible for the creation of numerous best-sellers in her career from Calvin Klein to Lauder to you name it.

photo of citruses & lilac flowers by Meg Smith & Associates via Laurie Arons