Prickly—much like the city itself—this Serge Lutens « girl. »
Serge Lutens was right when he said that Berlin, the city itself, was prickly. As prickly as his heroine’s temper all along the pages of his creation, La fille de Berlin. Not that it is actually a book. It is ‘only’ a perfume. But what would be a great perfume without it telling a great story with moving characters’ lives unfolding in between every note.
There is a breath in La fille de Berlin (The Girl From Berlin) that lets the mind appreciate the story.
As Christopher Sheldrake, the perfumer who created La Fille de Berlin with Serge, would say, “Serge is not too much into marketing. He was anti-marketing when we started working on the first fragrances together. That was his force.” And he recalled one perfume they created together, La fille en aiguille. ‘Aiguille’ in French means ‘needle’ or the high heel of a stiletto. “And everybody, » recalls the British perfumer, “thought ‘La fille en aiguille’ was a sexy fragrance, thinking it meant “The girl wearing stilletos” but the name was just one of Serge’s tongue-in-cheeks and actually referred to pine needles, something less sexy, yet really interesting, and destined to both men and women as the note would normally be considered masculine. Very pine-needle, spicy, fir sap—that sort of thing. But many women still wear ‘La Fille en Aiguilles’. It seems aimed at women, yet men love the note too, because it’s unisex.
Back to La fille de Berlin, Bold and striking—one thing is certain: she won’t be pushed around. An eau de parfum featuring spicy rose notes and nuances of pepper. A fragrance with real character! « She has thorns; she doesn’t let herself be pushed around. She is a woman of extremes. When she can, she offers comfort, and when she wants to… watch out!
Her scent lifts you up; it breaks the mold and takes you by surprise. » said Serge Lutens about her. Who was she? For Serge Lutens, as Christopher Sheldrake recalled during an interview, the fragrance they created together around a spicy rose is the reminder of an incredible woman who inspired Serge Lutens. Strong willed, explosive, she had her convictions and followed her heart during dark years.
“I think major brands would still struggle to communicate intellectual stories”, comments Christopher Sheldrake. Big brands need to sell their perfumes like hotcakes, so it inevitably comes down to sugar and pink flowers. Serge, on the other hand, was anti-marketing. It was a sort of marketing shock—something that made itself heard and took people by surprise. And that, too, was a strength. Serge is a writer and a poet—someone who, like any true poet, is tormented in his thoughts and his private life. Consequently, he speaks of the hard times of his youth; his themes often revolve around experiences in his life.”
He symbolized the pain of a love that never came to be with a beautiful rose—yet one with large thorns. There is beauty to be found in suffering.
“After the embers were lit, a fire was bound to break out.” Serge explains that he dedicated this perfume to this woman because he missed his chance to tell her that he loved her. “By continuing to express my feelings imperfectly, I have not respected the clock. And having run out of time, all I saw then was fire!” The fire of a spicy rose with peppery nuances—for this woman possesses true character. Rose, black pepper, geranium, honey, oak moss, and patchouli.”
“Describing it as a rose or jasmine-scented perfume,” continues Christopher Sheldrake, “is problematic, because that approach won’t appeal to a woman who dislikes rose—whereas many people perceive it not as rose in the top notes, but rather as floral, metallic, musky, and sandalwood notes…”
“The color of the juice was very important to him in this story. He wanted a color close to the color of blood—yet still acceptable—that was very dark. Serge is a colorist; he loves color. So, the challenge was to find that specific shade without it staining the clothes.
The perfume was an incredible success in China thanks to the beauty of the floral notes, the contrast between the femininity of the transparent rosy note and its thorny aspect and more masculine woody elements. The color of the juice and the mention of Berlin appealed in China.”
To mark the 10th anniversary of this iconic, global best-selling fragrance in 2023, the special-edition bottle and packaging featured illustrations by Serge Lutens himself proving that this girl from Berlin was like no other for him. The design was as self-evident as the spirit of freedom, creativity, and femininity that lies at the heart of the scent. He depicted his heroine as a 1930s girl standing against a deconstructed, chaotic, and expressionist Berlin streetlamp—moving through the night, bold and solitary.
A flapper unconcerned with definition fitting perfectly this autumn mood.
