Answers Nicolas Gesquière:
Nicolas, you are the art director of Balenciaga. What prompted you to create perfumes?
For the ten years that I have been working at Balenciaga, I have nurtured the idea of creating perfume. I wanted it to be a classic and, at the same time, luxurious fragrance, emphasizing the prestige of the Balenciaga House. In addition, the fragrance should tell an unprecedented story and remain in memory, possess a certain mysticism and be able to declare itself. It seems to me that at Balenciaga Paris we managed to convey the sophistication, elegance and originality of our idea. This is not so much a classic cocktail of floral notes, but a harmonious combination of perfume classics and modernity. Every woman who discovered Balenciaga Paris should have the impression that these are the spirits that she has known all her life and always wanted to use.
Why did the face of Balenciaga Paris become Charlotte Ginzburg?
Because Charlotte cannot define herself, cannot tell what she is, and these spirits are her true expression. They are exactly like her.
Charlotte Ginzburg answers:
Charlotte, what does the word Balenciaga mean to you?
Of course, aesthetics. And the thought that I cannot and should be mistaken. For me, the Balenciaga House is Nicolas’s work, because I’m not very familiar with the history of fashion and can’t imagine that this House was released before Nicolas came to it.
What description would you give a Balenciaga woman?
She is elegant, stylish, modern.
Why did you agree to introduce the new Balenciaga Paris perfume?
I know that Nicolas has been working on this fragrance for several years. He told me a lot about him, and I secretly hoped that someday I could become the face of this new perfume. This is not even my consent. This is the expectation and desire for the dream to come true. In fact, I really enjoyed working with Nicolas and his team. I've never done anything like this before. That was great.
Charlotte, what do you personally like about Balenciaga Paris?
His poetry.
Olivier Polge responds:
Olivier, what kind of perfume was required to create?
It was necessary to come up with the "flagship" perfume Balenciaga using a code of high perfumes and luxurious ingredients. The result is an original fragrance: refined, clean, well-structured and prestigious. One of its main ingredients is violet, and believe me, Balenciaga has become the fashion house that at the right time returned to us this flower, historical for all perfumers in the world.
How would you describe a woman who uses “Balenciaga Paris”?
For me, such a woman stands above all women who love uniqueness and follow fashion, who are partial to clean and luxurious materials. This woman has a bright personality and loves to look unique and original.
Does “Balenciaga Paris” have something in common with the previous perfumes produced by this House?
Not. In my understanding, “Balenciaga Paris” is the first fragrance of the Balenciaga House!
So. Perfume “Balenciaga Paris” belong to the flower-chypre family. The main theme of the fragrance was violet, which was once the keynote of the famous “Le Dix” fragrance. The new perfume traces fresh fruit chords with notes of bergamot, spices, pepper, cedar, patchouli and frankincense. The aroma is presented in a concentration of Eau de Parfum in 30 ml, 50 ml and 75 ml tower-shaped bottles. The stylization of a classic 18th-century vase is emphasized by the original bottle cap, and the representativeness is given by the color scheme - white and ivory shades. Gesquiere himself, who approached the release of his first fragrance with special trepidation, wanted “perfume to be a little personality,” and it seems he succeeded.
