How Louis Vuitton’s Latest Fragrance Pays Tribute To The Middle East

The essence of Arabia, captured in a bottle, casts a seductive spell with every spritz

The most unique and famed characteristic of the Middle East’s olfactory heritage is its layerability – a notion that master perfumer Jacques Cavallier Belletrud was inspired by when creating Louis Vuitton’s new fragrance Les Sables Roses.

“In the Middle East, personalisation has been around forever,” he explains. “Women in a harem would layer fragrance in order to each have a distinct olfactory signature that expressed their identity  as well as a message, since they used it to convey a desire to seduce the prince… or not.”

Les Sables Roses

Louis Vuitton

For women in the Middle East, layering is second nature because they experience their whole lives through the prism of scent. And Jacques, who has visited the Middle East himself many times, cites memories of Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Oman as influences in his creations.

Perfumer Jacques Cavallier Belletrud

Louis Vuitton

A heady blend of leathery, spicy notes, the French house’s scent, was created as a fragrance that exists both in its own right and in combination with other scents – it can be worn alone or layered on top of its predecessor Ombre Nomade. “It brings new light to the fragrance, and in return takes on greater density,” says Jacques. The top, middle, and base notes burn off in succession, like a slow reveal, with rose, oud and ambergris casting a seductive spell in the air.

Les Sables Roses at Ombre Nomad

Louis Vuitton

And much like Les Sables Roses itself, heritage collides with modernity as the Grasse-based perfumery worked closely with a producer in Bangladesh to perfect the notes in the fragrance.

Les Sables Roses is available from 18 April at select Louis Vuitton stores and at louisvuitton.com