Can an iconic scent be transformed into an even more extraordinary creation? For Dior Perfume Creation Director Francis Kurkdjian, it certainly seems so. Now, the renowned parfumeur is lending his signature style to five remarkable fragrances from Dior’s most premium line of scents, La Collection Privée, unveiling five reiterations of its core scents: Gris Dior, Ambre Nuit, Lucky, Oud Ispahan, and Rouge Trafalgar.

By imparting striking new features, Kurkdjian powerfully emphasised the new scents in a luxurious concentration. “Creating Les Esprits De Parfum was an opportunity to pay tribute to the key fragrances in La Collection Privée,” he says. “I redefined a clear olfactory narrative line in order to revisit the structure of each composition in a minimalist but radical way. Les Esprits De Parfum presents a synopsis of each fragrance, like a toile before the final design.”

This multifaceted quintet encompasses Gris Dior, a chypre that pays tribute to the emblematic colour of 30 Avenue Montaigne; Lucky, an enchanting floral celebrating Christian Dior’s elegant favourite model; and Rouge Trafalgar, which recalls the red designs he sent out mid-show to dazzle guests. Uniquely sensual Ambre Nuit and Oud Ispahan, whose flowers evoke the Orient, complete the picture.

“I share many character traits with Christian Dior – I love nature and flowers, I am insatiably curious about the world around me, and as a confirmed hedonist, I love life and its pleasures, but am also incorrigibly superstitious. These characteristics define me and are imbued in the Dior spirit of creation more than ever before,” Kurkdjian continues. “These shared passions are now the creative foundation of my story with Dior, and in particular of my compositions for La Collection Privée, which pay tribute to the soul of this House. The House of a man who dreamed both his dresses and his fragrances, and who was as much a couturier-perfumer as a perfumer-couturier.”

Take a closer look…

La Collection Privée Esprit de Parfum is available now, exclusively at Harrods.