PHOTO COURTESY OF BALENCIAGA
Balenciaga reclaims its place in the world of perfume with the introduction of a new fragrance collection. Blending heritage and innovation, this marks a return to the maison’s symbolic birthplace at 10 Avenue George V in Paris. The historic address is also where Cristóbal Balenciaga launched the very first perfume, Le Dix, in 1947.
More than 75 years later, a new olfactory chapter pays homage to Balenciaga’s patrimony, while embracing renewal. A dialogue between past and present, 10 new individualistic parfums each carry a different facet of the house’s DNA.
It took a 15-year archival search after the rediscovery of a forgotten perfume bottle from 1947 to lead to this rebirth. Each refillable flacon in the range is thus faithfully reproduced. From globular glass cap to hand-tied ribbon, deliberately aged packaging serves as a nod to the passage of time. Even its box, wrapped in Balenciaga’s signature industrial grey, is another revival of the original Le Dix logotype.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BALENCIAGA
The trace of time continues through to the hues of the fragrances. The colours intensify across a gradient from luminous to obsidian, with No Comment being the lightest. The darkest is Incense Perfumum, a visual echo to the scent’s evolving depth and reflection of its intensity. In between are Getaria, Twenty Four Seven, To Be Confirmed, Muscara, 100%, Extra, Cristóbal and the reimagined Le Dix.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BALENCIAGA
The Balenciaga fragrance collection features three sizes: a 100 ML flacon, a 10 x 10 ML set (shown above) and the 10 x 2 ML discovery set. Launching alongside is a curation of accessories, such as a chrome-finish fragrance travel case, Le Dix-inspired leather goods and mini falcon-shaped charms.
The launch coincides with the opening of Balenciaga’s dedicated fragrance store at 10 Avenue George V in Paris, before the perfumes progressively make their way to selected Balenciaga stores worldwide. So if you’re going to be in Paris, consider making a pitstop to discover Balenciaga’s new olfactory universe.
