The story of Serge Lutens
Born in Lille in 1942, Serge Lutens first worked on makeup for Dior, then joined Shiseido in 1980 to shape its image. It was at the Japanese group that he turned to perfume. Féminité du Bois came out under Shiseido in 1992. Composed by Pierre Bourdon and Christopher Sheldrake, it put cedar at the heart of a perfume designed for women. The same year the Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido opened in Paris, where Lutens presented exclusive fragrances. Ambre Sultan was born there in 1993. Christopher Sheldrake became his partner on almost every creation. The Serge Lutens brand was distributed more widely from 2000, and Féminité du Bois joined it in 2009. A good share of the spiced woods and ambers that niche houses released later start from the path opened here.
An olfactory signature
The Lutens signature is dense materials and disorienting openings. Ambre Sultan starts with bay leaf and oregano, a dried-herb smell that is almost culinary. It then slides into a dark amber of labdanum, styrax and benzoin. Féminité du Bois moves from warm spices and ripe fruit to a pencil-shaving cedar coated in honey and beeswax. In both, sweetness only shows up at the end. These are perfumes of raw material rather than confectionery.
Which Serge Lutens perfume to choose?
In our database Serge Lutens is represented by two pillars. Ambre Sultan, from 1993, is for resin lovers who do not mind dried herbs. One or two sprays in cold weather are plenty, because it is very strong. Féminité du Bois suits men and women who like spiced, fruity woods, at the office or over dinner. Start with it if the house is new to you, since it is the friendlier of the two. If Ambre Sultan feels too austere, Kayali Vanilla 28 shows what an amber becomes when sugar takes over.