Diptyque Paris’ Luxury Fragrances Mine Inspiration From the Natural World
Diptyque Paris is aiming high with its newest fragrances.
The brand, which turned 60 in 2021, is debuting a luxury perfume concept called Les Essences de Diptyque, which entails five eaux de parfum and a discovery set, priced respectively at $330 and $200. They begin rolling out to the brand’s own website, brick-and-mortar stores in the U.S. and Canada and key retailers this month.
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Executives agreed it was part of a larger strategic initiative to capture the higher end of the fragrance market, which has seen the brand open all-encompassing boutiques globally and even debut an offering of bespoke candles.
It’s also contrary to market trends: Fragrance is the fastest-growing category in prestige beauty in the U.S., as reported, though is largely driven by lower median price points than years prior. Nevertheless, Diptyque’s strategy seems to be working.
“We should have double-digit growth again this year if we keep the same momentum, and we’ve just opened two big stores in Paris and in London,” said Laurence Semichon, global chief executive officer of Diptyque Paris. “Clients are discovering the brand and the richness of our portfolio, discovering the history, thanks to what we display and what we share in stores.”
Indeed, sales at parent company Manzanita Capital last year grew 19 percent to $472 million, as reported. Executives declined to discuss sales projections for Les Essences de Diptyque, although industry sources expect global net sales to reach $20 million for the products’ first year.
“This launch is part of our strategy of stretching the brand a bit more, making it more premium, but we don’t want to lose the core of our business,” Semichon said. “We have 58-euro candles, and last year, we debuted a premium collection of candles called Les Mondes de Diptyque. This new collection of high-end fragrances is the second part of that. And we’re going to keep on nurturing that high end of the market.”
Diptyque’s existing fragrances sit around $180 for an eau de toilette and $230 for an eau de parfum. The new ones boast a higher concentration — around 20 to 25 percent — of the juice, as well as differing inspirations.
“The starting point of this collection was to go even further in terms of fragrance creation, and to translate into perfume the sensations that you have in nature. [Hero product] Philosykos smells like you are under a fig tree sitting by the sea,” Semichon said. “Here, we wanted to go further, and it was a challenge for the perfumers.”
Corail Oscuro, a floral nosed by Alexandra Carlin, highlights mandarin from Madagascar rose bourbon absolute and a salty, mineral accord. Inspiration came from the way underwater light shimmers on coral, hence the name, which took cues from Italian painting technique chiaroscuro.
Lunamaris, by Fabrice Pellegrin, combines rockrose with pink peppercorn and incense, and mother-of-pearl was the starting point. Pellegrin also architected Rose Roche, which highlights a trifecta of centifolia rose, patchouli and lemon.
Bois Corsé, which Nathalie Cetto and the late Olivier Pescheux collaborated on, riffs on the texture and roughness of tree bark. The duo paired tonka bean and sandalwood essence, as well as notes of black coffee. The two noses also created Lilyphéa, which relies on Madagascan vanilla, violet leaves and cardamom to evoke water lilies.
“When we have an idea, we usually think of who we think would be the most sensible, we call them and ask what they think,” Semichon said. “We don’t contact 10 different perfumers with the same brief. Here, the idea was creating together beginning to end, and giving the perfumers carte blanche.”
Semichon said no expense was spared on ingredient sourcing. Corail Oscuro uses a traceable, biodegradable and renewable technique to harvest the mandarin, for example, and the vanilla in Lilyphéa is traceable, as well. The bottles are also refillable, and the packaging omits cellophane and internal cardboard.
“What’s behind the pricing of this collection is really the concentrations, and use of ingredients that they might not have felt free to use in a more regular collection,” Semichon said, in addition to the bottle and the packaging, which include drawings from Irish artist Nigel Peake.
“You have this combination of watercolors on the outer packaging, and then absolutely masterful line drawings on each of the bottles,” said Jessie Dawes, chief marketing officer, Americas, Diptyque Paris. “Art is rooted deeply in our DNA, and it was so important to the founders, so we always make sure to carry through with that heritage today.”
Though Dawes sees significant opportunity with the launch, distribution is staying fairly tight, with the launch hitting Diptyque’s owned retail stores and flagships in the U.S. and Canada first, as well as 29 wholesale doors across Nordstrom, Holt Renfrew, Bloomingdale’s and Saks Fifth Avenue.
“All of these department store environments we’re going to be offering this in are our best locations and our shop-in-shop environments. Because this is such a premium luxury launch for the brand, we wanted to tightly control distribution,” Dawes said. “We spent a lot of time thinking about the target clients, and this is a client who’s involved in the category and extremely discerning. We’re going to be attracting a much broader audience to the brand and many new clients with this launch.”
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