Balenciaga’s New Fragrance Collection Is An Ode To Its Roots

Balenciaga may have just unveiled its reintroduction into fragrance, but the collection of 10 new scents comes with over 75 years worth of lore. It all started when the fashion house’s archivists finally discovered a forgotten perfume bottle 15 years ago. The scent in question? Balenciaga’s first fragrance, Le Dix, that Spanish designer Cristóbal Balenciaga created in 1947. Using modern scanning technology, the brand recreated refillable versions of the flacon designed to look deliberately aged – global cap, hand-tied ribbon, and etched nameplates. The box is also a fusion of the past and present by combining the house’s current industrial gray packaging and the original Le Dix design.

Each scent was created to withstand the test of time — including flash in the pan fragrance trends currently fueled by #perfumetok. The juices artfully blend traditional oils of French perfumery with unexpected notes as a nod to the collection’s theme of merging the past and present. No Comment, a warm woody scent with fresh cypress oil, and To Be Confirmed, a floral with tulip accord and Silverneedle tea, are two examples. Of course, Balenciaga has reimagined Le Dix for the launch, which includes iris, violet leaf absolute, and incense essential oils. The fragrances also vary in color based on intensity, with the deepest being the strongest of the 10 scents.

Get aquatinted with the full lineup, below. The Balenciaga fragrance collection is available now for $320 (100 mL) each at balenciaga.com, the Balenciaga Fragrance Store in Paris, and select Balenciaga stores in North America and Europe.