Kaiser Karl's Kapsule Fragrance Wardrobe
In typical Karl Lagerfeld fashion, his new fragrance line, Kapsule - launching in October - is as offbeat as the designer. "We didn't want to come out with a men's fragrance or a women's fragrance," Françoise Mariez, senior VP of marketing for European licenses of Coty Prestige told WWD about the unisex trio that is designed to be mixed and matched. "We needed to break the codes, break the rules."
As an avowed rulebreaker, Lagerfeld adores fragrance so much - in particular, notes of spice, woods, vanilla & fresh bread ("I don't like heavy, flowery things") - that he apparently sprays pretty much anything in his path: draperies, furniture, baths (an entire bottle of perfumed bath oil per soak), and whatever he happens to be wearing. "I love the world of perfumes. For me, the world of fashion doesn't exist without it...It's like music for the nose."
Surprisingly, it wasn't development of the Kapsule fragrance line which was the challenge, but the pricepoint. "Lots of people are doing three fragrances, but only at an expensive price, as a limited edition," explains Mariez about the year-long undertaking which required three different perfumers - one per fragrance. "Here, the idea was to say we will propose a capsule wardrobe of fragrances that you very simply take and wear whenever you want, but at a price 
that is in line with the market. On the one hand, it is highly selective, qualitative, with good taste and elegant, but it is affordable."
The notes in the three Kapsule scents, each of which is from a different major fragrance family:
- Light bitter orange, jasmine, nutmeg, clove and musk (created by Symrise perfumer Mark Buxton)
- Floriental ivy leaf, violet and black tea leaf (Emilie Coppermann of Symrise)
- Woody cedar, moss and plum (Firmenich's Olivier Cresp)
The flacons were designed by Lagerfeld and Luz Herrmann and were inspired by geometry. "There's the square and the circle, my two favorite things in geometric patterns." Each bottle is etched on the bottom with Lagerfeld's signature and is a different color, depending on its fragrance.
For the ad campaign which he also shot and stars in ("They wanted me in it; I never proposed myself!"), he reminded Mariez of a designer peeking out from backstage to check on his runway show. "He asked for two pieces of frosted glass because that is like the ambience in his new apartment. I like the photograph because it expresses the concept. It's a nod to the fashion world." Adds Lagerfeld: "This has my taste — or absence of my taste. The most important thing is that it has a special taste." (via WWD; bottom photo - Thomas Iannaccone for WWD)
- Lesley Scott
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