Gris Clair...

Poet and aesthete, in 2006 Lutens sprays with his fragrance Gris Clair original and unprecedented scents of dry lavender still smoky with sun, where the lights turn cold and ashen, then divinely soft and enveloping...

Gris Clair, or the fragrance of a scorched lavender, gone up in incense smoke to be reborn...

After surprising us with mysterious woody fragrances such as Féminité du Bois and bewitching orientals such as Ambre Sultan, Lutens sets out to paint, with his scented brushes, a lavender field after the peak heat of summer. Yet despite the now more familiar setting, the magic of Lutens's poetry still works and makes us dream of his gray, dusty lavender, warm like a candle that has just been blown out.

In keeping with the deep gap between Lutens's so-called niche fragrances and classical perfumery, Gris Clair does not settle for a lavender presented, as usual, in an aromatic guise. But he was not the only one, one might say. Indeed, Lutens admits having drawn inspiration from the fabulous work of the legendary Pour un Homme by Caron.

Released in 1934, Pour un Homme, created by Ernest Daltroff, offers a lavender and aromatics set outside the usual field of Eau de Cologne, wrapping them in a warm, sensual sillage, a first in men's perfumery. With Gris Clair, Lutens draws on this fragrance while abandoning the honeyed notes in favor of almost mineral notes, which makes Gris Clair a precursor and Pour un Homme a great classic.

Thus Pour un Homme is an aromatic oriental, whereas Gris Clair is an aromatic woody. The comparison stops there. Its contrasts, its shadows and its pure rays of sunlight make Gris Clair a pure creation by Lutens, the master of plays of light.

A minimalist and delicate end-of-summer portrait for a Lutens rendered in measured elegance.

The lovely Lutens bottle lets the fabulous light-gray rays of sunlight of the fragrance show through the glass. Ashen and yet very bright, the reflections of this lovely Gris Clair hint at the best to come.

The assertive root and pollen notes right from the opening carry us straight into the heart of the lavender field that Lutens and Sheldrake wish to depict. Then, of course, the intoxicating, radiant heart of the lavender takes us by storm with its aromatic power.

The creators suddenly shift the setting with the base notes, dry, resinous and powdery. As if the lavender had caught fire from an intense heat wave or overly strong rays of sunshine, tonka bean and cedar burn the aromatic lavender and intoxicate it with woody scents. Then the fire calms down, the ashes disperse and the notes turn powdery with delicate iris and white musks. This restored calm is even joined by a touch of vanilla gourmand character to comfort us after this blazing lavender.

It is pollen wandering over a dead city.
Gray, like ash in the floating air, a dust crossed by sunlight.
Lavender, and so that this clear light may be gray, incense, I am mad for it!
In every sense, it incenses my senses. Serge Lutens for Gris Clair.