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Kenzo

World

Kenzo World is the women’s eau de parfum launched by Kenzo at the end of August 2016, the first fragrance by Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, the house’s creative directors. Francis Kurkdjian pairs peony, Egyptian jasmine and Ambroxan in a floral amber. Its eye-shaped bottle takes up a motif from Kenzo’s collections, and its film by Spike Jonze sets Margaret Qualley dancing.

Brand
Kenzo
Launch year
2016
Perfumer
Gender
Women
Olfactory family
Floral
Secondary family
Oriental
Concentration
Eau de Parfum
EAN
3274872323476 (30 ml) · 3274872323483 (50 ml) · 3274872323490 (75 ml)

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World

Where to buy

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Kenzo World reached stores at the end of August 2016. It is the first fragrance by Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, founders of Opening Ceremony and creative directors of Kenzo since 2011, who carried their vision of fashion into perfume for the first time.

A world in their image

The house then described a bold, spontaneous, surprising and colorful universe celebrating freedom of expression, diversity and creativity. The eye, which had become one of the most recognizable motifs of Kenzo’s collections since Fall-Winter 2013, opened with it onto the world of fragrance.

Kenzo entrusted the composition to Francis Kurkdjian, whom the house presents as an avant-garde creator willing to mix genres, styles and materials. The perfumer puts flowers in the foreground of a fragrance the brand wants to be free and unexpected.

The start of a line

Today, Kenzo presents World as a dynamic and joyful fragrance, a dimension of the house’s spirit that transgresses stereotyped femininity. It launched a line that has since grown to include World Intense, World Eau de Toilette and World Power.

Olfactory pyramid

  1. Top notesThe first minutes
  2. Heart notesThe heart of the perfume
  3. Base notesWhat lingers

What critics say

For Robin of Now Smell This, Kenzo World is lively and youthful but remains conventional: all its surprises are visual, none of them olfactory.

Read what critics say

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The advertising

Margaret Qualley, 2016

Margaret Qualley dances in My Mutant Brain, a film written and directed by Spike Jonze to choreography by Ryan Heffington, aired from late August 2016.

The launch film, My Mutant Brain, was written and directed by Spike Jonze. Actress and former dancer Margaret Qualley, seen in the series The Leftovers, breaks with the restraint of an official evening in a frenzied, grimacing dance in which beams shoot from her fingers.

The choreography is by Ryan Heffington, who choreographed Sia’s Chandelier video, and the cinematography by Hoyte van Hoytema. The Digital Domain studio handled the effects, including an infinity mirror shot. A long version of the film runs almost four minutes.

The music, Mutant Brain, was composed for the campaign by Sam Spiegel, Spike Jonze’s brother, with Ape Drums, featuring vocals by Assassin. Kenzo says it swims against the tide of traditional perfume advertising, whose elegance and passive femininity the film upends.

More perfumes from Kenzo

All Kenzo perfumes

Also composed by Francis Kurkdjian

All creations by Francis Kurkdjian

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