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Givenchy

L'Interdit Givenchy

L'Interdit returns in 2018, sixty-one years after the perfume created for Audrey Hepburn, in an entirely new formula signed by Dominique Ropion, Anne Flipo and Fanny Bal. Givenchy sets a bouquet of white flowers — tuberose, orange blossom, sambac jasmine — against a base of patchouli, vetiver and ambroxan, with Rooney Mara as the face of the campaign.

Brand
Givenchy
Launch year
2018
Perfumers
Gender
Women
Olfactory family
Floral
Secondary family
Woody
Concentration
Eau de Parfum
EAN
3274872372139 (35 ml) · 3274872372146 (50 ml) · 3274872372153 (80 ml) · 3274872445512 (100 ml) · 3274872459090 (125 ml) · 3274872445529 (refill 150 ml)

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L'Interdit Givenchy

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The first L'Interdit appeared in 1957. Hubert de Givenchy had it composed by Francis Fabron for Audrey Hepburn, his friend and muse, before extending its sale to all women. Its name retains the trace of this exclusivity, originally reserved for the actress.

Legend has it that she opposed it with a “But I forbid it!”. The line is attributed to her more than it is documented, but it is from her that the perfume takes its name, and the actress lent her face to the campaign, which was hardly done at the time.

The name has crossed decades and several reinterpretations, including a reissue close to the original in 2007, in the Parfums Mythiques collection. In 2018, Givenchy broke with this heritage: the house kept the name and commissioned an entirely new composition.

Dominique Ropion, Anne Flipo and Fanny Bal, all three at IFF, signed the formula. Rooney Mara became its face, chosen for a look the press readily compared to that of Audrey Hepburn.

Olfactory pyramid

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

What critics say

Two reviews, two verdicts: Thomas Dunckley sees a very successful modern floral, while Despina Veneti sees a skillful blend with nothing forbidden about it.

Read what critics say

What the community says

LongevityModerate
Fleeting7 votesAll day
SillageDiscreet
Intimate6 votesOverpowering

Season

Winter100 %
5 votes

Occasion

Day75 %
3 votes
Evening25 %
1 vote

The community finds it similar to…

  • Musc — Molinard1 vote

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Longevity
Sillage
Season
Occasion
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The advertising

A leak into the ghost metro station

Todd Haynes films Rooney Mara leaving a Parisian party for the ghost station of Porte des Lilas, set to a track by Trentemøller.

The 2018 campaign was entrusted to Todd Haynes, who had directed Rooney Mara in Carol. The film begins in a Parisian apartment where the actress is bored, wearing a black lace dress by Givenchy, and leads her into the metro.

The shoot took place at Porte des Lilas, a ghost station closed to the public, where Rooney Mara reaches an underground party behind a closed door. The still visual is signed David Sims, photographed in the station.

The soundtrack is “Deceive” by Trentemøller, sung by Sune Rose Wagner of the Raveonettes. Despina Veneti judges that this narrative of transgression bears no relation to what the perfume actually smells like.

From the same line

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Also composed by Anne Flipo

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Also composed by Fanny Bal

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