Etat Libre d’Orange has teamed up with Ogilvy Paris to develop a luxury scent named Les Fleurs du Déchet (The Flowers of Waste).
The fragrance, which has notes of mouldy fruit and earthworms, has the English brand name ‘I am Trash’ and was created to put the focus on the waste that luxury often represents.
Etienne de Swardt, Etat Libre d’Orange Founder and CEO, says the fragrance is, “a luxury perfume that exists to defy convention.”
Meanwhile Juana O’Gorman, Ogilvy Paris Creative Director, says, “Luxury can’t ignore anymore the fact that our planet is not a tonneau des Danaïdes.
“It’s a shift that our society needs to take, and will. We have the tendency to trash things and people very fast—in real and virtual life. Everything that doesn’t fit our perfection is immediately deleted. Everything and everybody will, one day or another, be trashed.”
With the fragrance still in production, Ogilvy assured it would not smell of rubbish despite featuring ingredients such as worms.
Creative director Beatrice Lassaill said, “What we’re using in production is exactly what is seen in the film: What looks rotten was rotten; the worms were as alive as all of us, and what feels like stinking actually stunk.
“The time-lapse footage was shot for real and during two full weeks. It’s only organic trash since the waste the perfume we’ll reuse is mainly organic. The most challenging aspect? Not throwing up during the shoot.”