Le Vestiaire des Parfums - Capeline Alluring Lily

Throughout his career, Yves Saint Laurent would play on the capeline’s paradox: a nonchalant way of going incognito that is also the most spectacular of accessories. To capture its alluring silhouette, the VP perfumer Juliette Karagueuzoglou has chosen the majestic lily, whose name in French forms the anagram of Yves Saint Laurent’s initials. YSL. LYS. The couturier’s emblem, even in his absence, every one of his houses was filled with sprigs of pure white Casablanca lilies.

Since the essence of this headiest of flowers cannot be extracted, Juliette Karagueuzoglou says she has drawn from her memories of summers by the sea to compose “a delicate, immaculately white lily that grows on dunes in the beach grass. The freshness of its silky petals is brought out by a lick of salty spray.” But as it unfolds its petals, this pure beauty reveals an enigmatic current of hidden sensuality. Vanilla absolute, warm and creamy with the merest touch of leather, colors the mysterious flower with a darker patina. A sophisticated match between the couture elegance of Yves Saint Laurent’s lucky-charm lily and the sensual nonchalance of black pod. Heady and head-turning.