Professeur de Parfums Roja Dove has collaborated with the V&A Museum on his new fragrance which pays homage to one of his inspirations – Russian ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev. He talks to Katie Middleweek about this project and his view on fragrance today
A man never short of an opinion, Roja Dove, perfumer, writer, speaker and general authority on all things fragrance related, is especially proud to have been asked to collaborate with the V&A Museum on his latest olfactive creation. “In my opinion, Diaghilev was a genius who brought many potent creative forces together,” says Dove “so I was thrilled to have been asked to create a fragrance especially for the V&A’s Diaghilev exhibition which opens on 25 September.”
The resultant chypre scent “combines the beauty of Rose de Mai with a rich base of vetiver and oakmoss enlivened by bergamot” and will retail from this month exclusively at the V&A shop and on its website as well as through Dove’s own outlet, the Haute Perfumery in Harrods, which opened in 2004.
The exhibition itself is entitled Diaghilev – the Golden Age of the Ballet Russes 1909-1929 and will showcase in part the Russian’s passion for fragrance, something Dove fervently shares. Dove will also be giving a series of lectures at the museum around the theme of the chypre fragrances that Diaghilev championed during the 1920s. As with all addresses he gives it would be difficult to find a more passionate speaker than Dove who trained in Paris with Guerlain when it was still a family owned business.
Bespoke success
“When I am asked about the fragrance world I always preface everything by saying that this is my opinion and I always try and give a rounded view,” says Dove. “When I launched my Haute Perfumery in Harrods six years ago, I was the first outlet in the world which cherry picked which fragrances I wanted to stock and the decision was based purely on how good any one fragrance was and that is the way it still is today.
“Since then many brands from Guerlain to Van Cleef and Arpels have devised their own versions of an haute perfumery – but I was the first. And despite only being a modest area tucked away on the fifth floor at Harrods, far away from the more mainstream scents, we are actually the number one global retailer for brands such as Clive Christian and Jean Charles Brosseau which makes me very proud. With smaller brands you can help them grow more effectively.”
Dove puts the success of his store largely down to his staff who are all “extremely knowledgeable” about fragrance while he remarks that many department store staff who work on the fragrance counters are “badly trained, ill informed and apathetic – some people simply do not know enough about their industry”.
Upping the ante
“With the increased use of the internet and beauty blogs and so on, everyone has become, or thinks they have become, an expert on fragrance so the stores now have to up their game to meet with these higher expectations and greater knowledge.
“In my opinion the department stores and such like can only survive in the future if they sit up and listen. Either they can survive on a price/discount basis or they can survive because they are very quality and service orientated. There must be a point of difference which makes customers take notice and shop there.”
He adds that the retailers, many of which have experienced dwindling fragrance sales of late, should also look to their websites “most of which look like they are from the ark” and see if they can improve them to attract more business. If they do this they could make themselves a real destination for perfume, says Dove, but he adds that until then he doesn’t hold out much hope.
Celebrating collectables
Of the industry in general, Dove’s view is that it is “fractured and fragmented with a launch pace that will be impossible to sustain”. Instead of the myriad celebrity and mass market scents around, Dove champions fragrance collections such as Tom Ford’s Private Blends where a whole collection is launched at once and then added to or taken away from over time.
“To establish a fragrance collection as a franchise is a very good idea in my opinion as it is both easy to do and cost effective. I think Tom Ford’s Private Blends collection is the most exciting thing the fragrance world has experienced in the past few years. The blends are made in a very uncompromising way and you either love them or hate them. I personally fell in love with them instantly.”
And while he has some concerns, Dove concedes that the fragrance market is at a very interesting stage with something for everyone. “It is the very first time there is truly a fragrance for everyone, whatever their preference,” says Dove “and this means that smaller, niche brands are able to flourish more quickly.”
Does this mean he has plans to expand his Haute Perfumery business in order to accommodate them? After some thought Dove says: “Never say never but it is unlikely though business is very good. Last week we had our biggest week’s takings since we opened so I am delighted about that obviously.” Proof indeed that smaller brands are flourishing and while Roja Dove has a hand in things, this is likely to remain the case.