Francis Kurkdjian lives and breathes perfume. The renowned fragrance master is behind some of the biggest—and most distinct—perfumes that we know and love, including Dior Beauty’s Dioriviera, Burberry Beauty’s Her as well as Jean Paul Gaultier’s Le Male fragrance for men. But that’s not all.
The French perfumer launched his own maison in 2009, starting with the release of his first scent APOM, which stands for A Part Of Me. The maison, founded by Kurkdjian together with businessman Marc Chaya, is best known for its intensely complex scents, like Baccarat Rouge 540 and Petit Matin. Under the APOM umbrella from Maison Francis Kurkdjian (MFK), APOM was initially launched as two separate scents, one for women and another for men. But 15 years later, in 2024, MFK released a brand new iteration of the iconic perfume, this time in one inclusive, genderless distillation.
Ahead, we speak to the prolific perfumer about what makes this new genderless APOM so special. He also shares his name-first ethos, where he thoughtfully creates fragrances after first drawing inspiration from a perfume’s name.
GRAZIA Singapore (GS): What inspired the creation of the original APOM fragrances back in 2009?
Francis Kurkdjian (FK): I am name driven; I am feelings driven. In 2009, I imagined a duo of scents about sensuality, brightness and languidness, scents that would be comfortable yet radiant. I came up with the idea of APOM, an acronym I have invented that stands for A Part of Me. I liked the name, the singularity of this acronym, so evocative, so distinctive, so personal and so meaningful for a perfume.
I loved its harmony so I built an olfactory story to match all these feelings. It is as simple as that, as natural as that. In my house (MFK), the name of the perfume comes first, and the composition comes after. There’s something about the name APOM, a certain roundness. It’s simple and it’s beautiful because it’s simple. I was inspired by the name and the emotion it evokes. APOM, A Part of Me, a part of ourselves that we leave to others; that’s what perfume is all about. This relaunch in this new synthetic version, in the sense that it is a synthesis of the feminine and the masculine, is further proof of the claim to freedom that I have in the house.
GS: You have said that you only seek out a sensation for a fragrance after deciding on its name. Tell us more about this process, and how it helps you to develop each scent from MFK.
FK: I express in scent, what I can’t express through words, images, or sounds. Like a composer, I see my role as crafting emotions and creating a sensory experience that resonates with people, telling a story through scent. The story always comes first as an inspiration, and inspiration is the invisible part of creation… It can come from many subjects: art, fashion, music, ballet, theatre, architecture. But also the people surrounding me. It’s by far the hardest part of my work and the most challenging one as time goes by.
GS: What inspires you to create?
FK: Classic and modern art, couture and lifestyle inspire me but I always try to focus on a universal feeling. It must be an idea that everyone around the globe can understand in their own language and apprehend with their own feelings. My inspiration is never driven by raw materials or specific notes; the choice of ingredients is done accordingly to the emotion I want to convey with a scent, rather than a starting point.
Actually, when I create a perfume under my own name, anything can inspire me as long as it becomes the beginning of a story that I can translate into a fragrance. Because a great perfume is to be built on a great idea—and a great perfume is one that can withstand the test of time. Timeless elegance can be translated through different manners, but everyone can understand what it means, this is what I did with APOM, Grand Soir or 724 for example, in different ways.
GS: You often say that fragrances come alive on the skin. How do the notes in APOM create a sense of movement and life?
FK: Through its notes, APOM asserts a lineage with modern perfumery’s major classics. But through its architecture, the scent is resolutely anchored to modern times. Luminous top notes give way to sweet floral core notes. A skilful balance of aromatic, bursting lavender and addictively generous orange blossom is wrapped in vanilla’s warm and delicate sillage. This sensual and carnal eau de parfum, enhanced by sunny ylang-ylang accents, is prolonged in the comfort of white musks. An intimate fragrance that embraces the contours of one’s body as well as one’s personality.
GS: What prompted this new iteration of APOM, that melds the original APOM Pour Femme and APOM Pour Homme together?
FK: Originally created in 2009, I decided to discontinue APOM a few years later. I was unsatisfied with it. I got tired of it. I felt something was wrong… Along the way, I reconsidered reworking the story as I love the name and what its meaning. So, I returned to this duo to make only one fragrance. One new creation, recognisable by those who wore the original APOMs, but completely new at the same time. An APOM with the signature of a great classic but resolutely modern. A sensual and carnal trail, radiant and luminous. I wanted to merge them both, and I did it.
GS: What do genderless perfumes indicate about the future of the fragrance world?
FK: Genderless scents have existed for ages and centuries. The young generation is more uninhibited, instinctive, they are freer with their body and their identity and this is something very positive, I think. Artists, models, dancers or singers…they free themselves from prejudices they may have faced and come out of the binary male and female. Gender lives in movement and fluidity and it has echoed in the world of fashion and beauty…it means you don’t have to be secluded in one category. That’s a big move forward.
The male-female dichotomy is being challenged, the lines between attributed genders are blurring and people want to be able to define themselves freely. As perfume is profoundly linked to culture and feeling, it mirrors this tendency. That’s why at MFK, I leave total freedom of expression to those who choose to wear my creations.
GS: What qualities allow a fragrance to stand the test of time? And which fragrance, to you, is the greatest example of this?
FK: A great perfume, made by unsurpassable emotions and above all a great story, does not smell good… It smells beautiful. That will make the fragrance go through time, towards the icon status, just like Baccarat Rouge 540 actually. It is the contemporary olfactive synthesis of a modern sweet amber accord. It is modern, yet very classic. Innovative yet timeless. Its sillage is indeed unique, there have been many attempts to copy it but none compare to the original. Its trail is distinctive and recognisable among all others. I think people get obsessed with it because of its unique olfactory signature, its addictiveness, its remarkable volume, its presence and durability.
APOM, A Part Of Me can be found in all Maison Francis Kurkdjian retail outlets and the online boutique.
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