Jacques Cavallier Belletrud highlights the Middle East’s rich fragrance culture as a profound source of inspiration, influencing modern perfumery and emphasising individuality and experimentation over trends.
Louis Vuitton master perfumer Jacques Cavallier Belletrud believes that the Middle East’s fragrance traditions offer more than commercial opportunities for global beauty brands. It provides a source of creative inspiration and cultural knowledge that can shape perfumery worldwide
Speaking at Beautyworld Dubai 2026, Cavallier Belletrud discussed how his experiences in the region, particularly his discovery of oud and the cultural significance of fragrance layering, had influenced his approach to perfumery. He also shared his views on creative freedom, the importance of raw materials and why fragrance should be driven by experimentation rather than market trends.
Cavallier Belletrud said: “I felt that the history, the culture, the rituals were so strong that the influence of the weather, of course, but their love for true perfumes was something very inspirational for me.”
Discovering oud
Cavallier Belletrud’s relationship with oud began as a fascination with an ingredient that seemed difficult to access. During his training in his hometown of Grasse, France, the oils he encountered did not reflect the quality he had imagined from his father’s accounts of oud in the late 1960s.
His understanding changed following his first visit to Saudi Arabia, in Jeddah, around 30 years ago. Several years later, a meeting with a fragrance entrepreneur near Mecca gave him a deeper understanding of authentic oud, including how it was produced and used.
The experience sparked a lasting interest in the ingredient and the cultural traditions surrounding it. Through subsequent work with regional fragrance businesses, he explored the richness of local raw materials and the rituals associated with perfume.
He said the region’s fragrance culture provided an almost endless source of inspiration, giving him a new perspective on the possibilities of perfumery.
Layering culture
Cavallier Belletrud regards fragrance layering as a cultural practice rather than a commercial trend. In the Middle East, combining scents is a longstanding ritual that allows people to express their identity according to their mood and the occasion.
“What is interesting in the layering? It’s the idea of developing a unique and very personal affective identity,” he said.
He cautioned against brands treating layering as something they can prescribe to consumers. The combinations people enjoy are highly personal, and he believes it would be inappropriate to tell customers which fragrances they should mix, particularly in a region where the practice is already deeply established.
Louis Vuitton has developed products that allow customers to adjust certain aspects of a fragrance, including enhancing its Ambroxan or oud notes. However, Cavallier Belletrud maintains that the final combination should remain a matter of individual preference.
His comments reflect a wider distinction between understanding a fragrance tradition and turning it into a marketing proposition. For him, brands need to recognise the cultural knowledge that already exists among consumers rather than assume they can teach them how to use perfume.
Creative freedom
Cavallier Belletrud’s approach to fragrance creation is also shaped by the freedom he has at Louis Vuitton. As artistic director of perfumes, he has responsibility not only for the scent itself but also for decisions about names, bottles and colours.
He said the position allows him to concentrate on creating high-quality fragrances without compromising on ingredients to meet a set price point. Before developing the collection, he immersed himself in the house, meeting creative directors including Marc Jacobs and Nicolas Ghesquière, alongside designers working across other product categories.
Understanding the brand’s creative expression and how customers perceived it was essential to establishing the direction of its fragrances.
His priority is to surprise customers entering Louis Vuitton stores, rather than create scents designed to appeal to everyone. He favours strong creative concepts and distinctive olfactory identities, whether fresh, floral or amber-led.
That philosophy extends to his view of consumer testing. He warned against allowing the pursuit of popularity to dictate creative decisions, arguing that creators need to accept uncertainty and trust their instincts rather than rely too heavily on research to predict what audiences will like.
Beyond gender
Cavallier Belletrud also questioned the boundaries modern marketing places around fragrance. He noted that men wore floral notes such as tuberose and rose during the 18th and 19th centuries, before modern perfumery increasingly established separate categories for men and women.
At Louis Vuitton, he sees value in maintaining distinct men’s and women’s collections alongside genderless fragrances. The inspiration behind each collection can differ, he said, much as it does in fashion, even if the resulting scents cross traditional boundaries.
He cited Imagination, which took five years to develop, as an example of a fragrance that transcended its intended market. After struggling to combine its top and base notes, the idea finally came together one August. The name followed quickly.
Asked whether it was intended for men or women, Cavallier Belletrud said he had not considered gender during the creative process. He ultimately placed it in the men’s category, reasoning that women would readily buy a fragrance marketed to men.
He said purchases of Imagination were split equally between men and women. However, he questioned whether genderless positioning always reflects a genuine creative intention, arguing that it can instead be a marketing strategy based on the assumption that a fragrance will sell more widely.
Creative philosophy
Cavallier Belletrud’s creative philosophy centres on contrast, using light and darkness to give a fragrance depth and personality. His aim is to create scents with presence without making them overpowering.
He noted: “One of my obsessions is how to make, how to breathe light where it is dark. That means you need darkness to express the light. Well, I call it contrast.”
Comparing perfumery to cooking, he argued that excessive strength can make a scent difficult to wear regularly. The challenge is to balance materials so that each contributes to a fragrance’s overall character without overwhelming the others.
That balance begins with the perfumer’s palette, with Cavallier Belletrud describing himself as a lover of both natural ingredients and synthetic molecules, saying the materials available to a perfumer are themselves a source of inspiration.
His time at fragrance house Firmenich expanded that palette and introduced him to people who helped him develop scents that would later become successful. He also stressed that creating a fragrance involves much more than developing a formula, requiring raw-material sourcing, testing, registration and technical expertise.
The significance of perfume extends beyond its commercial value, said Cavallier Belletrud. He believes fragrances can become associated with family, love and sadness, preserving memories throughout people’s lives.
His own fascination with perfumery began with his father, whose work offered a glimpse into a world of travel, creativity and mystery. Watching his father create fragrances and seeing his mother wear them inspired him to enter the profession at 16.
He has carried those lessons into his relationship with his daughter, who is also interested in becoming a perfumer. Rather than encouraging her to imitate his work, he wants her to develop her own creative identity while learning from those who came before her.
He said: “A good perfume is something that has personality, signature, allure, quality. Something that you memorise.”
He described fragrance as “a part of humanity that you put in a bottle”, adding that he tries to capture moments and translate them into scents.
That emphasis on memory, individuality and experimentation also informs his approach to the future. Rather than dwell on past successes, he remains focused on what he can invent and explore next.
Cavallier Belletrud noted that the Middle East’s significance lies in the depth of its fragrance culture and the inspiration it offers. Its traditions are not simply commercial opportunities to be repackaged for global consumers, he notes, but a source of knowledge that can continue to influence how perfumers create.
