Louis Vuitton bottles LA summertime into three new fragrances
Correspondingly sunny artwork for the Les Parfums collection comes courtesy of Los Angeles' native Alex Israel

Maison Louis Vuitton has announced the launch of three new eaux de parfums that capture the spirit of Los Angeles' seemingly eternal summertime. Fittingly named ‘Sun Song’, ‘Cactus Garden’ and ‘Afternoon Swim’, the trio of fragrances whisper secrets of the City of Angels. Think the morning surf in Malibu, roof-down trips out to Palm Springs, beers clinking in Venice.
Each scent is represented visually by Hollywood-adjacent local Alex Israel, who's poetic collaboration with Bret Easton Ellis (Gagosian, 2016) spotlights his well-documented Los Angeles credentials. Israel has applied three versions of original compositions to the packaging design, pairing fragrance with emblematic artwork to reflect the scent's architecture. ‘Sun Song’ is dressed in Summer, an oversized, burnt-yellow sunglass lens, taken from Israel's 2015 ‘Lens’ series; the box for ‘Cactus Garden’ features Desperado (2015), an installation that pays homage to the rugged Californian landscape. ‘Afternoon Swim’ surfs on New Waves, a painting in which breakers surge towards the Pacific Ocean, inspired by Israel's 2018 Hong Kong exhibition of the same name.
Israel has long admired the Maison's commitment to artistic collaboration, and nods to Takashi Murakami, Richard Prince, Yayoi Kusama and Jeff Koons as some of his favourite collaborators. ‘I think I really came to understand the company’s commitment to the arts when I visited the LV Foundation in Paris,' he adds. ‘I was completely blown away by the rooftop garden, and the risks that the company allowed Frank Gehry to take in creating that space.'
Louis Vuitton's ‘Cactus Garden' and packaging
There's a filmic nature to each one of the packaging designs – Israel launched his first feature-length film SPF-18 in 2017 – and he cites inspirations as diverse as the seminal 1966 surf movie The Endless Summer to Clueless. ‘Making a painting or a sculpture entails bringing an object in the world. But making a movie entails creating an entire world, into which you could bring an object.’ The same, arguably, can be said for fragrance design. ‘Every scent can evoke experiences of one's past, specific places and moments. This uncanny, deja-vu that fragrances evoke can certainly open up one’s thinking, and refocus one’s creative energy.’
There's olfactory justification for the collection's LA-emphasis, courtesy of master perfumer Jacques Cavallier Belletrud. Constantly seeking innovation, Belletrud had to coin an entirely new phrase to capture the feeling of the collection, illustrating its very particular alliance between high citrus notes and the depth of flowers. ‘I call this collection “Cologne Perfumes”,' he explains. ‘In the fragrance market, if Colognes are fresh they’re not long lasting which can be a little frustrating. I was dreaming of creating a cologne collection with endless freshness and persistence.'
This unique combination is perhaps best demonstrated in ‘Cactus Garden', which is verdant, blending freshly sliced cucumber with bitter and powerful Calabrian bergamot, topped-out by a sharp hit of lemongrass. It's a frisson in an exotic garden. ‘Sun Song’, meanwhile, dances sweetly with orange blossom, and ‘Afternoon Swim’ is like a palate cleanser, with notes of orange, mandarin and bergamot.
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Louis Vuitton website
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Elly Parsons is the Digital Editor of Wallpaper*, where she oversees Wallpaper.com and its social platforms. She has been with the brand since 2015 in various roles, spending time as digital writer – specialising in art, technology and contemporary culture – and as deputy digital editor. She was shortlisted for a PPA Award in 2017, has written extensively for many publications, and has contributed to three books. She is a guest lecturer in digital journalism at Goldsmiths University, London, where she also holds a masters degree in creative writing. Now, her main areas of expertise include content strategy, audience engagement, and social media.
-
Porsche and the Norman Foster Foundation rethink the future of mobility
A futuristic Venice transport hub, created with the Norman Foster Foundation for Porsche’s The Art of Dreams programme, is a star of the city’s Architecture Biennale
-
Dyson pares down the vacuum cleaner to its most minimal form with the PencilVac
Enabled by new motor technology, Dyson’s forthcoming PencilVac is designed to squeeze into spots other vacuums can’t go
-
Welcome to io: OpenAI acquires Jony Ive’s secret startup to shape the form of future AI
Jony Ive’s LoveFrom has spent two years assembling io, a crack team of specialists to visualise the physical form of Artificial Intelligence. Newly acquired by Sam Altman at ChatGPT, this tech supergroup hopes to re-shape the landscape of Silicon Valley and our relationship with tech
-
Summer perfumes that transport you to a dream vacation
Take a trip around the world with these unisex summer perfumes inspired by Californian beaches, Ibizan parties, Mexican jungles, and more
-
These California-inspired perfumes are perfect for summer
California-inspired perfumes from Celine, Louis Vuttion and more are an ode to the multifaceted personalities of the Golden State
-
Es Devlin collaborates with Chanel on monumental exhibition
Es Devlin has created an immersive labyrinth to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Chanel No5
-
Frank Gehry designs Louis Vuitton perfume bottle to make you say ‘Oh!’
Two titans of their respective crafts, architect Frank Gehry and Louis Vuitton perfumer Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud, distil their creative juices for the new Les Extraits perfume collection
-
New Affiliates architects make groundbreaking perfume bottle
Régime des Fleurs debuts its first men's fragrance, with a bottle design by architects New Affiliates, one of the fast-emerging practices in the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2021
-
Louis Vuitton fragrance debuts its most exclusive scent ever
Louis Vuttion's Pur Oud, containing a high concentration of a rare natural ingredient and available in an edition of 2,000 bottles, is an exception in the world of perfumery
-
Louis Vuitton adds a new addition to its fragrance trunk
Étoile Filante is the latest addition to the house's travel-inspired fragrances
-
Take a tour of Louis Vuitton's fragrance house
Master perfumer Jacques Cavallier Belletrud offers a peek inside Les Fontaines Parfumées