BEAUTY
VIP (Very Important Perfume)
From waiting lists and members-only soirées to matchmaking via scent, fragrance has become the most rarefied club you can join
REPORT: CASSIE STEER.
PHOTO: BACCARAT ROUGE’S ÉDITION MILLÉSIME, COURTESY OF MAISON FRANCIS KURKDJIAN
Perfume has long been a marker of taste, but it’s now stepping into a new realm: that of exclusivity. What once distinguished the fragrance aficionado – the ability to drop the word “sillage” into conversation, say, or layering Byredo’s Rose of No Man’s Land with Phlur’s Vanilla Skin – is no longer enough.