LONDON — Sometimes a scent can inspire a book, as fans of Marcel Proust know, but in Victoria Beckham’s case the scent has become the book — and it’s given her a new means to speak to her customers.
On Friday, Victoria Beckham Beauty will make its fragrance debut with three unisex scents inspired by personal moments from the designer’s past, and especially her alone time with husband David Beckham.
Victoria Beckham developed the fragrances — Portofino ’97, Suite 302 and San Ysidro Drive — with perfumer Jérôme Epinette and is producing them in-house, without a licensee. Distribution will be chiefly direct-to-consumer and through partnerships with Bergdorf Goodman, Violet Grey, Selfridges, Neiman Marcus and La Samaritaine.
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The fragrances are priced at $200 for 50ml and $290 for 100ml.
This project is so personal that Beckham even appears in the ad campaign, which was shot by Steven Klein. Beckham said she chose him because she loves the way he photographs women.
“This is my autobiography through scent, and a new way of communicating with my community,” said Beckham, whose launch will coincide with her runway show on Friday during Paris Fashion Week.
“This is the most personal project I have ever worked on, and all three fragrances are very close to my heart. I spent so much time getting them right — and working on the packaging, the names and the stories,” she added.
During an interview, Beckham talked openly about the feelings she tried to capture with each juice.
She said Portofino ’97, a citrusy scent with notes of bergamot, reminds her of her secret courtship with David before they first appeared in public as a couple.
The former Spice Girl and Manchester United soccer star famously used to meet in parking lots and off-the-radar places. She said they’d spend hours sitting and chatting in the car so they wouldn’t be spotted by the British tabloids, which, so many years later, continue to track the couple’s every move.
Victoria’s and David’s first trip to Portofino n 1997 was a big one. Both were juggling crazy work schedules and had the added stress of keeping their relationship under wraps.
“That time spent together in Portofino was so romantic, which is why the fragrance smells like passion and young love. It’s fresh and innocent,” she said.
Suite 302 references The Ritz in Paris, where David whisked her on second honeymoon — and many other trips over the years. It is the suite where Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel lived (and completely redecorated) for more than 30 years, until her death.
Beckham said the scent, which has earthy notes of black cherry, leather and tobacco, reflects “the opulence of Paris,” memories of many a date night, and the couple’s love of the French capital, which they would often visit when David was signed to Real Madrid.
San Ysidro Drive, with its notes of saffron, has an altogether different vibe.
It’s the street where the Beckhams lived when they moved to Los Angeles when David joined the L.A. Galaxy. She said the fragrance is meant to conjure “new beginnings” and a phase in her life when she learned to meditate and harness the power of crystals, and spent time hiking, surfing and enjoying the outdoors with her young children.
Even the packaging is personal.
Beckham said the gold bottle and fluted lid are based on a necklace that she created a few seasons ago, which in turn was inspired by a vintage perfume bottle. The bottle’s enameled colors — aqua, saffron and creamy coconut — came from one of Beckham’s past collections, which are known for their slightly off-kilter shades.
David Belhassen, founder and managing partner of Neo, which purchased a 30 million pound minority stake in Victoria Beckham in 2017, said fragrance has been a long time coming.
Belhassen said Beckham had wanted to launch a fragrance years ago, even before Neo took its stake in the business.
“I think it was at our second meeting when Victoria pulled out tons of fragrance bottles and scents, and she was eager to launch right away. She was absolutely obsessed with the idea, but I told her that we needed a bit of preparation and to time it right. And then every six months, she was asking ‘When can we do it?’ So we’re finally here,” Belhassen said.
Belhassen had urged Beckham and her team to build other categories, such as accessories, jewelry, lingerie, body and beauty before thinking about fragrance.
He views it as a milestone for the brand.
“It transforms Victoria Beckham into a fashion house,” Belhassen said. “We have a creative director in Victoria who is involved in every aspect, from the dresses we sell to the eyeliner we produce. Now there’s fragrance, which bridges all the aspects of the brand and helps them work together.”
Earlier this year, Belhassen told WWD that earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, turned positive in fiscal 2022.
He’s expecting the business to achieve more than 100 million pounds in revenue in the next couple of years, around half of which will come from fashion. The other half will be generated by the beauty and skin care business, which Belhassen helped Beckham to launch in 2019.
Although the company declined to give first-year projections for the fragrances, Belhassen said he’s expecting the category to become a major part of the fast-growing overall business.
Belhassen added that building a fashion house has always been Beckham’s ambition.
“For Victoria, this brand has never been about doing a little fashion and a little beauty just to make money. From Day One, it was about leaving a legacy, which is why I was so attracted to the brand in the first place. She has never been about the short term, and has always wanted to create something that would last for a very, very long time.”
He added that “fragrance is the most emotional part of what we can offer because it’s so personal. Victoria loves every one of these scents, and they mean so much to her.”
Epinette, the perfumer, would agree. He said it’s always challenging to create a fragrance that’s based on someone else’s past and memories. “But this was an easy collaboration and she had real conviction — which you don’t see that often.”
He also added his own angle.
“I saw the perfume as based on Victoria’s personality. She’s bold, so each of these fragrances has a big woody signature. Although these fragrances are very different from each other, the wood anchors them and gives them a boldness.
“Victoria wanted to make a statement, which is why we didn’t want to come up with nice, easy, fresh fragrances. That is not her. That’s why there’s a woody background and a lot of color, spice and fruit,” he added.
Epinette, senior perfumer at Robertet Fragrances, is known for creating genderless fragrances for brands including Byredo, Atelier Cologne and Olfactive Studio.
“I listen to women, I know what they like and I know what works on the market. In the end, it has to be a beautiful fragrance. In this case I would wear all of them,” he said.
Epinette talked about his formulas in sensual rather than technical terms, describing Portofino ’97 as capturing “the freshness of the sea.” Suite 302 has notes of “reddish-purple black cherry, which puts you in the universe of that room” at The Ritz, he said.
For San Ysidro Drive, Epinette was looking to capture heat, spice and sun, so he used saffron essential oil from Greece. “Imagine you are in the spice market, and you smell saffron — that’s what it’s like. You have the little heat of saffron on top, which makes the fragrance very unexpected and very signature,” he said.
Katia Beauchamp, chief executive officer of Victoria Beckham Beauty, said fragrance will give the brand a big opportunity going forward.
“There’s going to be a huge push on building the awareness of the Victoria Beckham beauty brand with fragrance. It will be a [key] pillar,” she said.
Beauchamp said Beckham’s beauty brand is still under the radar. “It’s pretty unknown, and distributed offline, primarily. If you’re walking through the doors of a typical beauty store, you’re not seeing the brand,” she said.
The company is planning a big marketing push in Paris, London, Los Angeles and New York with out-of-house campaigns, pop-ups and a dedicated activation during Paris Fashion Week.
There are plans to market the scent with Beckham’s fashion and beauty collections, sending samples along with e-commerce orders. Beauchamp said product extensions are also in the works, with formats unique to each fragrance.
“Right now, though, we’re really focused on the selective distribution through our site and sampling at home. What’s really important is how many people can we get to smell it in the next few months,” Beauchamp said.
She added that the trio will not be “all of a sudden, everywhere” and that growth will take time, although the ambitions are big.
“To have this fragrance be at 5 percent of the beauty business immediately would make it very big. Ultimately, as it matures, 10 to 15 percent penetration is right,” said Beauchamp, noting that the color cosmetics and skin care sales are witnessing robust growth.
Beckham, who in the past fronted celebrity fragrances before she launched her signature brand, knows that going it alone, without a licensee, is risky.
“This is a very competitive category, and I think people are loyal to their fragrances. Also, fragrance isn’t an overnight success. But the time is right. I have the in-house expertise now,” she said.
Beckham added: “For me, this was never about having a celebrity fragrance — although there’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve done that in the past, and the process is very, very different. I’m launching now because I needed to build credibility in the category and I know these fragrances are going to be around for a long, long time.”