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likes of Chanel No.5 or J’Adore. “So we started with how do we talk about Francisco Costa’s woman’s collection? His inspiration for one of his dresses was the calla lily, the only flower allowed in Calvin Klein’s offices and in his home. I went to the fragrance houses with a calla lily as inspira-tion and gave them a very strong budget so they could use their entire palette of ingredients.”

What’s interesting about the approach is that you can’t distill a scent from a calla lily – it’s essentially fra-grance-free. therefore, a perfumer must interpret the scent through emotion and feeling. “You have to have very talented perfumers to be able to recreate the beauty of a lily.” eight months later, a combination of Ambrette seeds and jasmine created the desired effect: sophistication and confidence. “there is always a tension underlying all Calvin Klein fragrances. In fragrance, that appears as a spicy-Oriental undertone and this scent is no exception.”

What happened next is quite extraordinary. Coty prestige tested the fragrance with 400 women in Ger-many, United States and Spain and hosted focus groups in the U.K. and France. “We didn’t just ask them to sniff a blotter. We wanted them to wear it for a week and tell us if this is something they became addicted to – a scent they wanted to make their own.” the results were over-whelmingly positive. retailers agreed. they upped their buy and projections considerably banking that this will be a global smash. It seems nothing may come between brooke Shields and her Calvins today except beauty.

Calvin Klein Beauty launches October at The Bay, Shoppers Drug Mart, London Drugs, Jean Coutu, Murale and Ogilvy. The 100 ml EDP spray will retail for $115, the 50 ml, for $89.

Autumn Fragrance Special by Dave Lackie

Coty Prestige mines the DNA of the Calvin Klein brand to create

a premium luxury scent.

Calvin’s Ode to the Calla Lily:

Four years ago, Francois Karimi was attending a theatre event in New York City when he suddenly found himself standing beside an American fashion legend. “I turned around and there was Calvin Klein,” says the af-fable Karimi. “I was immediately taken by his charisma. He was incredibly charming and had this beautiful glow to him.” At that time, Francois had no idea that a few short years later he’d be creative director of Calvin Klein beauty at Coty prestige – a position he’d accept after working for bpI Fragrances and Lancôme in europe. “He’s the only Amer-ican designer that has transcended North American style: All his designs are sleek, simple and cosmopolitan. He is the only designer to build a brand that is strong in europe, North America and Asia in both men’s and women’s. It’s one of the world’s strongest brands.”

that fame today is largely due to Klein’s strongest franchises: underwear, jeans and fragrance – all fueled by sexy, provocative advertising campaigns designed to generate buzz and sometimes controversy. “but when

you go back to the roots of the Calvin Klein brand, the DNA is Collection,” says Karimi. And that is where the fragrance executive started when creating Calvin Klein beauty fragrance. When he looked at the Klein fragrance portfolio, he discovered he didn’t have a signature scent for a confident, style-savvy woman in her 30s or 40s – one that competed with the

Francois Karimi