Like the heroine of a romantic novel that might have been written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Lolita Lempicka enters a room surrounded by an irresistible aura of fragile beauty and utter femininity.

Beneath it all, however, lies an inner strength and determination which has placed her amongst the pantheon of contemporary fashion and fragrance designers. Though she explains that her fashions are inspired by the sheer and evanescent beauty of the butterfly, she has turned to the Garden of Eden and its temptations to create her first fragrance. Housed in a crystal apple, she describes her fragrance as an enchanting floral, clear and sensual, with the intoxicating nectar of licorice flower. Fascinating additions include anise seeds for their refreshing, acidulous scent, and a hint of amarena, which has the pearly savour of sweet almond as well as violets and iris roots. To complete Lolita’s "fairytale" fragrance, she chose touches of vetiver, tonka bean, vanilla and musk.

"I’ve been trying to redefine fragrance since I was a child; actually before I was ten. Throughout my life, certain fragrance notes have captured my imagination … especially licorice, violet and anise. When I decided to create my own fragrance, these notes flooded back into my consciousness.
   

"Working with perfumers from Firmenich, we made a hundred different attempts. It was so difficult, such hard work. We were never satisfied as we searched for a strong point of difference, a fragrance unlike any other. After three months of intense work, we hit it, a fragrance completely consistent with my personality and my fashions, very seductive yet modern and young. ‘Lolita’ being the young part of it (licorice), ‘Lempicka’ the more passionate side (flower). I was thrilled."

Of course, deciding on the fragrance was just the beginning of an odyssey which took Lolita on a search for the imagery which would visualize her fragrance masterpiece.

"I dedicated myself to researching every nuance of the bottle and package for my fragrance. I met with advertising agencies and worked every weekend in the country with package designers. What I wanted was a bottle that a woman would keep like a jewel, easy to hold in her hand like the precious apple from a modern Garden of Eden. The bottle had to express this contrast of modernity and sensual femininity, it had to represent the taste for sin, the forbidden fruit told in a fairytale for women in a romantic way." Lolita Lempicka more than achieved this dream with her wisteria-colored bottle, overlaid with ivy leaves in white enamel, dusted with gold.

Lolita Lempicka is the personification of her fragrance dream. A poetic minimalist, she has the aura of the Baroque about her, with her auburn-hair, porcelain—like skin and delicate figure. "I like the contrast of past and modernity; I take my inspiration from the past, that is why I have a lot of lace, pointlace… which I adapt to update clothes. I am also influenced by the 30s, a very exciting period for creation in all areas. It is my favorite period. I also take my inspiration from movies since I am keen on cinema. In fact, I make clothes for many French and American actresses."

Lolita exudes an inner strength which she says she learned from her mother and has passed on to her three daughters (including 15 year-old twins). Her first assistant is her daughter, Elisa, who is a designer, in her own right, of accessories, gloves, handbags and jewelry.

Lolita (herself one of four sisters) believes in strong women, "who push their femininity and stand firm on their freedom to say, ‘I am a woman, and I am not afraid to be stronger than a man.’ Forty-five of my staff of fifty are women, and I am proud of their creativity and devotion to the ideal of what it means to be a woman in every facet of life."

She recently expanded her fashion empire to include wedding dresses and reports they are doing very well, indeed! Four of Lolita Lempicka’s boutiques can be found in Paris, one in Monte Carlo and one in Cannes. During her stay in New York, part of her time was spent looking for a Madison Avenue venue. Her latest Paris boutique specializes in her wedding dresses. "Very young women dream of my wedding dresses which have the power to transform them into princesses and fairies."

"My obsession is to emphasize women’s sensuality, to make them more beautiful, to make them dream. That is what I want them to find in my fragrance, too, beauty, pleasure, sensuality, dreams and poetry."

When we talked about the appeal of designer fragrances, she quickly replied, "I think that designer fragrances are successful because they represent a real ‘echo’ of their time. Designers are more creative, they take risks; they really mean something to people. I am very proud of my fragrance. It is so consistent with my style."

"Of course, it has become more and more difficult for a fragrance to become a ‘classic’. The rules, I believe, demand that first one must develop an exclusive territory which brings uniqueness, personality and identification to the customer. Then the fragrance must express a universal feeling which can be understood everywhere and can last for a very long time. Lastly, to succeed, it is essential to choose a long-term strategy and stick to it, using animation and communication to make the fragrance alive."

"Women expect different things from their fragrance; first pleasure, a good feeling (which can be different according to the moment) and self-expression. The first experience must be the pleasure of a beautiful bottle which will decorate a private part of a woman’s home. The fragrance should invite her to dream of another world of beauty where she can freely express her femininity; feel spontaneous, sensual, yet refined."

As we absorbed Lolita Lempicka’s philosophy about the inner landscapes of even the most contemporary 90s women, I understood the universal appeal of her fashions and her fragrance. It is obvious they speak to the eternal feminine without excuse, without embarrassment, building on a subtle and subliminal strength which is the essence of being a woman.