PARIS — For his first fragrance, Nina Ricci creative director Harris Reed is introducing Vénus, a women’s scent that launches a new perfume franchise for the brand. It marks the third pillar since Nina in 2006 and L’Air du Temps in 1948.
Even before officially starting at the fabled French fashion house in 2022, the designer began on the perfume project.
“I was whisked away to Grasse, where I met my team properly for the first time and was literally picking jasmine,” Reed said.
“We think it is the right moment to come with the third perfume that completes our trilogy,” said Ana Trias Arraut, vice president of Carolina Herrera and Nina Ricci at parent company Puig. That’s because there’s been work done on the Nina Ricci brand overall.
“It was about how we could reimagine this incredible heritage and legacy with a new perspective and an eye,” Reed said. Vénus was fashioned to sync with that.
The British American designer is no stranger to fragrance.
“For me, having a mother that’s been a perfumer for 25 years, fragrance has been a [key] part of my design ethos, creativity,” said Reed, who loves scent for its ability to trigger memory. “As someone who was a child of the world — I moved 30 times before I went to university in London — I always relied on smell to set me back to a happier time, a different world, a different space.
“As a kid, I was always quite obsessed with the psychology around fragrance,” he continued. “I mix everything in the morning. I never wear one perfume; I wear about 20. Even my husband laughs at me, because we have nothing but perfumes and candles burning.”
Reed has long worn perfumes created by Puig — he sported Nina as a teen, while his mom had L’Air du Temps among the many scents on her nightstand — and fragrance was part of his lure to Nina Ricci. (He also has a signature fashion brand, and paraded his spring 2025 collection last week in London.)
“My involvement in perfume was one of the most exciting counterparts to the design and fashion,” said Reed, who — like for fashion creation — had mood boards and key words in mind for the new perfume.
Coming into his fourth collection with a fragrance for Nina Ricci, he said: “It’s a beautiful way to showcase the woman, an individual that I’m trying to target with the brand and magnify into the world.”
Reed conjured up notions of a modern Nina Ricci individual — and what she or he would smell like. This person, he said, is very strong.
The last Nina Ricci fragrance to come out was an iteration of Nina nine years ago.
“I wanted this addictive vanilla, white patchouli, things that I myself wore,” Reed said. Magnolia became a pivotal note after he smelled it in Grasse. Reed described that flower as explosive olfactively and very of the moment.
“I had this ambition: It has to be big, addictive, sensual and celebratory of womanhood and of individuals,” Reed saidnof Vénus. “Twisting, manipulating and making something feel new is very exciting.”
He worked with DSM-Firmenich perfumers Alexandra Monet, Olivier Cresp, who developed Nina, and Nathalie Lorson.
“It was wild to understand the level of detail and meticulousness that went into this,” said Reed, who was involved in all steps of the project.
Taking almost two years to develop the fragrance gave him the luxury of time “that also kept making me dream. So every time I would leave a fragrance meeting, I’d run back into the fashion studio, the atelier and be like: Change this, change that. Because fragrance, again, it makes you dream, romanticize and think.”
“I’ve totally broken all my NDAs with how many people I’ve let try it,” Reed said with a laugh. “But I think it’s OK, because we’re a family. My mom loves it. She found it really interesting.”
Puig executives would not discuss projections, but industry sources estimate Vénus will generate about 25 million euros in first-year retail sales.
The new fragrance’s name nods to a fascination of Robert Ricci, Nina Ricci’s son, who kicked off the brand’s perfume business.
“He was really obsessed with mythology,” said Edwin Bodson, director of Nina Ricci Fashion and Beauty. “So Venus, being the goddess of love and beauty, was an evidence to us. We fought for a very long time to get that name.”
Whereas Nina represents self-esteem and L’Air du Temps, peace, love and freedom, Vénus is meant to channel self-love, according to Trias Arraut. That led them to the bottle shape.
“When we landed on the shell, for me it was an object of desire, something so sought after, jewel-esque and precious,” said Reed, explaining that at Nina Ricci, fragrance bottles are always also symbols. (Think of the entwined doves on the L’Air du Temps flacon or the apple-shaped Nina bottle.)
“It feels like magnification — you’re a goddess,” he said, referring to the Vénus flacon flanked by a golden shell and topped with an asymmetric black, rounded cap. “So many trials to get it just perfect.
“This was my first time creating a perfume of this magnitude, but also creating a bit of iconography,” Reed said. “That was super exciting and rewarding, something I didn’t think I was going to be able to do this early in my career.”
Rebecca Dayan, wearing a resin top with ombré gold and a black fish tail, is the perfume’s muse. The French actress is the face of the campaign.
“I love that she has that slight je ne sais quoi,” said Reed, calling Dayan “a modern-day icon. We reimagined her as this modern-day Venus posing in front of the shell, being like a modern-day mermaid. You completely get transported into this other world.”
Charlotte Wales lensed the campaign.
“I’ve been a massive admirer over the years,” Reed said.
He believes the Vénus image “completely represents my new direction of the brand.”
The fragrance will officially launch right after the next Nina Ricci show in Paris on Sept. 27, following which attendees will have a reveal of Vénus at a party.
The eau de parfum is to launch across France in 2024, then other European markets, such as Switzerland Belgium and Spain, Canada and Latin America, next year.
Prices range from 72 euros for a 30-ml. eau de parfum to 134 euros for an 80-ml. version and 176 euros for a 200-ml. refill.
“I’m really excited for this next chapter of the house,” Reed said.