• Fashion
  • Beauty
  • Watches & Jewellery
  • Culture
  • SUSTAINABILITY
  • Female TV
  • Fashion
  • Beauty
  • Watches & Jewellery
  • Culture
  • SUSTAINABILITY
  • FemaleTV
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
Subscribe Now!
  • Also available at:
Privacy Menu 1
  • About Us
  • Advertise with Us
  • Contact
  • Conditions of Access
  • PDPA
  • Privacy Policy
SPH Media

MCI (P) 032/12/2022. Published by SPH Media Limited, Co. Regn. No. 202120748H. Copyright © 2023 SPH Media Limited. All rights reserved.

  • Fashion
  • Beauty
  • Watches & Jewellery
  • Culture
  • SUSTAINABILITY
  • Female TV

Beauty

Exclusive: Artist Alex Israel On His (California) Dream Collab With Louis Vuitton

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Beauty

Exclusive: Artist Alex Israel On His (California) Dream Collab With Louis Vuitton

The buzzy pop culture-influenced, candy colour-loving multimedia artist Alex Israel has made his hometown of Los Angeles both his muse and subject. Last year, he got to apply his dreamy vision to fragrance packaging when Louis Vuitton introduced cologne perfumes, a triptych of evocative scents inspired by America’s golden state. As the brand continues the tie-up with a fourth scent, California Dream, revealed this month, we get the exclusive from Israel on his perennial love affair with LA – and evolving one with perfumes and collaborations.

by Keng Yang Shuen  /   June 12, 2020

This article first appeared in the June 2020 Collaboration Issue of FEMALE.

Related Articles

Want To Smell Intellectual? These Scents Can Help

Father's Day Gift Idea: Unisex Fragrances Dad Won't Mind Using

These Travel-Inspired Louis Vuitton Candles Are What Every Stylish Home Needs

https://www.femalemag.com.sg/gallery/beauty/louis-vuitton-alex-israel-los-angeles-california-dream-collaboration-scent-california-dream/
Exclusive: Artist Alex Israel On His (California) Dream Collab With Louis Vuitton
image

On the importance of scents

 

“Scent for me has always been tied to memory and memory is hugely important to how I work from a first-person point of view to narrate the story of my life and times. Scent is also a means towards activating one’s imagination.”

 

On why he was drawn to this collaboration

 

“When I was approached by Louis Vuitton to do this, I saw the opportunity as both a challenge and a means to learn something new. I had never worked with fragrances and I’ve grown to appreciate them so much through this project. I was surprised to learn about what goes into making each scent unique. (California Dream, for example, blends fresh, sprightly notes like mandarin with mellower ones like ambrette and benzoin.) Working with Louis Vuitton, of course, also introduced me and my work to a whole new audience.”

image

On teaming up with a luxury giant

 

“Louis Vuitton was focused on Southern California as the inspiration for this suite of perfumes. Familiar with my work, Delphine Arnault (the brand’s executive vice- president) found my practice to be aligned with the moods and feelings that the company was hoping to translate through these scents: a highlighting of certain facets of the beauty and humour of LA culture… It was a very natural and easy collaboration because it all sort of made perfect sense once I met the Louis Vuitton team and smelled the fragrances. (Louis Vuitton master perfumer) Jacques Cavallier Belletrud truly put Los Angeles and the California spirit into them.”

image

On translating a scent into something visual

 

“The materials for California Dream began with the LA sky at sunset, which was the inspiration for the scent itself. Created by Jacques, it was sent to my studio in its early stages and inspired everything else: the fragrance’s name, the decision to apply a colour gradient to the bottle, the packaging involving my Sky Backdrop imagery (one of Israel’s most famous series depicting the sky through airbrushed gradient colours), the design of in-store displays, the product photography, online content, promotional materials and events. I was involved in all of it. Immediately after smelling the perfume, I worked closely with the team at Louis Vuitton on a regular basis over the course of a year to bring the product to life… I think of it as a translation of my work into the medium of branded fragrance.”

image

On how Sky Backdrop, his work that’s been adapted for the packaging of California Dream, came to be

 

“I sourced the colours and cloud patterns for these paintings directly from the sky above my hometown of Los Angeles. Its colours are specific to LA and remind me of home… In a city as sprawling and horizontal as LA – sandwiched between desert and sea – the sky exists as a kind of infinitely expansive canvas. For me, it represents open-ended possibility, optimism and positivity.”

image

On the similarities between perfume and art

 

“Jacques likes to say that when you put fragrance on skin, it changes over time. This is really like making art. When I make an artwork, I hope that it sticks in someone’s memory and how this person thinks about it evolves. I believe that both fragrance and art can impact one over time and I like the parallel between these two worlds.”

image

On how fragrances can inspire creativity

 

“Every scent can evoke experiences of one’s past, specific places and moments. This uncanny deja vu can certainly open up one’s thinking and refocus one’s creative energy.”

image

On his personal connection to sunset, the inspiration for the scent

 

“Sunset Boulevard is my favourite street in LA; I live right above the Sunset Strip. Sunset is also my favourite time of day. It’s when I feel most connected to nature and when, no matter what I’m doing, I always stop and take a deep breath and feel grateful. That deep breath, that expansive field of colour above, and that freedom and excitement that’s associated with life on the West Coast – that’s what this perfume is meant to capture.”

image

On why a scent that evokes Los Angeles is relevant

 

“LA represents the American dream, freedom, and the possibility of fantasy and reality coexisting side by side in the exact same time and space. Perfume is fantasy and your body is reality, and as these realms are brought together through this fragrance, Los Angeles is conjured not only in scent but also in spirit. In a way, the fragrance is almost an allegory for fragrance itself and I think that makes it truly unique.”

image

On why Los Angeles has such a profound influence on his work

 

“It’s my home, the thing I know best and a place of immense creative output, which emanates outwards to inform and entertain the rest of the world.”

 

On being an artist based in Los Angeles

 

“It’s inspiring!”

  • TAGS:
  • alex israel
  • art
  • artist
  • california dream
  • collaboration
  • cologne
  • los angeles
  • louis vuitton
  • louis vuitton fragrance
SHARE THIS ON

Trending

Beauty

This Month In Beauty: Dior Tweaks Its Forever Makeup Range & More

Beauty

Is This TCM Wonder Ingredient Your Secret To Good Skin?

Beauty

The Most Exciting Beauty Drops At Sephora This Spring

Beauty

How To Make '90s Makeup Work In 2023

Beauty

Why Your Hair And Scalp Need This Shampoo Once In A While

Sponsored Highlights
  • Fashion This Coach Bag Is On Its Way To Achieving Iconic Status
  • Fashion How To Breathe New Life Into Your Old Clothes And Get Paid While Doing It
Editor’s Picks
  • Beauty This Month In Beauty: Dior Tweaks Its Forever Makeup Range & More
  • Beauty Is This TCM Wonder Ingredient Your Secret To Good Skin?
  • Beauty The Most Exciting Beauty Drops At Sephora This Spring
  • Beauty How To Make '90s Makeup Work In 2023
  • Beauty Why Your Hair And Scalp Need This Shampoo Once In A While
Female Newsletter
Sign up for one of our free newsletters to receive the latest news, commentary and fashion features straight from FEMALE.

By signing up, you indicate that you have read and agreed with our Privacy Statement
Footer Menu
  • About Us
  • Advertise With Us
  • Contact Us
  • Conditions of Access
  • PDPA
  • Privacy Policy
SPH Media

MCI (P) 032/12/2022. Published by SPH Media Limited, Co. Regn. No. 202120748H. Copyright © 2023 SPH Media Limited. All rights reserved.