Givenchy L'Interdit

Few perfume names carry as much history as this one. The original L'Interdit appeared in 1957, created within the house Hubert de Givenchy had founded five years earlier, and tied to Audrey Hepburn, whom Givenchy dressed and whose face carried the fragrance's advertising. That campaign is routinely described as one of the first times a film star fronted a perfume, and it set a template the industry has used ever since. The 2018 eau de parfum is not a reissue of that scent. It is a modern white floral wearing an inherited name, commonly attributed to Dominique Ropion, Anne Flipo and Fanny Bal. Givenchy's own current listing gives bergamot essence from Calabria and fresh ginger essence from Madagascar at the top; orange blossom absolute from Tunisia, sambac jasmine absolute from India and tuberose absolute from India in the heart; and patchouli essence from Indonesia with Haitian vetiver at the base. Fragrantica's widely reproduced version adds pear to the opening and vanilla and ambroxan to the base, and both readings describe the same shape. The interest lies in the contrast. Tuberose is the loudest, most carnal flower in the perfumer's kit, and here it is deliberately set against something cold and dark. The opening is fresh and slightly juicy, the heart blooms enormous and creamy, and then the patchouli and vetiver pull the floor out, giving the whole thing a shadowed, almost inky finish. It is a white floral that refuses to be innocent, which is presumably the point of the name. It suits evenings, theatre, restaurants, occasions where you want presence. In Cape Town in winter, indoors, the dark base does the heavy lifting and the tuberose stays sculptural rather than sticky. In real summer heat, one spray goes a very long way. Performance is strong. Seven to ten hours is normal, with assertive projection in the first two, and it clings to clothing for days. Givenchy sells the eau de parfum in a refillable bottle and states that the fragrance is made in France at Ateliers Givenchy. Note that the name has been used across several very different compositions since 1957, including an eau de toilette and later darker flankers, so bottle-to-bottle confusion is common. This entry is the 2018 eau de parfum, the version that revived the name.