Louis Vuitton’s New Travel Guide Explores the French Riviera Town That Became the World’s Perfume Capital

Before Grasse became the world’s perfume capital, this hill town above Cannes was known for leather gloves—and their lingering odor of tanned hides. In the 16th century, glove makers began scenting their goods with lavender, myrtle and orange blossom to please their wealthy customers. The fragrant gloves became fashionable, and over time, perfume production overtook leatherworking.

Louis Vuitton’s new Grasse City Guide explores how that history continues to shape the town and its surroundings. The book takes readers through flower fields, perfume workshops and gardens, with stops at restaurants and hilltop villages along the way—from the countryside around Grasse toward the Mediterranea— placing the perfume industry within the wider landscape of the French Riviera.

For Vuitton, the subject hits close to home. Its master perfumer, Jacques Cavallier Belletrud, creates the house’s fragrances at Les Fontaines Parfumées, a historic Grasse property that Vuitton helped restore. The guide builds on that connection, introducing readers to the growers, gardeners and perfumers whose work sustains the region’s most famous industry. The approach offers a way to understand a place through what its people make—and how their work depends on the land.

Journalist Diane Lisarelli contributes alongside author Lionel Paillès (whose books on perfume include a study of Grasse’s fragrance production) and landscape designer Jean Mus. Born in Grasse, Mus grew up at Villa Croisset, where his father was head gardener, and has spent decades designing gardens around the Mediterranean and beyond. Illustrations throughout are by artist Kirsten Sims.

Available in French and English, the guide is also offered as a numbered boxed edition, limited to 500 copies, that includes vials of centifolia rose, jasmine grandiflorum and locally grown mimosa. It’s a fitting addition to a book whose subject can only be partly conveyed on paper. Readers can see where these flowers grow, learn how they are used and, in this edition, smell them too.

Grasse City Guide is available online at louisvuitton.com and at select Louis Vuitton stores for $20; limited boxed editions are available for $300.

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