Ultimately, though, he thinks young people will want good fragrances because of, well, sex. “People have not stopped sleeping with one another. And perfume is like the salt and pepper to sex appeal, and to the act itself. I’m not worried about that,” says Malle. “What is worrying is to keep on having people that don’t do their jobs properly, either because they’re mass and they’re selling image rather than perfumes or because they are bad indie brands that don’t know what they’re doing. But I think if you do things well, they will come.”

— Read more at Frederic Malle Can Sell You $1,500 Perfume at Racked.

You always have this back and forth between your perceptions, or what you might call your gut feelings, and then this technical side. Maybe I can say, “Oh, I liked this flower, but you should put more aldehyde and less of that.” This is the way I work, because I am very technical. This is my strong point and my weakness. There are a lot of creative directors out there, but I would say 99 percent of them, they don’t have this technical background. Most of them will say something like, “It’s too sweet.”

— Frédéric Malle, quoted in How Frédéric Malle Makes a New Perfume at The New York Times. Hat tip to Holly!