Rouge

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All about this fragrance

Vibe check

Rouge suits an evening with a slightly offbeat, tactile mood: dark wool, conversation at close quarters, a trace of smoke against the earthy sweetness of beetroot. Its savory edge keeps the sensuality from becoming sugary, giving the wearer a composed but unconventional presence.

How to wear

Start with one or two sprays on skin, allowing the peppery ginger opening to settle into beetroot, incense and resin. Cool or mild weather is a natural setting for its earthy, smoky character; in warmer conditions, apply lightly to keep the deeper notes from dominating.

Who it’s for

For those drawn to savory, earthy fragrances and incense that moves beyond a purely smoky register. Rouge rewards an appetite for vegetal textures, metallic green accents and resinous depth rather than conventional sweetness or a familiar floral signature.

Release year

2020

The nose

Nathalie Gracia-Cetto is a Givaudan perfumer whose work spans approachable designer fragrances and more experimental compositions. Her credits include Burberry Brit and, with Quentin Bisch, Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male Le Parfum. In Rouge, she brings an unusual vegetal material into a carefully balanced dialogue with spice, incense and resin.

Collaborators

Christian Astuguevieille, creative director of Comme des Garçons Parfums, shaped the concept alongside Nathalie Gracia-Cetto. His search for a different interpretation of incense led to Japanese and Indian references, with red as the organizing idea and beetroot as its earthy, unexpected expression.

Comme Des Garcons’s story

Comme des Garçons approaches perfume as a space for experimentation rather than a set of familiar fragrance conventions. Unusual materials and unexpected contrasts serve curiosity and pleasure, not provocation alone. Rouge expresses that philosophy by treating red through vegetal earthiness and incense rather than an obvious floral theme.

Rouge’s concept

Rouge began with a search for a new way to interpret incense. Christian Astuguevieille explored Japanese and Indian incense references before making red the guiding concept. Beetroot connected that color to something tangible and earthy, setting an everyday root vegetable against incense’s ceremonial associations.

Extra info

The glossy, translucent deep-red bottle gives the house’s recognizable pebble-shaped flacon a color directly tied to the fragrance concept. The official scent structure uses three descriptive sections—Bright, Fresh and Deep—rather than a conventional top, heart and base pyramid.

Celebrity connection

Gabbriette described discovering Rouge through the scent left on a bracelet, tracking it down and buying it in an ELLE interview published on February 28, 2025. Her account establishes a personal preference, not a paid ambassadorship.