Designer Spotlight: Régime des Fleurs

Régime des Fleurs is a brand whose core message communicates the profundity found in flowers. As Siddhārtha Gautama wordlessly proclaimed in his most famous sermon, a single flower - like a messenger from another realm - contains a depth of beauty that has the power to elevate consciousness... and thereby heal.

Régime des Fleurs was founded in Los Angeles in 2014 by Alia Raza and Ezra Woods. Longtime friends and collaborators, Raza and Woods first bonded over a mutual love of flowers and an intense interest in perfume, eventually leading them to experiment with combining exquisite natural flower extractions for their personal use. This exploration created a space for conversations wherein Raza and Woods discovered shared mutual references and obsessions: a nostalgia for the fresh and bold aesthetic of the early 1990s, a connection to the opulence of the Ancient Régime as epitomized by the Château de Versailles, a fascination with the allegorical insights found in Classical mythology.

Out of this creative exchange, Régime des Fleurs took form. In March 2014, Régime des Fleurs debuted with a collection of six handmade perfumes in three tiers: the Lyrics, the Ballads, and the Epic; in November 2014, they launched Collection Two, adding an additional Lyric, Ballad, and Epic. Their most recent launch, Personal/Space, is a multipurpose fragrance for the body and the environment. Put it on your skin, your hair and even in the air, these new scents are sure to take your senses somewhere new.

Were you already planning a new collection or was personal/space strictly inspired by the location?

Alia: We weren't planning anything specific, but we're always thinking of ideas for new fragrances. We expected that Hawaii would be inspiring but really didn't know what the outcome of our residency there would be. We considered making something visual or even an audio work or a video. But we ended up wanting to do fragrances because the smells we experienced were so out of this world. 

Ezra: We are always brainstorming and getting inspired but the personal/space collection and products were 100% conceived out of our experience in Hawaii.

 

There’s some humor in the packaging and fragrances, can you speak to that?

Alia: That's a great way to describe them. We love to toe the line between sublime and humorous. Our brand name has both grandeur and irony to it. 

These new fragrances are ultimately inspired by the feeling of freshness and boldness and the invigorating and exciting spirit of our trip. Hawaii is so colorful and the month was a lot of FUN, so we made these look really pop. And we're always interested in history - even recent history - so we gave them a late 80s/early 90s look because that's when we were kids and that's the aesthetic that formed us. The vibe is 1990 tropical.
 

Ezra: We are decidedly romantics but for us, a major part of our poetic stance involves playful humor, irony and even campiness sometimes. 

It’s hard to know when to stop sometimes, how do you know when a fragrance is complete?

Alia: A lot of times we'll complete a fragrance and release it and love it, but then a few months later realize we want to take one part of it or even one ingredient and expand upon it to create something new. But for the most part they're done when we and our trusted circle of friends can't stop smelling ourselves.  

Ezra: We are luckily pretty much always aligned as to when we feel a fragrance is complete.  We just know. 

What was your first personal fragrance?

Alia: My first significant signature scent was something I discovered when I was in New York for the summer at age 16: Tubéreuse by L'Artisan Parfumeur. It's discontinued now, but I have 12 bottles so I'll never run out. I rarely wear it anymore but I love to spray it from time to time - it brings me right back to the 90s.

Ezra: My first scents were Eau d’Hardrein by Anick Goutal and Orange Vert by Hermès.

Shop the full Régime des Fleurs collection HERE