Serge Lutens - Abridged Career

Abridged Career

At fourteen, Serge Lutens was taken on as an apprentice by a hair salon in Lille, a period which he described as crucial to his appreciation of beauty in three dimensions. Lutens started to experiment with makeup and photography, using friends to pose as models.

In 1962 Lutens moved to Paris, where Vogue magazine hired him to create makeup, hair and jewellery. Throughout the 1960s he collaborated with photographers such as Richard Avedon, Bob Richardson and Irving Penn. In 1967 Christian Dior commissioned Lutens to create a makeup line.

Lutens' 1973 series of photographs (inspired by the artists Claude Monet, Georges-Pierre Seurat, Pablo Picasso and Amedeo Modigliani) was shown at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. In the mid-1970s he directed two short art films, "Les Stars" (1974) and "Suaire" (1976). Both were shown at the Cannes Film Festival.

Shiseido hired Lutens in 1980 to develop their product image. Throughout the 1980s he shot various advertising campaigns and films and designed makeup and packaging. These works won him two 'Lions d’Or' at the International Advertising Film Festival. In 1982, Shiseido commissioned Lutens to create a fragrance called "Nombre Noir".

In the early 1990s Lutens conceived and designed the "Les Salons du Palais Royal", a house of perfume.

In 2000, Lutens launched his own brand "Parfums-Beaute Serge Lutens".

For four consecutive years, 2001 to 2004, Lutens was awarded the "Fifi Award" for best Original Concept. In 2004 he was selected to participate in "Lille 2004 – European Capital City", where he erected his "Olfactory Maze" an installation of concrete and light where he recreated scents from the city of his childhood such as rain, earth and leaves.

In 2006 the "Sommet du Luxe" awarded Lutens the "Talent d’Or", and in 2007 the French Government gave him the title of "Commandeur" in the Order of Arts and Letters.

Serge Lutens currently lives in Marrakech, Morocco.