It’s no secret that Francis Kurkdjian has a soft spot for fashion. Having served as the Perfume Creation Director at Parfums Christian Dior and created other high-profile scents for luxury labels like Jean Paul Gaultier, Burberry, and Yves Saint Laurent, it wasn’t long before he would release a collection of scents inspired by fabric, with OUD Velvet Mood as the latest creation.
The OUD mood series joins the fragrance wardrobe to represent various fabrics, using oud wood as a core ingredient in the olfactive profile. After releasing OUD silk mood and OUD satin mood, which individually showcased the crisp, subtle glide of raw silk and the fluid sensuality of satin, Francis Kurkdjian now captures the carnal softness of velvet with OUD velvet mood.
“What fascinates me about oud wood is its history, its complexity, but also its rough, almost animal sensuality,” states Francis Kurkdjian. “These days, animalic notes like castoreum and civet have disappeared from our palettes. Oud allows us to use an animalic facet that’s becoming increasingly rare in modern perfumery.”
The muse behind OUD velvet mood lies within the vast and undulating dunes of the Liwa Oasis. “I was struck by those infinite horizons, where the gaze is swallowed into nothingness,” says Francis Kurkdjian. “The raw, bewitching beauty of the desert, the tactile sensuality of sand, the organic, shifting, almost carnal dunes sculpted by light and wind… It was this dream world—a combination of vastness and intimacy—that I wanted to distil into OUD velvet mood, into a moment when fragrance becomes a caress.”
On top of the earthy and smoky richness that characterises the fragrance, it opens with a textured peach note, which unfolds into leathery and apricot facets of osmanthus. However, rather than simply creating a fragrance that blends peach and oud—an ingenious pairing, might we add—Francis Kurkdjian further stashes a feeling of warmth and infinite softness within the bottle, drawn from sun and sand.
“Oud wood naturally possesses fruity and honeyed facets, which I wanted to accentuate in a new fragrance that reveals the colourful, luminous dimensions of this utterly mysterious ingredient,” shares the French perfumer in a statement. “OUD velvet mood is a fairly simple composition in a very contemporary style, where the velvety notes of peach smooth out the rough side of oud without altering it.”
This Extrait de Parfum is housed within the maison’s signature squared silhouette, marked by calculating angles. The bottle, made using dark, tinted glass, is crowned with a golden cap, bearing the iconic ‘KK’ monogram—a true symbol of modern, bold elegance that lasts.
Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s OUD Velvet Mood will be available at authorised Maison Francis Kurkdjian retailers and franciskurkdjian.com on 1 September 2026.
READ MORE