Jean-Claude Ellena is a perfumer who never wears perfume, whose tools are pen, paper and memory, and who sees his work as “nose” for the French luxury house Hermes as that of a “scent writer”.

“In a perfect world, I wish perfumes were never worn at all,” smiled the 64-year-old master perfumer as he welcomed AFP to the Hermes workshop, in the pine-clad hills above the bay of Antibes on the Mediterranean coast.

Ellena sees his perfumes as “artworks” — fine art that has sent annual sales at Hermes’ perfume division soaring from 65 million euros when he joined in 2004, to 138 million euros last year.

Dolce & Gabbana has released a new promotional video for its The One fragrance, starring Scarlett Johansson.

Directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, the filmed ad shows Johansson “revealing the provocative yet effortless femininity of the eternal diva.”

For their perfume Aire Loco which was launched in the fall of 2009, Loewe designed an advertising campaign which relies on an elaborate atmospheric build-up and a mild sense of surreal insanity.

America’s master of big-impact gowns Oscar de la Renta releases his first perfume in a decade.

Developed by Jean Marc Chaillan and Carlos Benaïm, the new fragrance has been named Live in Love, after the tattoo of de la Renta’s atelier director.

A green floral, Live in Love, is composed of bergamot, ginger orchid, hyacinth, muguet, galbanum, jasmine Sambac, orange blossom, rose, white woods, musk, amber, sandalwood, and cedar, and sells for $58 to $98.

If someone can pull it off, it’s him: German designer Karl Lagerfeld introduces an ironically self-referencing perfume next week.

Launching in European Sephora stores on October 11, Karleidoscope — which comes in a kaleidoscope-shaped bottle — features notes of violet, angelica, freesia, heliotrope, patchouli, tonka bean, and benzoin.

“I love to play with words, as I love to play with scents,” Lagerfeld told Women’s Wear Daily. “A fragrance is not made to be explained by words.

The fashion house of Valentino launches its new fragrance in September 2011. Destined to younger women, it is named Valentina.

The fragrance, inspired by Rome and Italian flavors, is developed in collaboration with Puig and perfumers Alberto Morillas and Olivier Cresp.

Freja Beha Erichsen stars in the fragrance’s ad, shot by David Sims, and accompanying video (below), shot by Johan Renck.