A Brilliant Lunch with Haera Millais, Woman Behind it All
Words by editor Jiwon Sonders
An independent brand and cultural project, Maison Millais is one of the fragrance houses often described as “one to watch.”
We meet Haera as she bikes down Central Park West, a patent-leather satchel stuffed to the brim casually slung over her shoulder. It is a sunny day in New York City, yellow taxis buzzing around us, as we sit down at a busy cafe to talk about Maison Millais — and the woman behind it all.
“I hope it’s not too loud. I like this area. It feels like old New York and gives me a lot of good energy.”
An independent brand and cultural project, Maison Millais is one of the fragrance houses most often described as “one to watch.” Miss Millais leads both its creative and operational workings. Not only insiders within the beauty and fashion worlds, but young students, booksellers, twenty-somethings, chic parents, and cosmopolitan professionals have, if not heard of Maison Millais, certainly seen it online.
As the wonderfully charismatic and radiant woman across the table begins asking me a series of questions about my day, I turn the conversation toward her and begin to learn more about the brand.
I’m curious about the beginnings of Maison Millais. How did you come to start the label?
I started Maison Millais while moving between Paris and New York, briefly in London and Seoul, before returning to New York. I was working at Cannes, finishing my studies at Cornell, and really just following my curiosity and ambitions. I come from an expat family of diplomats, art historians, and creative entrepreneurs, and I was always surrounded by people leading quite international lives.
I went to a boarding school with an amazing artistic community, and there was a small atelier where a few independent perfumers worked. I visited almost every day for a month, and eventually, one of the perfumers began teaching me how to compose a fragrance. I am still appreciative of his kindness.
Our emblematic fragrance, Citiette, was born during that time, though it has since undergone several iterations. I sent bottles as gifts to people around me as they moved from city to city, leading incredibly inspiring lives. They were also very chic and stylish individuals. I wanted to express my admiration and gratitude for having crossed paths with them, and I hoped the perfume could accompany them. It was a way of saying hello and thank you.
Once I left university, I felt the desire to begin my own work. I knew how to do this, how to create beautiful, exquisite perfumes with the right materials and creative perfumers, and to show my take on niche perfumery.
With Maison Millais, I was very clear from the start that I was going to do this my own way. With beauty, but also ethics.
Luxury, and especially haute perfumery, is often quite guarded. What are your thoughts on working in the industry while remaining faithful to your own principles?
Perhaps traditionally we conceive luxury as an aspirationality, the intention to guard and shield. But I think the truest form of luxury, in life, is to plunge into it all: to work and move forward with courage and ambition, and to have great encounters that change your life. I want to speak of this through Maison Millais, and to create perfumes that not only complement those moments but act as objects capable of (re)evoking them. Perfume, if you really think about it, is not unlike magic.
They always say you must be specific and narrow down exactly whom your brand and products are for. Perfume is not quite like that, I feel. I try to create something beautiful and meaningful. Something worthy and special to have in your life, and it can resonate with any sort of person.
I like perfume in the sense that it is not really for one demographic. By virtue of being essentially intangible, it is more democratic. It is welcoming but also seductive, and I find great potential in that.
Haute perfumery is also, in a way, rather simple. At its core, it is about making stunning perfumes with a high level of artistic creativity and technicality. It’s nice to be independent because I get to offer them at my desired price point.
True luxury is to plunge into it all.
You describe Maison Millais as a cultural project. I came across that phrase somewhere and found it to be a fitting encapsulation of your approach. What does it mean to you?
Perfumery is intricately linked to many avenues of literature and the arts, from Baudelaire to Huysmans, and to great practices such as the exchange of scented letters between two people. I have a desire to share that history because I feel that, in contemporary perfumery, many of those conversations have been lost.
But this is also a brand. That means there is a certain responsibility: to use the liberty granted through capital to put forward important cultural projects and share refreshing, youthful points of view.
Mainly, I wish to speak of the humanities. We live in a time when entire fields of study are being gradually phased out. While there is much to say about the critical state of the world, I believe that brands and those working in the creative industries — alongside people in political and academic spheres — can make an effort to say something meaningful.
I think there comes a certain point when we must go out into the world and fight for things. I want to show with Maison Millais a new way of working, a new sensibility, than what is often put forward by larger corporations with maybe not the kindest intentions.
I had the chance to smell the fragrances a little early, thanks to your kind team. Could you share a little more about what went into the process? They’re truly unlike anything I’ve smelled, and I mean that in the best way.
Clementine & Edward Steal a Painting is the newest perfume. We wanted to create a fragrance about friendship, a sincere amitié. Not only is friendship an idea with an important place in literature, art, and history, and one I feel is rarely explored in perfumery, but it is also something precious and fundamental to all of us. I wanted to take a moment to think about that and tell a thoughtful story.
Another piece was the fragrance of a museum room: the mixture of guests passing through, their perfumes swirling together. It was always one of the first things I noticed when entering a gallery. Perhaps it is the original form of “layering.”
Ultimately, Clementine became a combination of what makes life feel special: art and friendship. I wanted it to communicate my sincerity.
Citiette
Citiette, as I shared earlier, is a storied fragrance that flew all around the world. It was intended to be a bottle of courage and dreams.
We approached it first as a floral bouquet, something that would give you a rush of beauty and good feeling upon the first spritz. But it also has a slight fougère quality, balanced by a creamy powderiness. It’s a royal perfume.
Gods Wait to Delight in You
A bottle of luck.
I did a great deal of research into what a bottle of luck could actually be. It may sound like a silly question, but I really did ask myself: What does luck smell like?
My perfumer and I worked through this question while looking through stacks of books in London. We corresponded back and forth, scenting our letters with Gods. Alongside, it is a tribute to youth, the odd uneven years where everything is to-come.
It also speaks to the wonderful world of learning.
Funny Little Things Whispered at Very Important Dinner Parties
You know, I came up with this name in less than a minute. I was thinking back on my childhood in New York City and small memories of attending these grand dinner parties and feeling absolutely overwhelmed.
Then some kind person would entertain you with a wink from across the table, or the doorman would give you a high five. It is also special, now, to look back on those moments as a young woman and feel as though Manhattan were giving you a great big hug.
Funny Little is a sultry, ambery perfume. But also with great nostalgia.
Infused with the perfumer’s good luck, it’s a honeyed tribute to youth.