VIP (Very Important Perfume)

From waiting lists and members-only soirées to matchmaking via scent, fragrance has become the most rarefied club you can join

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Perfume has long been a marker of taste, but it's now stepping into a new realm: that of exclusivity.

What once distinguished the fragrance aficionado – the ability to drop the word "sillage" into conversation, say, or layering Byredo's Rose of No Man's Land with Phlur's Vanilla Skin – is no longer enough.

True connoisseurs are chasing something rarer: bottles that are near-impossible to buy, designed as objets d'art and containing scents crafted with precious ingredients. Procuring them permits collectors entry to an elite inner circle.

Access, not just acquisition, has become the new luxury. Ffern's fragrances, for example, can be bought if your name appears on its ledger, which comes with its own waiting list.