Tumulte is the name of the new dream duo from Christian Lacroix which Interparfums Paris is launching in glass haute couture. Two delightful fragrances for the male and female markets - each a little miracle in all regards. With the breathtaking flacons presented at Luxe Pack in Monaco (2 to 5 November 2005, Halle Ravel, Level 1, Stand 14/16) Gerresheimer launches a pioneering innovation for the cosmetics market: a completely new finishing process which allows glass flacons to be swathed all round with opulent ornamentation.

Which ever way they are turned the two flacons always appear to their best advantage - thanks to Gerresheimer's "sublimation" process. "This technique allows us to continue any graphic decoration seamlessly right round the glass," says Burkhard Lingenberg, Director of Corporate Communications and Marketing for the Gerresheimer Group. The elaborate, multi-stage coating method leaves the visual and tactile appeal of glass unimpaired. The details of the process remain a secret for the moment: the results are what count in marketing terms. "We could not have desired a better market launch than with the Lacroix design," Lingenberg admits. He is confident that this finishing method marks the start of a new and lasting trend in the field of design for cosmetics and perfumery.

With its relatively shallow and gently curved flacon, Tumulte pour femme is reminiscent of the elegant perfume flacons of long-past epochs. The front view is characterised by slightly sloping, well-rounded shoulders from which the glass tapers in a gentle curve down to the relatively narrow base. Despite its squared off front, Tumulte pour homme has an equally elegant impact with no suggestion of angularity: complete rounding of the shoulders and flanks and a slim neck give the shallow but wide flacon a very attractive classical look. In the end effect, the design based on Gerresheimer's sublimation process gives both shapes a visual appeal which is hard to match.

The two glass flacons - in gleaming fiery red for women and a silk-frosted, almost black plum blue for men - are encrusted by Lacroix with magical ornamentation which clings loosely round the neck and shoulders and spreads from here over the glass body. The decoration of the female flacon in gold and the male flacon in silver suggests a dream-like appliqué of foliage, flowers and fruits, in which a pair of lips and mysterious eyes appear while the sun rises and a discrete engraved "X" crosses the scene like a signature by the artist. This is complemented by the stylish caps: an opulent glass wreath on a matt gold sleeve crowns the flacon for women while the men's version creates a cooler but by no means Spartan effect with a simple silver metal cylinder patterned in a pyramid matrix. Various sizes including lovingly matched samplers manufactured by Gerresheimer as flacon miniatures complete the dream duo from Lacroix as a perfect perfume family.