Paco Rabanne's AI-designed perfume can connect with your phone while making you smell sexier

Paco Rabanne already positioned himself as a cutting-edge designer by establishing his reputation as one of the trailblazers during the space age movement of the 1960s. With his groundbreaking 1966 collection Twelve Unwearable Dresses in Contemporary Material, where he designed a wearable manifesto that captivated the world, leaving a lasting impression of both perplexity and admiration. Now the brand has outdone itself again with the introduction of the world's first NFC-connected fragrance PHANTOM. Yes, a perfume that can connect to your phone.

Crafted by a dynamic team of four talented perfumers from the esteemed International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF) —Loc Dong, Juliette Karaguezoglou, Dominique Ropion, and Anne Flipo, their mission was to conceive a truly sexy, long-lasting perfume. But for the first time in Paco Rabanne history, the perfumers didn't rely on their own expertise and creativity alone: they introduced a new concept coined augmented creativity, a revolutionary process that applies artificial intelligence, neurosciences and algorithmic tools.

Augmented creativity: a revolutionary process that applies artificial intelligence, neuroscience and algorithmic tools

In a neurological study, PHANTOM's effects on the senses were examined among a group of men aged 18 to 35. Through 45 million measurements, the research identified three desired, feel-good emotions resulting from its complex scent fusion: a captivating feeling of sexiness, a newfound surge of self-assurance, and an exhilarating burst of energy, serving as the basis for perfumers to create a truly exquisite fragrance capturing these emotions. So what makes it sexy? A vintage molecule named styrallyl acetate which possesses vibrant fruity characteristics that invigorate the senses with a burst of energy. Loc Dong dared to infuse ten times the usual amount found in contemporary perfumes.

The sensual scent is contained in a robot-shaped bottle, which has a NFC (Near Field Communication) hidden in the spray cap. Simply tap your smartphone against the cap and find yourself connected to the PHANTOM Universe. This digital realm showcases exclusive content curated by Paco Rabanne such as interactive filters, games and personalized playlists, giving the perfume a cybernetic charm next to its garantee for sexiness.

While trying to understand how scents evoke emotions, future perfumers can study brain activity and neural pathways that are related to the sense of smell. Combine this knowledge with algorithmic tools and data analysis, and we got ourselves augmented creativity. PHANTOM sheds light on the interplay between sensory stimuli, human emotions, and new technologies underscoring the potential implications of the future of perfumery, neuroscience and data algorithm technologies alike. This is the stuff of scent-sational dreams.