Fragrance Friday: Byredo unveils Mojave Ghost 2024 – a collaborative project

At a special MECCA beauty event in Auckland a few weeks ago, I discovered - after a fascinating session with a MECCA fragrance expert – that I was most definitely a Byredo stan. It should have come as no surprise given the plethora of Byredo scents and candles I have scattered around my house, and my love for everything they do knows no bounds!
Which brings me to the latest news from the always inspiring, unabashedly creative and disruptive brand. As part of an ongoing retrospective of iconic scent house Byredo’s most loved fragrances, Founder and Creative Director Ben Gorham is revisiting the strength and resilience of much-loved Mojave Ghost to mark the 10th anniversary of its launch.
Originally unleashed upon the world in 2014, the iconic and quintessentially modern scent will be celebrated via a multi-part campaign unveiled throughout the year lensed by visionary talent Harley Weir and staring model Amelia Gray. Presented in five distinct chapters, a continued dialogue between a single photographer and a single subject opens up an exploration of the fragrance from myriad angles.

"Mojave Ghost had no set parameters from the start. It wasn't about raw materials or rigid definitions. It emerged from a flower, a place, and a narrative — an exploration of emotion rather than fixed raw materials," says Ben Gorham, Founder & Creative Director, Byredo. When driving through the Mojave Desert, Gorham was reportedly moved by the raw beauty of the landscape. The expansive, ancient terrain that spans Southwestern America revealed a resilient ecosystem, where trees and vegetation, more ancient than many civilizations, thrive in this xeric wilderness.
In particular, the soulful beauty of the ghost flower struck a chord. A captivating symbol of resilience, the ethereal appearance of the Mohavea confertiflora belies the inordinate strength it takes to grow in this hard earth. Interpreting this temperament into a celebration of adaptive resilience, Mojave Ghost finds beauty even in the most vast and desolate landscapes – an evocative scent that unites light, graceful ease with notes of great intensity.

Revisiting the scent’s origin story as remembered by its creator, the opening salvo of the campaign heralds the innate strength of the ghost flower embodied by top model Gray.
Erasing all traces of fragility, the true character of Mojave Ghost is revealed through a deep sense of engagement between the subject – Amelia Gray – and the environment, grounded in the arid terrain yet thriving in this place of climactic extremes.
Throughout the year, this multipart story will unfold in an exploration of the fragrance, a continued dialogue between the visionary photographer and rising star, from a myriad of angles. I can’t wait to see what unfolds.

You can find the Byredo collection at MECCA.