Veronique Gabai and Kelly Rutherford Launch Rose Première Fragrance Together

Veronique Gabai teamed with Kelly Rutherford to bottle the scent of the South of France in a new limited-edition perfume called Rose Première. The fragrance, which launched as a WWD exclusive this week, is both a love letter to a region and a monument to a friendship that has been quietly building for more than a decade.

In her latest fragrance launch, the beauty and fashion veteran honors her friend of 15 years, and their shared love of the South of France. Named Rose Première by Kelly Rutherford, the delicate scent blends notes of bergamot, vanilla and musk with Rose de Mai from the village of Grasse. The inspiration for the rose scent stemmed from Rutherford's own infatuation with the flower. "Kelly always loved the scent of a simple rose. She always wanted something pure and simple. And I said, 'Kelly, if you love the rose, why don't we go together to do the harvest in Grasse in May.' She's like, 'Oh, yes, let's do this.' And so it all started there. We went on the harvest. She loved it, we smelled a lot of things together, and from one step to the next, we created the fragrance," said Gabai.

As Gabai explained, "Everything I do is inspired by the South of France or contains an ingredient that comes from the South of France. It's interesting because [Kelly's] American, obviously, but now she lives in the South of France, and I am from the South of France, and now I live in New York." The two first met as co-chairs at a gala for Lycée Français De New York in 2011. In Gabai's words: "it's a story around the Côte d'Azur, but the difference here is it's a true collaboration."

According to Gabai, "the natural ingredient of rose is to bring you the feeling of love, whatever kind of love you need." For Rutherford, that love translates directly into the way the scent sits on the skin. "Femininity today isn't about perfection. It's about authenticity. I love that this scent feels polished but still human, joyful, sensual, alive," she told WWD.

What makes Rose Première a serious collector's object is the launch structure. Before it enters Gabai's permanent maison collection, it will debut with 2,000 limited-edition bottles, featuring Rutherford's signature and the tagline "Everything meaningful starts with love." The number is deliberately finite; once those 2,000 bottles are gone, the scent transitions to a standard release without the signed packaging, making the initial run the version worth seeking out for anyone who values provenance alongside perfume.

Rose Première arrives at a moment when Rutherford is clearly expanding her creative footprint beyond acting. Last week she revealed an expanded collaboration with the jewelry brand The Twentyfour Six, which began last year and now has moved into 18-karat gold diamond set earrings and a sterling silver necklace. For Rutherford, these collaborations read as the opening act in a broader desire to push beyond the boundaries of a career built primarily on acting. "I think you reach a point where it was so limiting just to do one thing your whole life," she said.

Rose Première is currently available for pre-order on the Veronique Gabai website. No retail price for the limited edition has been announced. For context, other pieces in the Veronique Gabai collection, including the sterling silver Le Spritz jewelry and the brand's Traveler Set, are priced at $195 and $250 respectively, situating the maison firmly in the accessible luxury tier. Given that Rose de Mai from Grasse is among the most labor-intensive and expensive natural raw materials in perfumery, the final price point for Rose Première will be worth watching when it is confirmed.