I have been to a few perfume launches in my time, but never one quite as lavish as the one for Gucci by Gucci. Thanks to the generosity of Procter & Gamble and Frida Giannini, the creative director of Gucci, I now know something of what it must feel like to be Madonna: the flat beds in BA’s first-class cabin, a cheeky burgundy at 30,000ft, the cool luxury of the Mercer Hotel in SoHo, New York.

I have enjoyed, in the lexicon of light entertainment prize giveaways, “the trip of a lifetime”. All so that I and other privileged members of the press can receive a sneak preview of what for Giannini represents really quite a big deal: her first fragrance for the brand. Such is the significance of the launch that we are to be afforded an audience with the woman herself.

In the Four Seasons Hotel (where else?), I sip my $10 coffee nervously. Frankly, it was less nerve-racking meeting the Queen. Unlike the Queen, however, Giannini is running a little late.

No matter. I am just happy to sit back and soak up the luxury. I am, of course, the target market for Gucci by Gucci: the shopper who covets the brand but who can’t stretch further than the occasional key-ring. For the likes of me, the scent provides, quite literally, a whiff of high fashion – at high-street prices. We are not talking about artisan scents; we’re talking blockbusters, hence the involvement of commercial behemoth Procter & Gamble. Almost as key as the scent itself is the presentation, and in this respect Giannini’s involvement has been crucial. I am informed that it took several attempts for her to approve the precise shade of gold on the bottle.

Giannini, who is the successor to the flamboyant Tom Ford, has said she does not enjoy being interviewed. Back in 2005, when her surprise promotion to creative director put the fashion world on the back heel, nervousness towards the press might have been understandable. But now that she has proved her critics wrong, successfully bringing her own, less sexually explicit and distinctly more feminine vision to Gucci, she could well afford to relax a little. Instead, she is the opposite of expansive. Don’t get me wrong: she is unfailingly polite, but inherently self-contained, both in character and in her appearance, which is neat, elegant and unfussy. Unlike her predecessor, there is no sense of Giannini, rather than the brand Gucci, being the celebrity here. She doesn’t glory in the attention; on the contrary, one gets the impression that such behaviour would be deemed intolerably vulgar.

This is a woman, I sense, who would prefer to be judged by what she does rather than by who she is. “Gucci by Gucci,” she begins, “is a powerful perfume reflecting the woman that I am building. This is an iconic woman: strong, confident, powerful, but above all, feminine.” She talks at length about the heritage of the brand, of going back to the original archives, of returning Gucci to its true, Italian spirit. One of the first things she did after taking over was to bring all the practical aspects of Gucci – manufacturing, offices, staff – back to Florence. I laugh. As far away as possible from the ghost of Ford…

My interview is over almost before it’s begun: there are people waiting. I leave with a small flacon of the new scent in my bag. I like it: uncompromising, memorable, mysterious, a little tricky. Not unlike the woman who devised it.

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