Publishing is full of rankings, from power lists to best-dressed lists to under-40 lists. The CULT100 is different. There is just one criterion for inclusion—but it’s a high bar.

To qualify, a candidate must be actively shaping and changing our culture in real time. The people on this list represent five generations and hail from the worlds of food, publishing, art, fashion, activism, and entertainment. To put this group together, CULTURED‘s editors leveraged the full strength of our network, tapping artists, writers, and cultural leaders to tell us who they look to when they want to feel challenged, hopeful, and inspired.

Some members of the CULT100 are household names; others have been working behind the scenes to make possible the cultural encounters that stop us in our tracks. In a time of binary thinking, the creators featured in this year’s list are embracing contradiction, bouncing willfully between disciplines, and refusing to take no for an answer. They have guts, vision, and a potent cocktail of realism and optimism. None of them is shying away from the anxiety of our moment. Instead, they are thinking big, sharing generously, and embodying courage. The good news is, their work makes us all a little bit braver, too.

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WOLFE+VON FOR CHRISTIAN DIOR PARFUMS
Photography by WOLFE+VON FOR CHRISTIAN DIOR PARFUMS

FRANCIS KURKDJIAN

PERFUMER

Even if you don’t follow fragrances, you’ll recognize this perfumer’s signature bottle. The left-aligned typeface is a staple of chic vanity tops, and his position as perfume creation director of Parfums Christian Dior offers him twice the shelf space.

WHAT’S ONE BOOK, WORK OF ART, OR FILM THAT GOT YOU THROUGH AN IMPORTANT MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE? Jean-Paul Rappeneau’s 1975 film Le Sauvage. It’s a romantic comedy in which the sublime, lively, and amusing Catherine Deneuve falls in love with Yves Montand, a moody yet seductive perfumer. He portrays a solitary creator who has cut himself off from the world on his island to escape the Big Firm. This fast-paced, brilliant comedy, loved by many from my generation in France, was a revelation for me. This character of the perfumer, idealized and romanticized, has always fascinated me. I wanted to be him!

NAME AN INFLUENCE OF YOURS THAT MIGHT SURPRISE PEOPLE. I come from a culture of superstition. I even recently created a fragrance called Bois Talisman, which brings together my quirks and the legendary superstitions of Christian Dior. I tend to believe in signs too; I carry lucky charms and do card readings.

"I tend to believe in signs too; I carry lucky charms and do card readings"

WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE, WHAT WERE YOU KNOWN FOR? I lived for classical dance. It was my dream, my absolute. I danced a lot, all the time, with rigor and passion. In the end, fate decided otherwise. I am not a dancer, but a perfumer, and it is very good like that.

WHAT QUESTION DO YOU ASK YOURSELF MOST OFTEN WHILE YOU’RE MAKING WORK? Is my story good? Have I found the right words? For me, a fragrance must absolutely begin with words—a name and a story that I want to tell about its origins and identity. Without that, a scent has no soul.

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TORREY PETERS
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PAT MCGRATH