$latin1 = pack 'C*', unpack 'U*', $utf8;

##</code><code>##

$latin1 = 'élève';
$utf8 = chr(8801);
print join ' ', $latin1, $utf8;

##</code><code>##

élève ≡

##</code><code>##

$bytes = pack 'C0a*', $utf8;
$utf8 = pack 'U0a*', $bytes;