FASHION HOUSES AND FRAGRANCE Katie Ireland, Yasmin Liggett & Sinead Rodgers
Giorgio Armani Kenzo Cartier Alexander McQueen Coco Chanel Roberto Cavalli Estée Lauder Benetton Laligue Christian Dior Oscar De La Renta Marc Jacobs Lancôme Yves Saint-Laurent Carolina Herrera Calvin Klein Guerlain Killian Givenchy Karl Lagerfeld Elizabeth Arden Frederic Malle Jean Paul Gaultier Gucci Tory Burch Thierry Mugler Jean Patou Gianni Versace Hermès Prada Nina Ricci Issey Miyake Caron Ralph Lauren Revlon Maison Margiela Balenciaga Avon Moschino Shiseido Viktor & Rolf Bottega Venneta Tom Ford Floris Paul Smith Paloma Picasso Cacharel Rochas Balmain Lanvin Creed Emporio Armani
The use of fragrance/perfume has been around for 5,000 years at least. Hieroglyphics have shown that Egyptians were making perfume in 3,000 BC. Writings about fragrant ingredients and their uses date back further to Ancient China around 4,500 BC.
➤ Perfume plays a large part in someone’s image or impression. It’s the first thing your senses pick up on before you even see a person. Many historical figures had their own signature scent. For example : Cleopatra
➤ The Greeks created the first perfume for wearing on the skin. ➤ The Romans then gave it its name ‘per fumum’ “Through smoke” ➤ Biblical baths were hugely important in Ancient Rome. The body, the home and even public spaces were scented.
“ Perfumes serve the purpose of the most superfluous of all forms of luxury; for pearls and jewels do nevertheless pass to the wearer’s heir, and clothes last for some time, but ingredients lose their scents at once, and die in the very hour when they are used. Their highest recommendation is that when a woman passes by, her scent may attract the attention even of persons occupied in something else... All that money is paid for a pleasure enjoyed by someone else.” -Pliny the Elder
➤ The crusades brought perfume back to Europe and later by the spice trail. ➤ And modern perfume as we know it was born in 1370 in Hungary. Inspired by Queen Elizabeth of Hungary.
➤ In Elizabethan times perfumes were used in sachets to mask odours ➤ The epicentre of perfumery became France ➤ Queen Catherine’s personal perfumer set up shop in paris and the link between the maître-gantiers and perfume began.
“THE SWEETEST SMELLING KING OF ALL” ➤ Louis XIV (1638-1715) ➤ Throughout the palace bowls were filled with flower petals, furniture was sprayed with perfume. Even the fountains and visitors were sprayed. It became known as “the perfumed court” ➤ Louis commissioned a new scent for each day of the week and his shirts were perfumed with ‘aqua Angéli.
FAMOUS FIGURES ➤ Napoleon Bonaparte had a standing order for 50 bottles of perfume a month. ➤ A Variation of Queen Victoria’s Creed fragrance: “Fleurs de Bulgarie” is still available today.
➤ The very first designer fragrance was created by Paul Poiret.
CHANEL ➤ In 1921 Chanel created a scent that revolutionised women’s fragrance and it still remains the world’s most iconic fragrance. ➤ « It was what I was waiting for - a perfume like nothing else. A women’s perfume, with the scent of a woman. » (Chanel)
THE 20S & 30S ➤ Quite a few of the enduring fragrances of today were actually created in the 20s and 30s. Working women had developed a new self- confidence, and they wanted to express it through perfume as well as flapper dresses and smoking etc. ➤ At the start of the 30s despite the Great Depression perfume was the main luxury. Fragrances were launched as an antidote to the doom and gloom. And many fashion houses sold perfume as while people may not be able to stretch to the prices of their clothes they would perhaps indulge themselves by buying their perfume.
CARVEN’S MA GRIFFE ➤ Fun fact: in 1946 Carven launched her new perfume by parachuting scent samples all over Paris. ➤ She hired a small plane to fly over paris and drop thousands of tiny green and white parachutes (the perfume box colours) with samples of the fragrance. ➤ Parisiens were stunned and it created a huge tra ffi c jam and it was a symbolic moment indicating to the war-battered community that luxury and the perfume industry were back on track.
50S/60S Until the 50s, fragrance was something women mostly reserved for high days, holidays – and birthdays. Until one New York beauty entrepreneur – by the name of Estée Lauder – had a brainwave. So her fragrance Youth Dew began as a bath oil. as she once told The Perfume Society’s Jo Fairley over tea at New York’s Plaza Hotel. ‘Back then, a woman waited for her husband to give her perfume on her birthday or anniversary. No woman purchased fragrance for herself. So I decided I wouldn’t call my new launch “perfume”. I’d call it Youth Dew,’ (a name borrowed from one of her successful skin creams). ‘A bath oil that doubled as a skin perfume to buy, because it was feminine, all-American, very girl-next-door to take baths. A woman could buy a bath oil for herself without feeling guilty or giving hints to her husband.’
Fashion houses today and their perfume Fashion and Fragrance have always • gone hand in hand. After all, perfume offers many of us an entry point into the alluring world of luxury fashion that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford. The key to success of designer scents • have always depended on how well each designer interprets their fashion imagine in the packaging, name, advertising and of course the fragrance. Top 10 bestselling fragrances globally • which are predominantly designer made, including; Chanel’s iconic No.5 Dolce & Gabbanna’s Light Blue Viktor & Rolf’s Flowerbomb.
ARMANI
MAISON MARGIELA
VIKTOR & ROLF
MARC JACOBS
CREED
KILLIAN
KENZO
THIERRY MUGLER
PRADA
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