Guerlain (French pronunciation: [ɡɛʁlɛ̃]) is a French perfume house, among the oldest in the world. It has a large customer following, and has traditionally been held in high esteem in the perfume industry. Perfumes by Guerlain are often said to be characterized by a common olfactory accord known as the "Guerlinade." A perfume by the same name was launched by Guerlain in 1921.

History[link]

Guerlain's L'Heure Bleue

The House of Guerlain was owned and managed by members of the Guerlain family from 1828 to 1994. It was acquired in 1994 by the LVMH group, a multinational investment corporation specializing in luxury brands.

The beginning[link]

The House of Guerlain was founded in 1828, when Pierre-François Pascal Guerlain opened his perfume store at 42, rue de Rivoli in Paris. As both the founder and first perfumer of the house, Pierre-François composed and manufactured custom fragrances with the help of his two sons, Aimé and Gabriel. Through continued success and the patronage of members in high society, Guerlain opened its flagship store at 15, rue de la Paix in 1840, and put its mark on the Parisian fashion scene.

The success of the house under Pierre-François peaked in 1853 with the creation of Eau de Cologne Impériale for French Emperor Napoleon III and his wife Empress Eugénie. This perfume earned Pierre-François the prestigious title of being His Majesty's Official Perfumer. Guerlain went on to create perfumes for Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Queen Isabella II of Spain, among other royalty.

The second generation[link]

With the death of Pierre-François in 1864, the house was left to his sons Aimé Guerlain and Gabriel Guerlain. The roles of perfumer and manager were divided between the two brothers, with Gabriel managing and further expanding the house, and Aimé becoming the master perfumer. The House of Guerlain thus began a long tradition whereby the position of master perfumer was handed down through the Guerlain family.

As Guerlain's second generation in-house perfumer, Aimé was the creator of many classic compositions, including Fleur d'Italie (1884), Rococo (1887) and Eau de Cologne du Coq (1894). However, many would argue that his greatest composition was 1889's Jicky, the first fragrance described as a "parfum" and among the first to use synthetic ingredients alongside natural extracts.

The third generation[link]

Guerlain's Mitsouko

The business was handed down to the sons of Gabriel Guerlain: Jacques Guerlain and Pierre Guerlain. Jacques, Aimé's nephew, became Guerlain's third master perfumer; he was the author of many of Guerlain's most famous classics, which are still held in high esteem in the modern perfume industry. Many of his perfumes are still sold and marketed today. Among Jacques Guerlain's most important creations are Mouchoir de Monsieur (1904), Après L'Ondée (1906), L'Heure Bleue (1912), Mitsouko (1919), Vol de Nuit (1933), and Guerlain's flagship fragrance Shalimar (1925). Jacques composed his final perfume, Ode (1955), with the assistance of his grandson, the then-18-year-old Jean-Paul Guerlain.

The fourth generation[link]

Jean-Paul Guerlain was the last family master perfumer. He created Guerlain's classic men's fragrances Vétiver (1959) and Habit Rouge (1965); the latter is considered by many^[who?] to be the first oriental fragrance for men. He also created Chamade (1969), Nahéma (1979), Jardins de Bagatelle (1983), and Samsara (1989), as well as Héritage and Coriolan in the 1990s. With the retirement of Jean-Paul in 2002, and no heir from inside the family to take over, the role of master perfumer is no longer tied to family succession.

Purchase by the LVMH Group[link]

In a decision widely seen as a break with tradition, the Guerlain family sold the company to the luxury goods conglomerate Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) in 1994. Though Jean-Paul Guerlain remained as an in-house perfumer until 2002, other perfumers were brought in after 1994 to compose perfumes for Guerlain, and Jean-Paul had to submit his compositions against those of others. Fans of the house viewed the LVMH purchase as a step towards the cheapening and commercialization of the legendary firm's legacy. Most were unhappy with the first post-LVMH release, the 1996 sweet mimosa floral Champs-Elysées, composed by Olivier Cresp, whose entry was selected over that of Jean-Paul Guerlain.

Among the outside perfumers to compose perfumes for the firm after 1994 was Mathilde Laurent, who worked for Guerlain at the end of the 1990s and in the early 2000s. She composed Aqua Allegorica Pamplelune (1999) and Shalimar Light (2003, reattributed to Jean-Paul Guerlain and relaunched in 2004 following reformulation). Maurice Roucel, a perfumer of Symrise, composed L'Instant de Guerlain (2004) and Insolence (2006).

In May 2008, Thierry Wasser was named the in-house perfumer for Guerlain. Wasser, a Swiss perfumer who used to work for Firmenich, created Iris Ganache (2007) and Quand Vient la Pluie (2007) for Guerlain before his appointment the following year. Jean-Paul Guerlain is staying on in an advisory consultant role, both for fragrance design and ingredients. Wasser will work closely with Sylvaine Delacourte, Guerlain's Artistic Director.^[1]

Famous perfumes[link]

• Eau de Cologne Impériale (1853) (pronounced: [od kɔlɔɲ ɛ̃peʁjal]): Guerlain composed this classic cologne, with rich lime and lime-flower notes, as a gift for Empress Eugénie, the wife of French emperor Napoléon III. She liked the composition so much that she named Guerlain an official purveyor of colognes and toiletries to the imperial family. Almost 150 years later, the cologne is still in regular production.
• Jicky (1889) [ʒiki]: Said to be named either after the nickname Aimé Guerlain gave to his nephew, Jacques, or after a girl who broke Aimé's heart as a student in England, Jicky is widely heralded as the first "modern" fragrance, and the first to be referred to as a perfume. Jicky was among the first fragrances to incorporate synthetic odorants (vanillin and coumarin) in its composition, and is described by some as being the "ultimate" fougère. The fragrance is known for its main notes of lavender and vanilla over animalic civet. Although marketed by Guerlain as a women's fragrance, it was initially more successful with men and has proven to be a popular unisex fragrance. Over 120 years later, Jicky is still being sold, making it the oldest fragrance in continuous production. It is worn by the protagonist in DBC Pierre's Lights Out in Wonderland.
• Après L'Ondée (1906) [apʁɛ lɔ̃de]: Meaning "After the Rainshower," Après L'Ondée is a light floral fragrance reminiscent of bitter almonds, with anise and herbal notes. Its composition includes violet, rose, heliotrope, hawthorn, anise, and citrus notes.
• L'Heure Bleue (1912) [lœʁ blø]: Meaning "The Blue Hour," L'Heure Bleue is a floral oriental fragrance with the dusky scent of candies and almond cake bought in an old world apothecary. Although much akin to Après L'Ondée in its pastry and almonds core, L'Heure Bleue is much less bright and more melancholic.
• Mitsouko (1919) [mitsuko]: Named after the heroine of the novel La Bataille by Claude Farrère, Mitsouko is said to herald the ending of World War I. Due to a bottle shortage at the end of the war, it was marketed in an identical bottle to that of L'Heure Bleue, and is sometimes considered to be that fragrance's warm counterpart. The structure is based on Coty's 1917 perfume Chypre, with added notes of peach and iris. With Coty's fragrance long since discontinued, Mitsouko is today considered by Luca Turin, a well-known perfume critic and reviewer, to be a reference fragrance in the chypre olfactive family.^[2]
• Shalimar (1925) [ʃalimaʁ]: Named after the garden in Kashmir, built by Shah Jahan in memory of his wife, Shalimar is one of the first perfumes to successfully incorporate large amounts of vanillin in its composition. The scent of Shalimar is densely constructed, with a cascade of many notes, including bergamot, tonka bean, iris, and vanilla. This is the flagship perfume of the House of Guerlain. Together with Coty's 1921 perfume Emeraude, Shalimar is considered an early example of the oriental fragrance family^{[by whom?]}.
• Vol de Nuit (1933) [vɔldənɥi]: Composed as a tribute to flight, celebrating the novel of the same name by pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Air France, this is a green, semi-oriental chypre with notes of iris, galbanum, daffodil, and oakmoss. Vol de Nuit's use of galbanum made it the first fragrance to feature pronounced green notes.^[3]
• Chamade (1969) [ʃamad]: Named after the novel by Françoise Sagan, Chamade is a floral oriental fragrance with a pronounced topnote of galbanum introducing a core of notes including hyacinth, blackcurrant buds, and vanilla. In French, the word "Chamade" refers to a particular rapid drumbeat used by Napoleon's armies to signal an order to retreat. Packaged in a bottle representing an upside-down heart pierced by an arrow, the fragrance is said to symbolize a total surrender to love.
• Samsara (1989) [sɑ̃saʁa]: Composed by Jean-Paul Guerlain, this is a heady oriental fragrance featuring main notes of jasmine and sandalwood. The name is a reference to the cycle of birth, life, death, rebirth or reincarnation in Hinduism and many other religions in South Asia.

Products[link]

Vétiver by Guerlain. Glass flacon design by Robert Granai in 2000

Guerlain's creations have long influenced the trends of perfumery with fragrances such as Jicky, Shalimar, and Vétiver. Guerlain is among the few older houses (such as Caron) that exist solely to produce and market perfumes. (Nowadays this includes a range of makeup and skincare products.) Many brands in the perfume industry, such as Chanel and Jean Patou are in fact divisions of fashion houses or Multi National conglomerates that license the name such as P&G Prestige Beaute with Gucci, which produce perfumes as part of a broader range of products.

Since its foundation in 1828, Guerlain has created over 300 fragrances. A non-exhaustive list is as follows:

Controversy[link]

Racism[link]

In October 2010, several black and anti-racist associations called for an international boycott of Guerlain and LVMH products, in response to remarks made by Jean-Paul Guerlain on French television. Speaking about the making of the Samsara fragrance, Jean-Paul Guerlain said: "And for once I started working like a nigger. I don't know if niggers ever worked that hard".^[4] A French court convicted Guerlain for his racist statements in March 2012 and he was ordered to pay €6,000. He explained that he was from another generation and that his choice of words was "a common expression at the time."^[5][6]

LVMH reformulates perfumes[link]

Since its acquisition by LVMH, Guerlain has reformulated some of its classics for health compliance reasons. These could potentially mean the end of the traditional formulations of many classics such as Mitsouko and Shalimar.^{[citation needed]}

References[link]

• Stamelman, R: "Perfume – Joy, Obsession, Scandal, Sin". Rizzoli. ISBN 978-0-8478-2832-6. A cultural history of fragance from 1750 to the present day.

External links[link]

• Company webpage of Guerlain www.guerlain.com
• Corporate webpage of LVMH, owner of Guerlain www.lvmh.com

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2010)

Laura Mercier is a French make-up artist who has lent her name to a line of cosmetics.^[1]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site

Type	Private
Industry	Fashion
Founded	1947
Founder(s)	Emilio Pucci
Headquarters	Florence, Italy
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Peter Dundas, Creative Director
Products	Clothing, homewares
Revenue	€48.1 million (2010)
Owner(s)	LVMH (67%) Pucci family (33%)
Employees	125
Website	www.emiliopucci.com

Emilio Pucci, Marquis of Barsento (Italian pronunciation: [eˌmiːlio ˈpuʧːi]), (20 November 1914 – 29 November 1992) was a Florentine Italian fashion designer and politician. He and his eponymous company are synonymous with geometric prints in a kaleidoscope of colours.

Early life[link]

Emilio Pucci was born in 1914 of one of Florence’s oldest noble families, and would live and work in the Pucci Palace in Florence for much of his life. He was a keen sportsman, who swam, skied, fenced, played tennis and raced cars.^[1] At the age of 17 he travelled to Lake Placid as part of the Italian team at the 1932 Winter Olympics,^[1] but did not compete.^[2]

After two years at the University of Milan,^[1] he studied agriculture at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, where he became a member of the Demosthenian Literary Society.^[3] In 1935 he won a skiing scholarship^{[citation needed]} to Reed College in Oregon, received an MA in social science from Reed^[1] in 1937, and was awarded his doctorate (laurea) in political science from the University of Florence the same year. In 1938^[3] he joined the Italian Air Force, and served as a S.M. 79 torpedo bomber pilot during World War II, rising to the rank of captain^[1] and decorated for valour^[3] by the time he left to pursue his fashion career.

At Reed he was known as a staunch defender of the Fascist regime in Italy,^[3] and during the war he became a confidant of Benito Mussolini's eldest daughter, Edda Ciano.^[3] Pucci played a key role in the plan to save her husband after his part in the downfall of Mussolini, delivering some of Count Ciano's papers to the Gestapo so that they could be bartered for Ciano's life.^[3] After Hitler vetoed the scheme, Pucci drove Edda to the Swiss border on 9 January 1944 and ensured her escape.^[3]

Fashion career[link]

The first clothes designed by Pucci were for the Reed College skiing team.^[3] But his designs came to wider attention in 1947, when he was on leave in Zermatt, Switzerland. Skiwear that he had designed for a female friend was photographed by Toni Frissell, a photographer working for Harper's Bazaar. Frissell's editor asked Pucci to design skiwear for a story on European Winter Fashion, which ran in the winter 1948 issue of the Bazaar. Although there had been some experiments with stretch fabrics in Europe before the war, Pucci's sleek designs caused a sensation, and he received several offers from American manufacturers to produce them.^[1] Instead he left the Air Force and set up a haute couture house in the fashionable resort of Canzone del Mare on the Isle of Capri.

Initially he used his knowledge of stretch fabrics to produce a swimwear line in 1949, but soon moved onto other items such as brightly coloured, boldly patterned silk scarves. Stanley Marcus of Neiman Marcus encouraged him to use the designs in blouses and then a popular line of wrinkle-free printed silk dresses.^[1] Pucci added a boutique in Rome as business thrived, helped by Capri's role as a destination for the international jet set. By the early 1950s, Pucci was achieving international recognition, receiving the Neiman-Marcus Award in Dallas and the Burdine's Sunshine Award in Miami. Marilyn Monroe was buried in one of his dresses, and his designs were worn by everyone from Sophia Loren to Jackie Kennedy and latter day pop icons such as Madonna in the early 1990s.^[4]

In 1959, Pucci decided to create a lingerie line. His atelier in Rome advised him to develop the line abroad, avoiding the difficulties of a decade earlier in matching available fabrics to the patterns of his first swimwear line. As a result, Pucci came to Chicago giving the lingerie contract to Formfit-Rogers mills. The venture proved to be successful, and Pucci was made vice president in charge of design and merchandising for the company a year later. Also in 1959, Pucci was introduced to Baronessa Cristina Nannini, a Roman baroness, at his boutique in Capri. Pucci would later marry her, claiming: "I married a Botticelli".^[5]

Braniff and NASA[link]

In 1965, New York ad agency Jack Tinker and Associates was hired by Braniff International Airways to update their image. The agency's Mary Wells hired Alexander Girard to remodel the terminals, and Pucci to design new clothes for the hostesses.^[6] As the ads put it, it was "The End of the Plain Plane".

Pucci would end up designing seven complete outfits for Braniff hostesses, pilots and ground crew between 1965 and 1977.^{[citation needed]} A mark of his impact was that by 1968 Barbie had versions of all of his first four uniforms.^[6] These avant-garde creations were designed as individual components to be added or removed as weather dictated. The uniforms included turtlenecks, t-shirts, crop jackets and culottes.^[6] Among the more unusual innovations was a "bubble helmet" – a clear plastic hood worn by flight attendants between terminal building and aircraft to protect their hairdos from rain and the blast of jet engines.^[7] Pucci incorporated Girard's "BI" logo into some of his prints.

Pucci's influence extended to the Moon. He suggested the three bird motif for the design of the Apollo 15 mission patch,^[4] although the crew replaced his blues and greens with a more patriotic red, white and blue.

Political career[link]

In addition to his work in fashion, Pucci contested the Florence–Pistoia district for the Italian Liberal Party in the Italian election of April 1963. He came second on their slate with 2,780 votes behind Vittorio Fossombroni, but the party only won one seat.^[8] However he succeeded Fossombroni in the Italian Chamber of Deputies in August of that year.^[3] He retained his seat in the 1968 election, but lost it in the 1972 election,^[9] despite being the district's top PLI candidate with 4,231 votes.^[10]

Pucci label[link]

Pucci skirt and dress, 2007. The colourful style of prints associated with Emilio Pucci designs are often called "Pucci prints".

After Emilio's death in 1992 his daughter, Laudomia Pucci, continued to design under the Pucci name. The French Louis Vuitton-Moet-Hennessy Group luxury goods empire acquired 67% of Pucci in 2000.^[4] Laudomia became Image Director, while LVMH brought in major designers such as Christian Lacroix (creative director 2002-5), and in October 2005, Matthew Williamson^[4] and Peter Dundas from 2009. Other designers who have worked for the label include Stephan Janson and Julio Espada.

Emilio Pucci clothes and accessories are sold through Emilio Pucci and Rossignol boutiques worldwide and in high-end department stores, mostly feature the designer's original brightly coloured, often swirly, prints or new designs in his original distinct style. The fashion house produces ready-to-wear clothes and accessories for women, in addition to a small range of men's accessories. In the past, the house has produced a more comprehensive range of men's wear, including a line in partnership with Ermenegildo Zegna, which included men's jackets lined with Pucci printed fabric, especially for American department store Saks Fifth Avenue.

A limited-edition Pucci carrying case for the PlayStation Portable handheld gaming system was marketed by Sony as a high-end accessory on their PlayStation Signature line.^[11]

Pucci boutiques in the U.S. are located in New York City, Las Vegas, Bal Harbour, Palm Beach, Beverly Hills, Boston, South Coast Plaza, East Hampton, New York and coming soon to Dallas.

Celebrity clients include Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway ^[12], singer Kylie Minogue ^[13] and presenter Alexa Chung ^[14].

External links[link]

• www.emiliopucci.com Official Site
• Emilio Pucci designer profile at Fashion Model Directory
• FlyBraniff.com History of Braniff International Airlines, including the Pucci uniforms and some promotional films
• Sewing patterns by Pucci
• Pucci since 1948 Photos of Pucci designs through time, including Poppi de Salis wearing one of the original ski suits
• Pucci 2000–2007 Photos of some recent Pucci designs

Notes and references[link]