Confidential brands

This year, a large number of fragrances were launched worldwide in the exclusive perfumery market, also known as haute parfumerie, alternative, exceptional, niche or confidential.

It is difficult to say today what defines it, probably its very exclusive distribution through dedicated points of sale, ultra-selective department stores or its own shops.
In any case, it is a market that is also beginning to be saturated.
Out of 1330 launches, there are 331 perfumes in the confidential category, that is to say one perfume out of four. At the last Exsense show in Milan, I saw 216 brands.
The Jovoy perfumery in Paris, for example, offers a choice of 400 references launched by 70 brands. You can easily understand why I can't talk about all of them.

 

What is a confidential brand?

People sometimes turn away from traditional brands in favor of confidential brands, they are looking for a perfume with a strong, quality, creative and not very worn signature.

This perfumery is mainly distinguished by:

• Its ultra-selective distribution, in its own boutiques, department stores such as Le Bon Marché, or very selective boutiques in Paris (Jovoy, Nose, Liquides, Marie-Antoinette, Sens Unique) and also in the major provincial cities.
• They are looking for an olfactory identity, a great creativity, but unfortunately, this is not always the case. Quality ingredients, but again this is not always the case. For me, the most important thing is the talent of the perfumer combined with a very creative idea.
• The price, again it is not always because the product is expensive or very expensive that it is remarkable.
• Perfumes are mostly presented as unisex.
• An experience such as Ex Nihilo where it is possible to add ingredients from 9 bases to create a personalized perfume,which is not a real customized perfume. Other examples of experiences to taste perfume in a different way at Lunx, or in the olfaction booths at Frédéric Malle.

 

 

Different organizations behind the creation of perfumes within confidential brands

I can observe several types of organization within the houses regarding the creation of perfumes:

• Perfumers who have created their own eponymous brand. This is the case, for example, of Patricia De Nicolai, of Maison Francis Kurkdjian, which was bought by the LVMH group, Jean-Michel Duriez.
• Some confidential brands have sometimes hired an exclusive in-house perfumer, as at Patou with Thomas Fontaine.
• Like many other brands in the selective circuit, some brands call on large, medium or small creative companies such as Firmenich, Givaudan IFF, Drom, Takasago, or Robertet. This is the case for brands such as Roja, Evody, Jardins d'Ecrivains, Atelier Cologne, Byredo, Liquides Imaginaires etc. This does not prevent some of them from being run by real creative directors with a real legitimacy in olfaction and creation, they are then in close collaboration with the perfumer, one can say that they co-create the perfume together.
• Other brands sometimes choose to work with a single perfumer to bring an olfactory signature to their brand: Mémo perfumes with Aliénor Massenet, Terry de Guzburg perfumes with Michel Almairac (who created his brand Parle moi de parfum with his son), Parfums de Rosine with François Robert, Killian where almost all the perfumes have been created by Calice Becker.

It should be noted that there are more and more independent perfumers whose compositions are elaborated and manufactured by Art et Parfum, a company installed in Cabris, in the domain created by Edmond Roudnitska and his wife. The company was conceived and has been run for ten years by Olivier Maure, who has invented a new model in the industry, where creativity, freedom and rigour are combined.
The perfumers include Mélanie Leroux, Bertrand Duchaufour, Randa Hammami, Karine Chevalier, Thomas Fontaine, Michel Roudnitska, Sylvie Jourdet, Giorgia Navarra, Laurence Fanuel, Marie Duchene, Daniel Boubat, Jean-Denis Saisse.

 

History of niche brands

The pioneer house of confidential perfumery is Santa Maria Novella, I can't think of anything older.
This is probably the inspiration for Diptyque's first eau de toilette, water inspired by rotting pots.
Santa Maria Novella has been famous for centuries for its Pot Pourri eau de toilette, or for Catherine de Medici's Cologne.
Both fragrances are centuries old, although they have obviously been reformulated over the years.

Penhaligon's, born at the end of the 19th century, also influenced the great niche perfumery movement.
Among the initiators of the confidential perfumery is the house of interior perfumes Diptyque whose ultra confidential perfumes arrived in 1968.
Since then, various perfumers have signed perfumes such as Fabrice Pellegrin, Olivia Giacobetti, Marie Salamagne, Olivier Pescheux and Norbert Bijaoui.

L'Artisan Parfumeur was founded by Jean-François Laporte in 1976, who left the company and created Maître Gantier Parfumeur in the mid 1980s.
L'Artisan Parfumeur and Penhaligon's are now part of the large Spanish group Puig.

Pamela Roberts was for a long time the creative director of L'Artisan Parfumeur, collaborating with perfumers such as Anne Flipo (now with IFF), Olivia Giacobetti (a pioneer, who signed all the perfumes of the organic brand Honoré des Prés, some of the Lubin brand and many others in the beautiful houses of the alternative perfumery), or Bertrand Duchaufour.
The latter became in 2008 the perfumer attached to L'Artisan Parfumeur while signing a number of creations: Comme Des Garçons, Penhaligon's, Aedes de Venustas, Créations Neela Vermeire, Ann Gerard, while working at Technicoflor.

Patricia de Nicolai launched her brand in 1989. This perfumer is the niece of Jean-Paul Guerlain and she chose to create her own boutiques.

The Annick Goutal perfume brand was created in 1981. Annick Goutal was a musician. Always full of creative ideas, she was a creative director as well as a businesswoman with a real gift for communication. It is now Camille Goutal, her daughter, who is at the helm of the house, creating and developing all the fragrances with the help of Isabelle Doyen, a perfumer who already worked alongside her mother. Annick Goutal belongs to the Korean group Amore Pacific which also owns, among others, a brand distributed in the classic circuit Lolita Lempicka.

I also have a lot of respect for the work and avant-garde vision of Serge Lutens, who does not hide the fact that he has been working closely with his favorite perfumer Chris Scheldrake for years. Serge Lutens imagines, Chris Scheldrake formulates.
Chris Scheldrake is also in charge of the perfumes of the House of Chanel alongside Jacques Polge and now Olivier Polge.
The House of Chanel was one of the first major brands to offer exclusives in their boutiques.

In 2000, Frédéric Malle created Editions de Parfums, an original concept based on his particular work as a perfume editor.
Frédéric Malle is not a perfumer and does not claim to be one, but he has succeeded in highlighting the great perfumers by putting their names on the bottles.
Olivia Giacobetti, Maurice Roucel, Edouard Fléchier, Jean Claude Ellena, Dominique Ropion, Pierre Bourdon have created so many nuggets for the pleasure of connoisseurs.
Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle was bought by the American group Estée Lauder, which launched the Tom Ford brand, whose perfumes are created for the most part by Yann Vasnier and Rodrigo Flores Roux, incidentally these same perfumers work for the Arquiste brand, created by Carlos Huber.

 

Other big players in niche perfumery

Le Labo has also been so successful that its brand has been acquired by the Estée Lauder group. Estée Lauder also has the Jo Malone brand in its portfolio.

Byredo, created by Ben Gorham, a trendy Indo-Canadian-Swedish artist, was financed by Manzanita Capital, an American investment fund, which also has a stake in Diptyque. Byredo fragrances were created by Jerome Epinette and Olivia Giacobetti.

Comme des Garçons is now one of the many brands of the Spanish Puig Group, along with L'Artisan Parfumeur, Prada, Paco Rabanne, Nina Ricci etc.

The Different Company, a brand originally created by Jean-Claude Ellena, the perfumer of Hermès and the designer Thierry de Baschmakoff, many perfumers have created the compositions: Celine Ellena, Jean-Claude's daughter, Bertrand Duchaufour, Emilie Copperman, Delphine Jelk, Alexandra Monet, Sylvie Cachen, Christine Nagel.

Pierre Guillaume is a perfumer for the brands he created Parfumerie Générale, Phaedon and 8eme art.

Francis Kurkdjian also created his own brand with Marc Chaya. Maison Francis Kurkdjian was bought by LVMH.

Atelier Cologne and its two founders and artistic directors, Sylvie Ganter and Christophe Cervasel, have reinvented Cologne, and have been acquired by L'Oréal.

Profumum Roma whose perfumers are the siblings Giuseppe, Luciano, Maria and Felice Durante.

Roos & Roos was created by Chantal Roos, a great lady of perfumery who has worked as Director for YSL, this new professional adventure was carried out in association with her daughter who is a musician.

Mark Buxton, a former Symrise perfumer, took off to create his own brand as well as the Nose boutique with six partners: the Nose company has 250 references on 40 brands. At the origin of this concept, Nicolas Cloutier, a Quebecer, and six other partners from the perfume industry, of course, but also from finance and mathematics: Romano Ricci, founder of Juliette has a gun, Marx Buxton, perfumer, Silvio Levi, creator of Esxense, the annual event dedicated to artistic perfumery in Milan, Antoine Calmus, statistician, Claire Delahaye de Villiers and Didier Negiar.
In addition to a selection of perfumes and skincare products, the Nose team has developed an olfactory diagnosis.

 

 

Frapin was launched by its director David Frossard who also created the brand Liquides Imaginaires with the designer Philippe Di Meo.
With his company Différentes Latitudes, David Frossart is the French specialist in the distribution of niche perfumes, he has also created in Le Marais, a Perfume Bar, Liquides where he distributes a selection of brands.

The brand Juliette Has a Gun was created by Romano Ricci, the first perfumes were created by Francis Kurkdjian.

Olivia Giacobetti created her brand Iunx in 2003 and opened a boutique in 2008 which is located in Faubourg Saint Honoré, next to Costes.

Olfactive Studio, created by Céline Verleure, offers creations inspired by the photographs she submits to perfumers.

Ego Facto is the brand created by Pierre Aulas (independent perfume developer) who also works for many brands, notably those of the Clarins group.

The Jardins d'Ecrivains brand celebrates the correspondence between literature and perfumery.

The Memo brand was created by Clara and John Molloy, the founders of Memo, with Aliénor Massenet as perfumer.

Parfums d'Empire, master of his House, sovereign in his lab, and doctor in the chemistry of fragrant plants, Marc-Antoine Corticchiato is a perfumer with a singular career path, often inspired by his native Corsica.

The brands inspired by the East and revisited in the West: Montale, Micaleff, Amouage Clive Christian.

Etat Libre d'Orange launched a sultry and impertinent brand ten years ago.

Another brand launched by a rebellious perfumer, Geza Schon, dared to put chemical molecules in his perfumes and launched his brand Escentric Molecules whose perfumes feature a synthetic molecule. The designer also works as a perfumer for the English brand Boudicca and Blood concept, a truly offbeat concept.

The selective brands have also responded to this confidential perfumery by launching, alongside their classic line, a premium line distributed in a more selective circuit with an often very luxurious presentation: Chanel, Guerlain, Hermès, Dior, Cartier, Armani etc.
Chanel, with a few vintages offered at the beginning, now the range is enriched with novelties, Dior with its three Colognes were the first major selective brands to launch in 2002, followed by Guerlain in 2006.

 

What is the future of all these niche brands?

Beyond the wave around the niche, which responds to a real demand for customer differentiation, some brands will continue to grow thanks to the support of the groups behind them or investors who will be able to give them the means to achieve their ambitions.
Others will disappear, either because they lack interest, in creation, history, quality of fragrances, etc.; because they will not find sufficient distribution relays in boutiques where space is limited or because they will not have found the necessary financing in a very competitive market where the means of the big players are out of all proportion to the small brands that are starting out.

 

Sylvaine Delacourte perfumes

Discover Sylvaine Delacourte's brand with her Orange Blossom, Musk and Vanilla Collections. You can try them thanks to the Discovery Boxes (5 Eaux de Parfum x 2 ml) and rediscover these raw materials as you have never smelled them before.