Perhaps the first niche perfume was...
In the title, of course, is a trick question without a straightforward answer. Nevertheless, we didn't intend to deceive you to grab your attention, but rather to provoke thought: where did niche perfumes originate from? Who started them and why, and why did the audience embrace them? And where are they today? As the first Serbian "niche" perfumery, celebrating its 18th birthday this year, we remember how difficult the beginning was, selling perfumes that few had heard of – an adventure. We understand how the creators of the first "niche" fragrances must have felt. That's why we return to them with this story and open the Metropoliten blog on perfumes.
Although there's no consensus on whether perfume can be called art, the perfume world experienced in the 1980s what periodically happens in art: stagnation, a need for change, and revolutionaries daring to bring about that change. At that time, perfumes, as a huge business, increasingly resembled any mass-produced commodity rather than artistic creations. Expensive campaigns with top models or movie stars, mass adaptation to the taste of a broader audience, and hyperproduction of perfumes were eroding the remaining mystique in the bottle. In the absence of original ideas, "flankers" were presented to a hungry audience for novelty and heightened consumerist appetites: the same thing, but different.
Famous scent compositions received new notes and arrangements: increase percussion, decrease violins, start from C major instead of D minor... Original perfumes stood on shelves like generals, with "flankers" lined up behind them – eau de toilette, perfume extract, "eau fraiche," "Light," or "summer" editions... Alongside flankers grew marketing costs, meaning more perfumes had to be sold, pushing perfume art towards populism, increasingly catering to the taste of the widest audience. A lot of floral-sweet bouquets became the hallmark of many seasons. The biggest perfume manufacturers were houses that designed fashion, watches, jewelry, cosmetics... thus such "mainstream" perfumes became synonymous with "designer." Speaking of fashion, we know about the rise of consumerism, known as the phenomenon of "fast fashion" – constantly chasing trends while discarding last year's clothes. The perfume industry also became fast. And kitschy. Because perfumes are not fast goods, neither in production nor in sales: it requires a lot of thinking, fine tuning, and testing. In creation and in purchase.
THE REBELS ARE AT THE GATES
And like any revolution, the problem brews for a long time, becomes increasingly noticeable and – seemingly out of nowhere, something new, revolutionary appears. Completely different. But good. The first wave of change was brought by perfumers and brands wanting to restore the dignity of perfume as a form of art, creating creations that would become new classics of our time. Pioneers of this movement included, among others, Frédéric Malle, L’Artisan Parfumeur, Annick Goutal, Serge Lutens...
Frédéric Malle sparked a mini revolution by elevating perfumers to star status: their names were signed on every bottle above the perfume's name, their photographs were on the box cover, and their portraits were framed and adorned the brand's first boutique. He acted like a book publisher towards favorite authors, naming the brand with a term borrowed from publishing: "Edition." You might say: well, that's normal, perfumers are important, what's revolutionary about that? Perfumers had previously been "invisible," hidden behind movie stars who were the "face" of the perfume, or the brand's name, so the audience might think that Mr. Armani, Dolce, Gabbana... personally overwhelmed with essences, created the perfume launched by his house. Frédéric Malle also gave them creative freedom: instead of being pressured to create a perfume dictated by marketing, they were supposed to create – the perfect perfume.
The second wave of change was avant-garde "Cubists" emerged who shuffled the fragrance pyramid and turned it upside down, punks who made some noisy, unattractive chords around which notes did not dance: they were trampled by thick, rubber soles. There appeared, practically unwearable, perfumes that were artistic concepts with scents of tar and dust. Pioneers of this movement were Comme des Garcons, whose first perfume was created in 1994, followed by the first "anti-perfumes" like Odeur 53, with 53 notes far from classical perfume "pyramids": oxygen, metal scent, carbon, nail polish, pure mountain air... Odeur 53 was angular, mineral, inorganic, and terribly intriguing. One of the next was Odeur 71, smelling like a heated photocopier, and then there was the one with the glue scent... Whispers started about different, more inventive perfumes, then stories, then clamor... All in all, conventional perfumery got "nosed." All that, of course, doesn't mean that all "designer" perfumes were – or are bad – on the contrary! – nor that all "niche" are masterful. They followed as a real answer at the right time to awaken sleeping spirits in the bottles. As a rule, "niche" perfumes were sold outside standard sales outlets: department stores, large perfume chains, and drugstores. They were in concept shops, standalone boutiques, or "niche" perfumeries that emerged as a logical consequence of the movement. Focused on innovation and originality in fragrance compositions rather than movie stars to promote them.
WHO WAS THE FIRST?
Here we are again at the beginning question. Which were the first "niche" perfumes? For our taste today, are "niche" perfumes old classics from the beginning of the last century? Because that's when perfume masterpieces were made, perfumers had creative freedom, and perfumes had a soul? Perhaps the first niche perfume was Robert Piguet – Bandit, which the genius perfumer Germaine Cellier boldly created in 1944 as the first "men's fragrance for women"? Maybe the first was Diptyque, with its unusual concept shop opened in 1961 in Paris, before the concept shop existed as a term? With perfumes and candles of uncompromising quality, with built-in scent surprises that follow the emotions and landscapes loved by its founders? Or L’Artisan Parfumeur, launched in 1970, with unconventional scents and fragrance innovations, the first "amber balls" that emitted fragrance into the space as decorative objects, with the famous Mûre et Musc, which in 1978 bloomed with notes of blackberry, and in 1994 sent us the first fig fragrance, Premier Figuier, created by Olivia Giacobetti. Perfumes from the "niche" differ from each other as much as they all differ from designer or drugstore fragrances. Their pioneering path led us to rethink creativity, craftsmanship, surprise, and emotion carried by perfumes.
Over the years, "niche" has become mainstream, with brands that are globally known and popular, and large corporations have begun to acquire them – promising continued creative freedom to their creators. Meanwhile, additional "niches" have emerged as "indie" – independent brands ordering perfumes from various perfumers, or "artisan" perfume brands doing everything within their own house, with their own perfumers and production.
No matter how much it changes, the creative part of the "niche" concept is alive: somewhere out there, renegade "noses" open their essence cases, sniff blotters, measure new synthetic molecules, seek inspiration in the strangest places. Weaving scent stories, stirring memories that slumber in the corners of our consciousness waiting for some unusual combination of molecules to tickle them. And artificial intelligence has already arrived to make a new revolution. We'll see.
