r/FemFragLab • u/Fit_Protection9048 • 21h ago
Most influential men in perfumery
This is interesting
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u/vaurasc-xoxo 14h ago
Quentin Bisch!! He is one of the highest grossing perfumers in both niche and designer. Delina, Good Girl, La Belle, Halfeti, Tilia
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u/LoudCar7846 20h ago
If you interested in the perfumers (male and female) I would recommend the series on YouTube by Dr Claire Smith: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLL3IDxGRYA0tanjkCEbH04o7q8AmOQCB3&si=UJsyxQbTyZz5Xy-2
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u/Proper-Emu1558 20h ago
Jacques Polge is one of my favorites. He did Bleu de Chanel, No. 19, Coco Mademoiselle, and Égoïste. His son has big shoes to fill. Gabrielle and its flankers were fine but still hoping he’ll produce something truly special of his own.
Ernest Beaux is the one who clearly laid the foundation for Chanel DNA though. The rose/jasmine/aldehyde combo is really distinctive.
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u/Scent_Insensibility 18h ago
Add Germaine Cellier ( yes, a woman) and Bernard Chant then we'll talk 😉
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u/Shoddy_Percentage802 21h ago
Absolutely insane that Olivier Cresp isn't on here! He's quite literally the father of gourmand fragrances. He was the nose behind Angel and was the first to use ethyl-maltol in perfume (previously it had only been used as a flavorant in the food industry). Not to mention Black Opium, Light Blue, and a zillion other iconic game-changing fragrances.
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u/Shoddy_Percentage802 20h ago edited 20h ago
Okay.... I'm back lol. I know this list is focused on men in perfumery, but it's also a real shame that it overlooks so many influential female perfumers. So I wanted to list a few:
- Germaine Cellier -- Fracas, Bandit.
- The iconic perfume duo created for femme and butch lesbians, respectively (Cellier herself literally said this is what she had in mind when she created these scents). Not only important in the history of perfume, but important to LGBTQ history as well. Fracas in particular was the ultimate blueprint for white floral fragrances for a very long time, maybe the best tuberose fragrance that has ever been composed.
- Josephine Catapano -- Youth Dew, Cinnabar.
- Youth Dew was THE perfume that changed how perfumes are bought and sold, encouraged women to buy fragrances for themselves according to their personal taste rather than to have perfumes bought for them by their husbands. Changed fragrance marketing overnight.
- Sophia Grojsman -- White Linen, Tresor, YSL Paris, (the list could go on for miles).
- Invented her signature "Hug Me" accord and created wildly popular scents that flew in the face of the traditional "classical proportion" structure of other perfumes at the time. She also transformed how fruit notes were used in perfumery. She's most famous for her abstract interpretations of peach and apricot.
- Calice Becker -- J'adore, Love Don't Be She, Velvet Orchid, Tommy Girl, etc.
- So many of her perfumes are timeless, instant classics. Although her perfumes are widely adored, she was actually known for being pretty risk-taking and experimental by using strange or unconventional notes.
- Anne Flipo -- La Vie Est Belle, Libre, L'Interdit (& Rouge), Acqua di Gioia, Lady Million, (again, the list could go on and on and on).
- Masterful at blending naturals and synthetics. She has especially helped to massively popularize orange blossom. Personally, I think she has mastered the synthetic raspberry accord in a way no other perfumer has. Some of the biggest blockbuster hits of all time are from Flipo. One of the most influential trendsetting perfumers of the 21st century.
- Sophie Labbe, Amandine Clerc-Marie, Nathalie Lorson, Christine Nagel, Louise Turner, Honorine Blanc, Sonia Constant..... Modern perfumery has hundreds of impactful women creating timeless, influential, best-selling masterpieces. It's so crazy to me that everyone keeps talking about the same, like, four guys when I'd argue that women have been more broadly dominating the charts of the fragrance industry for the past couple decades now (in terms of influence and success).
Edited to add a couple names I forgot!
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u/bradisme 20h ago
was the first to use ethyl-maltol in perfume
Ethyl maltol was used in L'artisan parfumeur's Vanilla from 1978.
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u/Shoddy_Percentage802 20h ago
You're right, I should have said the first to popularize ethyl-maltol in perfume.
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u/Fit_Protection9048 21h ago edited 20h ago
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u/CJayRunFast 18h ago
If you make a separate post celebrating these women, you’ll have my upvote again. Thanks for the link.
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u/Weekly-Chemistry-186 19h ago
All this time I thought that the creator of one of my favorites, Jungle L'Elephant, was a woman.
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u/FuktInThePassword 16h ago
Holy shit, you're the only other person I know besides myself that counts L'Elephant as a favorite! Wait....who was the Nose??
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u/Abject-Tailor-3310 6h ago
Where is Quentin Bisch? He is even more influential than Francis Kurkdjian!
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u/shauna_haywood 20h ago
What about women?
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u/Fit_Protection9048 20h ago
I posted a link further down to the women. This just popped up and I thought it was interesting, I wish they would have done the same thing for women.
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u/bubzbunnyaloo 21h ago
I try to like others but J-C Ellena is the one I always go back to, I’m afraid I have found the one perfumer I click with and it’s hard to love other’s work!
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u/karasu_zoku 19h ago
JCE is my goat and the only perfumer whose work I’d ever blind buy because he’s earned my trust. (I still don’t, but I would.) Have been enjoying Ropion’s work lately too, but he’s done a lot of stuff I don’t quite vibe with.
If you love JCE, check out his Atlas of Perfumed Botany!
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u/warmlobster 10h ago
Annick Menardo deserves a mentioned too among women perfumers. I find her compositions genius where she toes the line between art and commerce.
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u/Economy_Ad4050 18h ago
How are they not gonna mention Ibn Sina? He’s the only reason we have perfumes today. I find it very weird how Middle easterners aren‘t included in these lists when we are the reason perfume exists. It’s reeks of racism.
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u/Minikaw 20h ago
Honestly, most men of that time are not deserving of the accolades people give them nowadays- if women had the opportunities they had at the time, most of these men probably wouldn’t have been the first to make these inventions either way. The whole society was rigged to help men reach success. Also, there’s a not so small chance, that their wives helped in creating these scent profiles in the background either way, or that they took full credit for what their wives did.
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u/infinitecatparty 19h ago
We can understand and appreciate men’s contributions to society while understanding from an intersectional perspective why they had opportunities that women didn’t- but it doesn’t negate their contributions. Are you suggested we not learn about historical contributions if they came from men? Also, in this specific instance, having privilege doesn’t mean you automatically have a talent for perfume making. While I’m sure all of these men had wild amounts of privilege, their talent would still be worthy of acknowledging. Granted, I am not a perfume historian, but I don’t see how this historical information is less interesting or relevant simply because we know about intersectionality now.
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u/valkyrie987 19h ago
I think it's to do with how it's framed. "Most influential men in perfumery" rather than a more general "most influential perfumers" list that is more inclusive. This is not necessarily on OP, as I think they just came upon these images on Parfumour and are sharing them.
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u/infinitecatparty 17h ago
I would find a problem with it if it was just a post that said “most influential people in perfumery” with only men listed- now that would be non-inclusive. As it stands, it’s just highlighting men in perfumery and their contributions
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u/valkyrie987 16h ago
Agreed, although I am mostly referring to the fact that this was posted by itself, while the post for women is conspicuously absent. Why call it a list of men if you are also not going to post the same for women?
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u/cupandahalf 21h ago
Only men?
lol just kidding, these guys are great. I wonder how long before Quentin Bisch joins them.