Guerlain

French brand of perfumes and cosmetics created in 1828. Its creator, Pierre-Franµois-Pascal Guerlain, was a young chemist who, guessing the potential at the time of dawning beauty industry, decided to apply his knowledge to cosmetics and to the formulation of products for cosmetic use. Success arrived due to the idea of personalizing fragrances, dedicating them either to a single person (Eau Imperiale created in 1853 for the Empress Eugenia, still a bestseller) or to a special occasion (the eau de toilette commissioned by Balzac before writing César Birotteau). In almost two centuries, Guerlain has launched more than 260 perfumes. Some of the fragrances marked an age: from Jicky (1889), the first modern fragrance in which oils were synthesised, to Mitsouko (1919) that perfumed the collective infatuation for Japan; from Shalimar (1925), quintessence of beautiful and wicked years to Vétiver (1959) and Chamade (1969), olfactory translation of the liberty to which the youth of that period aspired. Guerlain has also been the only fragrance house in the world, whose ‘noses’ came essentially from the family. The opening of the Chartres’ plant in 1973 brought about the creation of famous cosmetic lines, such as Issima and Evolution, and of famous make-up products as Météorites, Terracotta, L’Or de Guerlain, Perfect Light. In 1994 through a share swap between the family Guerlain and Bernard Arnault, the house joined the Group Lvmh.
At the age of 65, Jean-Paul Guerlain, the famous creator of cosmetics and fragrances, left the fashion stage. He remained in the company as the counselor of the President (to follow trends and raw materials). After the dismissal of Thibauld Ponroy, as Guerlain’s Chief Executive Officer, Renato Semerari, former marketing director of the international fragrances department of Christian Dior, was appointed to the role.
The maison Guerlain was reopened at number 68 of the Champs-Elysées in Paris. The space, distributed on two levels, with a beauty institute on the first floor, was designed by the architects Andrée Putnam and Maxime d’Angeac. It also included a VIP room for the creation of custom-made fragrances.