Houbigant

French fragrance company. Established in 1775 by Jean-Franµois Houbigant in Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. The first shop’s sign had the indicative name: A la corbeille des fleurs, and it seems that Marie Antoinette visited it personally. Since then the company has always served the royal families. It created the Windsor soap in tuberose-scented almond paste and an ox-marrow cream for Queen Victoria. In 1829 it expanded to an international level. In 1870 the company served Napoleon III. In 1880 it changed its location to Neully. Fougère Royale was the favorite essence of Maupassant. The company’s fragrances were also famous in Russia at the Czar’s court. Several essence were invented for Alexander III from the Cologne Impériale Russe to the Bouquet de la Tsarina. At the Universal Exposition of Paris in 1900, the firm had huge success with the Parfum Idéal. During the 1920s, a branch was opened in New York and two more boutiques in Paris. During the Second World War, it refused to use substitutes for natural products and, as a result, its production was limited. In the 1970s, laboratories and offices were also opened in the USA in New Jersey. New fragrances were created, such as the famous Rose is a Rose and Quelques Fleurs. Today the firm still ranks as number 40 in the world.