In 2000, Frédéric Malle opened a perfume house in Paris with one rule that broke the industry's oldest habit. The perfumer's name went on the front of the bottle.
Big brands had always kept their noses anonymous. Malle called his house Editions de Parfums and ran it the way a publisher runs authors. He signed the best perfumers alive, gave them a freedom no commercial brief allowed, and released the results under their own names. The first nine perfumes carried plain black labels, red and white type, and little else. Much of niche perfumery now copies that format. In 2000 it was radical.
He knew the trade from birth. His grandfather, Serge Heftler-Louiche, created Parfums Christian Dior in 1947 and launched Miss Dior. His mother worked as an art director for the same company. His uncle was the film director Louis Malle. The family business was taste.
Two releases matter most if you shop the darker end of the line. The Night, composed by Dominique Ropion in 2014, is built on real Indian oud wrapped in Turkish rose and saffron, with amber, incense and sandalwood underneath. Promise, also Ropion, followed in 2017 and takes the opposite route: it rebuilds the feel of oud using cypriol, then rounds it with Turkish and Bulgarian roses. Same perfumer, two different answers to the same question.
Now the detail the counter staff rarely mention. Estée Lauder bought Editions de Parfums in January 2015, and Malle himself has since left the house, 25 years after founding it. The perfumers' names are still printed on every label. The company behind them is one of the largest beauty groups on earth. Neither fact cancels the other, but you should know both before you pay niche prices for corporate perfume.
We make a 35% Extrait spray inspired by Promise, called The Promise, and one inspired by The Night, called Nocturne. Both sit in our Frédéric Malle inspired collection, with 7+ hour wear guaranteed and 60 days to change your mind.
