Before 1992, no big perfume was built to smell like pudding. Angel changed that.
Thierry Mugler was a French fashion designer known for sharp, theatrical couture. In 1992 he partnered with the skincare group Clarins to make his first fragrance. Rather than license his name and walk away, Mugler took a stake in the business and stayed involved in the scent itself.
The result was Angel, created by Olivier Cresp and Yves de Chiris. It combined chocolate, caramel and patchouli into something no one had smelled on a person before. It founded the gourmand category, the family of sweet, edible, dessert-like perfumes that now fills every shop. Angel has spent years as one of the best-selling fragrances in the world.
Alien came in 2005, composed by Dominique Ropion and Laurent Bruyère. Jasmine, amber and warm woods, a different idea from Angel but the same aim: one huge, unmistakable signature per bottle. It became the brand's second pillar.
Mugler's fashion line struggled and closed in the early 2000s. The perfumes did not. When Thierry Mugler died in 2022, the fragrance house he built with Clarins was his lasting legacy, and Clarins still owns it.
Here is what the adverts leave out. Angel and Alien are the definition of love-it-or-hate-it. They are strong, sweet and carry for hours. A little goes a long way, and worn heavy they can fill a room. That power is the whole point.
The Alien signature, minus the boutique price. Our Alien Mystique rebuilds that jasmine-and-amber accord as a UK-made spray at 35% concentration. See more in the Mugler collection.
