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Welcome to my unique perfume blog! Here, you'll find detailed, encyclopedic entries about perfumes and companies, complete with facts and photos for easy research. This site is not affiliated with any perfume companies; it's a reference source for collectors and enthusiasts who cherish classic fragrances. My goal is to highlight beloved, discontinued classics and show current brand owners the demand for their revival. Your input is invaluable! Please share why you liked a fragrance, describe its scent, the time period you wore it, any memorable occasions, or what it reminded you of. Did a relative wear it, or did you like the bottle design? Your stories might catch the attention of brand representatives. I regularly update posts with new information and corrections. Your contributions help keep my entries accurate and comprehensive. Please comment and share any additional information you have. Together, we can keep the legacy of classic perfumes alive!

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Guy Laroche

Guy Laroche was born on July 16, 1923 near La Rochelle on France's Atlantic coast. Before he traveled to the USA, he worked briefly as a milliner even though he had no formal training. While he was in the United States, he studied manufacturing methods for ready to wear clothing.



In 1949, he returned to Paris to work as an assistant to designer Jean Desses for eight years. In autumn 1957, he opened his own house at 37 avenue Franklin D. Roosevelt. His first collection met with immediate success and was comprised up of sixty models, and as the seasons progressed he was applauded for his unique use of colors, shapes and materials which brought a youthful and contemporary look to haute couture fashion as well as his "little black dress".

In 1961, Guy Laroche opened a boutique introducing his pret-a porter fashions for women and in 1966, he introduced the first of his men's wear in another new shop. That was the year he also launched his first perfume, Fidji. He had presently opened boutiques all over the world with several in the USA and his collections include a full line of accessories.

Fidji proved to be his best selling women's fragrance but his Drakkar Noir cologne took the men's fragrance world by storm with its dramatic black packaging and its sexy scent of lavender, spices, oakmoss and woods.

In 1977, he launched J'Ai Ose, meaning "I have dared", it is an oriental fragrance with dominant notes of peach, jasmine, patchouli, chamomile, incense, oakmoss, cedarwood and amber. Serge Mansau, designed the bottle's fluid, symmetrical shape of the crystalline bottle, whom he based on one of his sculptures and added,  "For me, function and beauty must intertwine. The J'Ai Ose bottle is a personal expression of this ideal."

Guy Laroche passed away on Feb 17, 1989, died of intestinal cancer at his home in Paris.
The company now part of L'Oreal group with Van der Kemp as the chief designer.

The fragrances of Guy Laroche:

  • 1966 Fidji
  • 1968 Douceline
  • 1970 Eau Folle
  • 1970 Eau Folle Toilette Fraîche
  • 1972 Drakkar
  • 1977 Fidji du Soir
  • 1977 J'Ai Osé
  • 1982 Drakkar Noir
  • 1986 Clandestine
  • 1993 Horizon
  • 1999 Drakkar Dynamik
  • 2001 J'aï Osé Baby
  • 2007 J'aï Osé Aqua

Drakkar GUY LAROCHE 1972 EDT Hespéridé Boisé
Drakkar Dynamik GUY LAROCHE 1999 EDT Hespéridé Aromatique
Drakkar Noir GUY LAROCHE 1982 EDT Fougère Aromatique Jean-Pierre Wargnye
Horizon GUY LAROCHE 1993 EDT Fougère Aromatique Alain Astori



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