Missoni by Missoni: launched in 1981. Also known as "Missoni Donna". Created by Maurice Roucel and Trudi Loren.
Rosita Missoni stated that perfume companies were eager to work with her and her husband Ottavio for many years, hoping to capitalize on the moneymaking brand name. "But, we wouldn't do that. We wanted to be part of the making of it, just as we ourselves create everything that has our name on it." The designing couple eventually worked out a deal with Max Factor when the firm agreed that the Missonis would have final word on all aspects of the perfume and would allow sufficient time to create exactly what they envisioned.
Max Factor reps said that the perfume had been in the making for about a year and a half, including nine cross-Atlantic trips for fragrance testing and innumerable formula changes before Rosita said "I like it."
However, during testing she had a hard time finding just the right formula, saying "whenever there was a formula that I thought I would like, I would spray it on Tai (husband Ottavio), on the linens, in the rooms, on myself. Always, there was something not just right. One time, I thought I liked a certain smell and sprayed it on my shawl. The next morning, I was ready to throw away the shawl - even though it was a favorite that I like to wrap around my neck."
This extensive trial and error process drove her "near to a nervous breakdown", she admitted, when one of the final submissions was given to her, she described that one as "So flat. No personality. Then, suddenly, the right one... I couldn't believe I was saying that."
Tai and Rosita Missoni launched their perfume at the garden of the Metropolitan Museum, with models showing off a new collection, stalking the runway through the facade of the old First Federal Bank Building. According to Linda Wachner, president of Missoni Profumi and Max Factor/US, the elaborate cocktail party cost about $50,000, divvied up half a donation to the museum, half for the model's fees, food and drink.
Fragrance Composition:
So what does it smell like? It is classified as a fresh mossy leather chypre fragrance for women with fruity top notes and a warm, woodsy base.
A rich floral bouquet blended with warm woody notes and a potpourri of rare ingredients. Top notes are rich rose and jasmine enhanced by a blending of violet, orris and spices and warm musk, moss and woody notes.
Rosita Missoni described her perfume as a "country garden. When they asked me how I wanted a fragrance to smell, I told them just like a garden, like honeysuckle and wild hyacinth and narcissus - all together. I never wore a real perfume before, the kind with an important name on it. My daughter (Angela) and I would always buy the natural oils or essences, like carnation or fern, and sometimes mix them together to make our own. Now our perfume smells like all the things we like. They tell me there are 400 different components in it."
Designed by Pierre Dinand, the lead crystal bottle is of rectangular shape with clean lines. The half moon shaped stopper is of frosted crystal.
The perfume won the Fragrance Foundation Award for best packaging in 1982.
Discontinued, date unknown.
Reformulated and relaunched in 2006.
So what does the reformulation smell like? It is classified as a fruity floral fragrance for women with a light, woodsy base. It is not the same as the original.
The new version is available in the following:
- Top notes: aldehydes, blackcurrant buds (cassie), acacia, raspberry, hyacinth and bergamot
- Middle notes: violet, lily of the valley, violet, carnation, iris, jasmine, ylang-ylang, rose and geranium
- Base notes: spices, leather, sandalwood, honey, amber, vetiver, patchouli, musk, civet, oakmoss and styrax
Rosita Missoni described her perfume as a "country garden. When they asked me how I wanted a fragrance to smell, I told them just like a garden, like honeysuckle and wild hyacinth and narcissus - all together. I never wore a real perfume before, the kind with an important name on it. My daughter (Angela) and I would always buy the natural oils or essences, like carnation or fern, and sometimes mix them together to make our own. Now our perfume smells like all the things we like. They tell me there are 400 different components in it."
Bottles:
The packaging for the fragrance takes its design from their famous knitwear, with a chevron pattern distinctly Missoni. Bold colors of magenta, pink, violet, green, ochre and blue catch the eye.Designed by Pierre Dinand, the lead crystal bottle is of rectangular shape with clean lines. The half moon shaped stopper is of frosted crystal.
The perfume won the Fragrance Foundation Award for best packaging in 1982.
Fate of the Fragrance:
Discontinued, date unknown.
So what does the reformulation smell like? It is classified as a fruity floral fragrance for women with a light, woodsy base. It is not the same as the original.
- Top notes: bergamot, mandarin and spicy orange
- Middle notes: magnolia, peony, wild rose and Japanese apple
- Base notes: pear tree, chocolate, hazelnuts and amber
The new version is available in the following:
- 30ml Eau de Parfum
- 50ml Eau de Parfum
- 100ml Eau de Parfum
- 6ml Parfum
- 15ml Parfum
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