Paloma Picasso by Paloma Picasso c1984

Paloma Picasso by Paloma Picasso: launched in 1984, in association with L’Oreal.  Also known as 'Paloma Picasso Mon Parfum.' Created by Francis Bocris of Creations Aromatiques who worked on the fragrance for two years.

The daughter of Pablo Picasso and Francoise Gilot, Paloma Picasso grew up in a world where culture, art, and beauty were ever-present. "Thank God, I didn't go into art, I would probably be miserable, because I'd always be compared to my father. My mother figured it would be bad for me, and I think she was right, I wanted to do my own thing. By doing what I do, people can see that I really have a style of my own. The drawing part of everything I do disappears," said Paloma Picasso in a 1985 interview.

Her link to fragrance is also hereditary: Her grandfather, chemist Emile Gilot, founded Parfums Gilot in Paris, a company which produced soaps and fragrance, later worked for Yardley. In the 1985 interview, Paloma reflected on the past, "I remember sitting with my Grandfather Gilot while he sold his perfumes in the department stores. Somehow it (Gilot and his perfume factory) was more real to me than Picasso who was, so big."

Her perfume took almost two years to complete. "I do everything myself, and everything takes time. I wanted something glamorous, but I was like a blind person groping, perfume is really the opposite of what I usually know, which is the visual things. " 

Picasso and her playwright husband, Rafael Lopez-Sanchez sampled scents for a year before choosing Warner Cosmetics. "It's really hard when you go into that kind of world to do things the way you want to, very often you find, you know, the 'We know better' attitude," said Picasso.

The first fragrance was too masculine, and she was looking for something more on the feminine side, "rounder", with the bottom notes to rise to the top, but unlike other fragrances of the 1980s, she wanted it to be "quieter" and not so brash like Giorgio or Poison.  The perfume underwent six changes before she went back to the fifth try.  Paloma described her perfume as "It is not dainty, but was, sophisticated, flamboyant" and "embodies her own taste and artistic passions."

The launch of the fragrance was held in Paris.

The fragrance proved to be successful and won two Fragrance Foundation FiFi awards, Picasso said "We deserved it."

Fragrance Composition:

So what does it smell like? It is classified as a floral chypre fragrance for women. It opens with is rich floral essential oils, including jasmine, rose de mai and Bulgarian rose, lightly spiced, then descends into a heart of precious woods, orris, oakmoss, sandalwood, with a delicate, ambery, musky base. 

• Top notes: ambrette, green notes, bergamot, rosewood, lemon, neroli, cilantro, aldehydes, angelica and carnation
• Middle notes: coriander, iris, clove, tuberose, geranium, lily of the valley, orris, mimosa, rose de mai, Bulgarian rose, ylang ylang, jasmine, and hyacinth
• Base notes: cedar, benzoin, amber, labdanum, oakmoss, patchouli, sandalwood, vetiver, tobacco, castoreum, civet and musk

Bottles:

Paloma devoted most of her attention to designing the bottle and the dramatic black and red packaging. She wanted to make a connection between her jewelry and the perfume. "The bottle is very special. It's quite a masterpiece of craftmanship. I wanted something that was classical and I wanted to make a connection between the jewelry and the perfume. "When I first did drawings, it just looked like a piece of jewelry." There were many redraws of the bottle design and Picasso said that "What we ended up with the crystal bottle forming the frame. The idea was that the scent itself became the jewel."

A big pair of donut earrings she designed for Tiffany & Co. inspired the shape of the perfume bottle, a blown glass globe, crimped with a frosted glass ring. The Art Deco styled parfum flacon was designed jointly by Paloma Picasso and Bernard Kotyuk and made in France by Verrières Brosse. By 1990, the design had won several awards. The bottle was presented in her favorite colors, a striking Florentine red and bold black packaging. This bottle was available in 1/4 oz, 1/2 oz and 1 oz sizes.

The bottles for the Eau de Parfum and Eau de Toilette were housed in bold black ovals with clear glass in the center. The miniature bottles for the parfum were circular shapes to mimic the larger parfum bottles in both black and white plastic. Later bottles (late 1990s) have gilded trim instead of black plastic and frosted glass.

The quarter ounce bottle retailed for $175 in 1990. In 1984, one ounce cost $160.

The fragrance was available in the following products:

• Parfum (1984)
• Eau de Parfum
• Eau de Toilette (1984)
• Body Powder (1984)
• Deodorant Spray
• Perfumed Silkening Body Lotion (1992)
• Perfumed Golden Body Powder (1992)
• Translucent Powder Compact (1992)
• Purse Spray in its own leather pouch (1992)

Limited Edition Bottles:

Planete de Parfum, limited edition from 1994. Planète de Parfum  de Paloma Picasso. Spherical bottle with gilded cap rests on three footed scrolled pedestal. Only 5000 examples were made.

HAPPI, 1994:

"Especially for the holiday season, Cosmair offers Planete de Parfum, a sphere containing Paloma Picasso's scent."

• Planete de Parfum limited edition 1/2 oz Parfum
• Amphore de Parfum limited edition 1/2 oz Parfum from 1993.
• Constellation D'Or limited edition 1 oz Parfum.
• Constellation limited edition 1oz Eau de Parfum.
• La Reine limited edition bottle 1 oz Eau de Parfum Spray from 1997.
• Galet de Parfum limited edition.
• Goldtone Brooches holding 1/8 oz mini Eau de Parfum bottle from 1998.
• Solid Perfume Pendant on satin neck cord.

Paloma Picasso Eau de Toilette was launched by Parfums Paloma Picasso in 1996, this sibling of the original Paloma Picasso fragrance 'Mon Parfum' is a lighter version of its parent, with the woody-spicy elements subdued, leaving the chypre, floral and fruity notes more apparent with some new notes added which include lily of the valley, apricot and osmanthus. The bottle follows the style of the parent bottle.

Warner Cosmetics produced cosmetics and fragrances under the brand names of designers Ralph Lauren (Lauren, Chaps, and Polo), Gloria Vanderbilt (Vanderbilt) and Paloma Picasso (Paloma Picasso). In 1984, Nestle took over Warner Cosmetics of the United States on behalf of the American subsidiary of L'Oreal, Cosmair, thereby acquiring for the group the prestigious names of Ralph Lauren, Paloma Picasso, and Gloria Vanderbilt. At this stage, however, L'Oreal was only interested in the perfumes and cosmetics divisions of the designer brands.

Around 1987, a subsidiary the Designer Fragrance Division, was created to handle the following lines: Polo and Lauren of Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani, Paloma Picasso, Lou Lou and Anais Anais by Cacharel and Drakkar Noir by Guy Laroche.

In 2002, the Luxury Products Division markets prestige brands with a global reach through selective distribution: Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Helena Rubinstein, Cacharel, Guy Laroche, Paloma Picasso, Lanvin and Kiehl's.

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