150th Anniversary of Luxury and 20 Years of Fragrant Notes by Boucheron

07/29/08 15:28:44

The house of Boucheron, known worldwide as embodiment of luxury, style, prestige and class, celebrates two anniversaries this year. The first one is impressive, since it emphasizes quality of the house during all these years of their jewelry business, by celebrating 150 years since the beginning of one of the world imperia of luxury.

The second anniversary is also important – 20 years of perfumery business, a combination of unique and recognizable design of bottles, which follow lines and colours of the house of Boucheron with fragrant rhapsodies, which outline and accompany the Boucheron fairy-tale in their style.

The house of Boucheron was founded in 1858 by Frederic Boucheron in era of the Second French Empire, architectural style which was popular in Victorian era with its highpoint from 1865. to 1880., as a variation of Napoleon the Third's style. The first store was opened in Galerie de Valois, in Palais Royal, and this is when the luxurious era of Boucheron started. Four generations of family dynasty contributed to making this brand the world leader on the luxurious jewelry market, by expanding the brand on all four sides of the world. The legend has it that Frederic Boucheron moved his store in 1893. to Place Vendome, on the sunny side of the street, since diamonds glittered in a more attractive way in shop windows.

As years go by, creations by Boucheron win valuable prizes and the house is getting more and more acknowledged. The house received the gold medal for their work in 1878. at Paris Universal Exhibition, and the next year, in 1879., they received Grand Prize for Foliage necklace made of sapphires and 159 quart gold (created by H. Mackay). Expansion on the foreign market started in Russia, in Moscow, where Boucheron boutique was opened in 1898. This store was moved to St. Petersburg in 1911.

Clients of the house of Boucheron are as glowing as their jewelry. Starting with high nobility from all parts of the world to the English Queen Elizabeth, who was enchanted with a tiara created by Boucheron, which she inherited from Lady Greville, the original buyer (1921.).

Frederic Bucheron died in 1902., leaving the family business to his son Louis. Louis was the head of the house till 1959., when, after his death, a new generation arrived on the scene – his sons Fred and Gerard Boucheron. An interesting fact is that Louis Boucheron was proclaimed the official founder and guardian of Emperor's Treasure of Persia, on Shah of Iran's initiative in 1930.

The Snake Line was introduced in 1970. and that was their best seller of all times. Three years afterwards, the first shop in Japan was opened. The fourth change of generation took place in 1980., when Alain Boucheron became president and general manager of the company.

What we are most interested in is the presentation of the first perfume by this prestigious house. That is the perfume Boucheron, created as a bracelet for women, inspired by luxurious and ably made pieces of jewelry from Place Vendome. The first perfume of this house celebrates 20 years of its existence. It is luxurious and classic; it is timeless and created of oriental floral waves packed in a beautiful robe.

The year 2002. was very significant for Boucheron, since Gucci Group bought Boucheron and opened sales locations worldwide: Tokyo, Milan, London, Honolulu, San Francisco...

Luxurious jewelry collections appear from year to year. A very interesting and meaningful cooperation was established with Alexander McQueen on creating a limited collection of Novak purses. A detail of snake motifs was taken from them to the line of Boucheron Trouble.

Successful cooperation with Swiss producers of watches Girard-Perregaux started last year on the collection of Haute Horlogerie.

The perfumes presented by this house are: Boucheron in 1988., as well as Boucheron for men in 1991. Luxurious pair Boucheron Jaipur and Jaipur Homme with a touch of East, both in design and in compositions, was also presented. On the East, in Rajasthan, there is a custom to give a bracelet as a gift, so the connection of design of the feminine bottle is closely connected with tradition and culture of Eastern mystique. The perfumes were inspired by Louis Boucheron's journey to India, where he got to know customs of India and aromas of adventures.

Jaipur Saphir is the gem of the perfume lines by Boucheron. The bottle is created of blue glass; it also has the shape of a bracelet, with a stone on the top. Blue is the favourite colour of the house of Boucheron, and sapphire is their favourite stone. This perfume is very interesting for its structure, which counts four accords functioning in the same time. It is an oriental-vanilla perfume and its comfortable scent is a real, soft and warm embrace of fragrant ingredients. It was presented in 1999.

The new millennium is decorated with one of the most beautiful, gentle and feminine bottles ever, in my opinion. That is the perfume Initial, which has a pearl-shaped body and invites you for a gentle game with its notes in a whisper. Joel Desgrippes is designer of this beauty, and perfumer who gave the soul to this edition is Jacques Cavallier .

One of the latest editions, Trouble, was presented in 2004. Its design is also connected with gems, since its top contains a precious emerald, while the body of the bottle is a red ruby.

Last but one Boucheron's edition is Miss Boucheron, playful, enthusiastic and youth joy, packed in red bottle, which is also very sophisticated and modern. It was presented in 2007.

The latest edition arriving in autumn 2008. is the perfume B , named after the first letter of the house of Boucheron, which highly differs from other perfumes in the collection for its design. It is also connected with creations of jewelry, since inspiration for it was found in pieces of jewelry from the collection of Boucheron’s Exquises Confidences (Exquisite Confidences), with special shine of gold pleats on the bottle and a round green sapphire on the top. The perfume B was created by Ursula Wandel as a woody-floral combination. It will arrive on the market as 50ml EDP (1.7oz) for $110 and 100ml (3.4oz) EDP for $155, as well as in special edition of 2 l splash, for 4000 dollar.

The perfume B joined jubilant editions of the house of Boucheron to mark the 150th anniversary of the house, as well as 20 years of perfumery. I will name some other editions: jubilant collection of watches, sunglasses, jewelry "Boucheron Enchanteur", diamonds, VERTU cell-phone specially decorated with gems, and many other luxurious creations. You can find out more about that on the official website of Boucheron.

We would just like to wish them happy birthday and to let them make the world a more beautiful place while giving us inspiring fragrant aromas.

You can found out more on all the above perfumes, as well as on limited and exclusive editions of the house of Boucheron, in Fragrantica's encyclopedia.

Watch the VIDEO about the 150th anniversary of the house.

Sources: Boucheron , Boucheron-wikipedia, WWD