Krasnaya Moskva or Red Moscow by Novaya Zarya

10/19/08 01:35:25

Few fragrances are as well-known or are as closely associated with the era and the political regime they had been launched in as is Krasnaya Moskva (we can translate it as ‘Red Moscow’ and ‘Moscow the Beautiful’ since the word ‘red’ was often used as ‘beautiful’ in old Russian usage, but for the early Sovjet time when the perfume has been launched, the mening ‘Red' is more correct).

Krasnaya Moskva was the very first ‘Soviet’ fragrance and certainly the most popular.
According to the perfumers working for Novaya Zarya (a perfume and cosmetics producing factory in Moscow, Russia), the fragrance was created by a certain Auguste Michel, but the year the composition was launched remains obscure: it either happened in 1913, at the then Henri Brocard’s factory in Moscow (i.e. before the Revolution in 1917) or later, when the factory was nationalized and given a new, Soviet-like name – Novaya Zarya (the New Dawn).

Auguste Michel, a Frenchman, was the teacher of Pavel Ivanov, a Russian perfumer working for Novaya Zarya, who, in turn, educated Alla Belfer – a perfumer representing a later generation of the factory perfumers. Pavel Ivanov, whose style is associated with classic carnation-based florals and ambery orientals, is the author of a famous fragrance called Kamenny Tsvetok (The Stone Flower, 1955).

Some of his other creations can be researched using the Osmotheque’s official site – osmotheque.fr.

According to the Osmotheque’s files, Krasnaya Mosva was created in 1925, which technically seems to be right. Abroad, the fragrance is also known as Red Moscow or Moscou Rouge.

Other sources insist that Krasnaya Moskva was actually just a new Soviet name for a fragrance once known as Le Bouquet Préféré de l'Impératrice (‘Empress’ s Favorite Bouquet’), a composition created in 1913 at the Brocard’s factory in Moscow after he had died.

Henri Brocard came to Russia after his father Athanase Brocard’s failed attempt to strengthen and further develop his own cosmetics- and soap- making family business in France and later in the U.S. The competition there was too strong, yet Russia, with its aristocracy and its emerging luxury-craving bourgeoisie, seemed to be a vast and highly attractive market.

Henri Brocard started his own factory on Moscow’s Nikolskaya street in 1861: he began by producing mass cosmetics merchandise, such as soap and tooth-powder, for the lower class. His soap was an instant hit due to its attractively low price: before that, even factory-produced soap was quite expensive.

His merchandise was supported by clever and humorous advertising: people on the posters were either simple civilians or peasants and the scenes depicted were often quite comical. Sample slogans in Russian announced products like ‘The National Soap’.

Russian cosmetics market existed long before Brocard’s arrival on the scene: a huge French factory, A.Rallet & Co., founded by Alfonse Rallet in 1843, had already successfully operated in Moscow. However, Rallet’s factory mainly produced costly pomades and fragrances. After the Revolution, the factory was nationalized and got a new name as well, Svoboda (‘Freedom’), and it is still in operation.

Brocard, happy with his initial success in Russia, started to produce high-quality cosmetics, adding essential oils and glycerine in hopes of winning a more high-profile clientele. Among others, he received shipments of the aromatic raw materials from Roure Bertrand Fils, a company based in Grasse, France.

Brocard’s merchandise caught the interest of the royal family and quite soon the factory became the official supplier to her Royal Highness Alexandra Fiodorovna, the wife of the last Russian tsar Nicholas II. The luxurious soap that he started producing wasn’t simply high-quality, it was also highly attractive: oval or round in shape, with carved letters on each, the soap was even suitable for small children. It is highly likely that his wife, Charlotte Ravey, who grew up and studied in Russia, but was actually of Belgian descent, helped him a great deal, since she was familiar with the peculiarities of life Russia and the psychology of the Russian customer.

In Russia, the company listed itself as The Brocard Assotiation, which was highly typical at that time (the last name of the owner was spelled with intended omission of the final silent consonant D but with the obligatory Ъ in the end). The factory later added fragrances to its list of products. The merchandise got numerous prestigious awards on various shows and fairs, such as the ones held in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia and even Paris, France. Henri Brocard died in Cannes, France in 1900.

The factory was nationalized in 1917, after the Communist Revolution, and was assigned a meaningless name ‘Soap factory # 5’. Only later, in 1922, it was given the new name Novaya Zarya, which it bears still. Interestingly, Polina Zhemchuzhina, the wife of a famous Soviet politician Molotov (and a close friend of Stalin’s wife Svetlana Allilueva), was the factory’s CEO for two years (1930-1932).

During WWII, the factory, like many others, was evacuated to Sverdlovsk (formerly and recently Ekaterinburg), in the Ural area. While stationed there, the factory also gave birth to a new company, a factory called Kalina (it was renamed into ‘Uralskye samotsvety’ in 1974, but later returned to its original name).

The factory is now being developed by its perfumer and CEO, who truly believes in future success of Russian perfumery in general.

It is obvious that the broad availability and the steadfast association with Soviet merchandise and Soviet quality, which were at first a source of great pride and later something to be ashamed of, are the reasons why Krasnaya Moskva became so notorious and so odious to most at the end of the XX century. Once glorious and super popular, it was shunned as a leper among the Russian people.

Krasnaya Moskva is known to every citizen of the former Soviet Union and its name is rife with emotional associations. The fragrance is a classic example of a soft floral chypre , with a cool head note (bergamot, coriander, neroli, aldehydes), a spicy floral heart, based on carnation, rose, jasmine and ylang-ylang and a base note, made up of woody and balsamic notes such as iris and Tonka bean.

A typical scent of its time (a spicy floral), the composition combines cool, almost metallic notes with warm floral and woody powdery accords. It is pleasantly hefty, a bit tangy and it develops beautifully on the skin. Krasnaya Moskva (in perfume strength, as well as others) and other fragrances by Novaya Zarya are available for purchase in the factory’s boutique on Nikolskaya Street (in the shop center of Gostiniy Dvor), as well as via Internet.

For those who wishes to find out more about the Brocard family and company, and to see the soaps and commercials I've mentioned, I suggest to visit the Histoire de Brocard blog

Sources: Novaya Zarya, Histoire de Brocard blog
Photos: Richard Seaman

Author: Jeca (jeca)
Fragrantica Member