For greater confidentiality!

Until a few years ago, the majority of luxury perfumes were produced by fashion houses, or even ready-to-wear houses... Mass-market perfumes, these luxury perfumes have been democratised thanks to marketing and are aimed at as many people as possible. In the 90s and 2000s, perfume, backed by huge advertising budgets, became almost a fashion accessory, with customers often more interested in the "trend message" than in the olfactory composition. Little by little, this market is eclipsing many of the "old" perfume houses, leaving only fashion designers and perfumers. For example, a bottle of Chanel's magnificent N°5 is sold worldwide every 5 seconds!

So just imagine if, during an evening with friends or at an exhibition, a large percentage of the audience were wearing YOUR perfume! Wouldn't that be dramatic? A bit like running into several people wearing the same clothes as you!

In order to escape this kind of escalation and respond to a demand for greater confidentiality, quality and uniqueness, alternative perfume houses were created, more commonly known as "Niche Perfumes". The first of these appeared in the 1980s, and really took off in the 2000s! As for HAROLD & MAUDE PerfumesThese more "artisanal" perfume houses create high quality perfumes, free from any economic or fashion constraints. They are called Parfums de Niche, Parfums d'Auteurs or Haute Parfumerie. These new companies create only perfumes, and sometimes scented candles too. Their bottles are traditionally simple, sometimes minimalist, and often common to all their creations.

Rare perfumes and materials...

Forget market research, profitability and standardisation! Niche perfumes are above all timeless, free of all creative ideas and rich in beautiful raw materials. The HAROLD & MAUDE perfume house requires the 'Nose' who works on its creations never to skimp on the choice of ingredients, whatever the quantity and sometimes exorbitant cost! Because that's how it is: the love of our profession means that - fortunately - quality takes precedence over all other considerations.

Niche perfumery is often instinctive, distinguished not only by its creativity but also by its rarity... This rarity, which means you can't "smell and feel like everyone else", is attracting more and more consumers looking for singular, almost unique fragrances. At the very least, a fragrance that you can't find on every street corner!

There's a lot of talk about originality when it comes to niche fragrances. But too much originality kills originality! For HAROLD & MAUDE, originality is above all about being unique: it's obvious!

The different trends in Niche Fragrances

There are several types of trends in niche fragrances:

Perfume houses are highlighting a certain tradition of French perfumery through evocative fragrances (D'Orsay, La Maison Harold & MaudeOriza L. Legrand,...)

Others also design their own perfumes (Méo Fusciuni, Sylvaine Delacourte, Filippo Sorcinelli, Nicolaï, etc.), while some position themselves as publishers of perfumes by authors (Frédéric Malle). Matière Première, La Maison Crivelli, Domaine Privé and others build their fragrances around one or two central scents. Some houses produce "transgressive" perfumes: this time, far removed from the traditional codes of perfumery, they aim to be "different" by disturbing the olfactory senses of consumers, to the point of becoming conceptual perfume brands (Etat libre d'orange, Akro or Nasomatto...). A number of perfume houses are now marketing eco-friendly fragrances, often using ingredients of natural origin. Devoid of artifice, they often limit the number of raw materials, giving their fragrances an essential, ecological identity (Hiram Green, AER, Scopoli...).

The HAROLD & MAUDE perfume house has positioned itself within a neoclassical movement that places the emphasis above all on emotion and sensuality - on moments in life and timelessness too. For her, the sophistication and balance of the raw materials are an obvious reinterpretation of the free perfumery of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in a more modernist style.

These different trends in Niche Perfumery demonstrate a great freedom of interpretation without any attachment to ephemeral fashion phenomena. They are the richness of "La Niche!

The famous perfumer EDMOND ROUDNITSKA (1905-1996), who created Eau Sauvage, Femme de Rochas and Eau d'Hermès, was certainly a trailblazer when he so aptly declared: " The great perfumers of the past knew how to accept a long period of time for a new fragrance to establish itself. But once it was in place, it was there for the long haul. Today, if managers are reticent when faced with new notes and new fragrances, they are more likely to accept them. are confined solely to the notes in vogue, isn't it also with the idea, more or less conscious, of making an immediate profit without worrying about the future?

Article written by Christian Paindavoine, Founder of La Maison HAROLD & MAUDE