Perfume Signatures: Edmond Roudnitska “The Greatest Perfumer of the 20th Century”

Edmond Roudnitska (Photo courtesy: Michel Roudnitska)©

Modern perfumery is widely cited as having begun with the use of coumarin as a synthetic ingredient in Houbigant Fougere Royale in 1882. It would take over sixty years for perfume to be considered as art. The primary reason was the belief by the greatest 20th century perfumer, Edmond Roudnitska, that perfume could do more than just make us smell good. He believed it had an equally powerful effect to anything music, literature, painting, or sculpture could provide. His belief carried into the way he spoke about it. If it was fragrance it was functional with the its primary purpose to smell good. If it was perfume it was aspirational with its primary purpose to elevate something within the wearer as all art attempts to do.

Edmond Roudnitska 1935 (photo Michel Roudnitska©)

M. Roudnitska made perfume with this in mind. He only released seventeen perfumes to the world while alive and when he believed the composition was done. In those seventeen perfumes he created the style and iconic perfumes of two of the great maisons de parfum; Rochas and Dior. It could arguably be said that the single perfume he did for Hermes in 1951, Eau d’Hermes, was the template on which the current aesthetic at Hermes was formed upon. As much as we have attempted to discuss the concept of perfumed signatures with this series, M. Roudnitska might be the only perfumer we will write about who consciously signed his perfumes.

Vintage ad for Rochas Femme

The beginning of that can be seen in what is probably his most famous perfume Rochas Femme. The perfume was created in the midst of the world falling apart around him in World War II.  Edmond Roudnitska was working in Paris for the DeLaire Company where he was constructing the perfume bases to be used for their clients. This is the equivalent of being an assembly line fragrance maker. Which in the talented leads to their creative mind working overtime to drown out the drudgery.

 

Original Femme 1944 bottle (photo Tammy)

M. Roudnitska’s creativity pulled him in the direction of a new fruity accord based on plum. He called it Prunol. Working on a limited palette because of the dearth of raw materials due to the war, he would add the Prunol to a suede leather accord and present it to Marcel Rochas. Once the war came to an end, M. Rochas would release Femme. Prunol has become a staple of artistic perfumery such that it is used sparingly by only the best perfumers. To smell it means you are immediately compared to Femme and only another artist would want to attempt that.

Vintage Rochas Moustache (photo by Aaron)

Edmond Roudnitska would refine the Rochas aesthetic over another four releases;1946’s Mousseline, 1947’s Mouche, 1948’s Moustache, and 1949’s La Rose. Moustache provides the masculine counterpart to Femme and is built around a crisp citrus accord paired with a rougher edged leather accord. It is a simple composition but it is the accords which provide the nuances.

Thérèse and Edmond Roudnitska with Mr. Christian Dior (photo courtesy of Michel Roudnitska) 

This would all culminate in M. Roudnitska’s association with Dior. Christian Dior and M. Roudnitska had become friends and once he decided that perfume needed to also carry the Dior imprint it was a natural partnership already born of comity.

Dior Parfum Diorama-Illustration by Rene Gruau – 1950

Just as with Rochas it was his second perfume for Dior called Diorama that would cement the partnership. It, like Femme, rotates on an axis of Prunol but this time altered with significant amount of peach aldehyde. This central accord reminds us of an oil painter who mixes two colors to create a third. At the heart of Diorama is a combination of the two most artistic fruit bases Prunol and Persicol. By using just the peach aldehyde part of Persicol it transforms the Prunol into something denser with humming sensuality underneath.That undertone is amplified slightly by the animalic musks in the base.

Christian Dior vintage ad 1974 Diorissimo, Diorella, Miss Dior by Rene Gruau

As with Rochas, the next releases for Dior would further define what a Dior perfume was.The next five; 1955’s Eau Fraiche, 1956’s Diorissimo, 1966’s Eau Sauvage, 1972’s Diorella, and 1976’s Dior-Dior.

Art by Michel Roudnitksa created to honor Diorissimo ©

With the advent of Diorissimo, Edmond Roudniska was looking to simplify his perfumes down to their most important ingredients. It is a double-edged sword where that simplicity places an added burden on choosing the right raw ingredients.

Dior Eau Sauvage ad by Rene Gruau, 1966

This is where we come to Eau Sauvage. In the earlier perfumes it was mostly a fruity accord which provided the foundation M. Roudnitska still wanted a central core to be prominent. What he was finding was the chemists were producing some compelling ingredients all on their own. One of those was the expansive jasmine aromachemical Hedione. Envisioned by its creators as a jasmine substitute; seen through the artistic eyes of M. Roudnitska he saw the nucleus of the first masculine perfume for Dior.

Eau Sauvage Vintage Ad 1966

Eau Sauvage is not only a groundbreaking masculine perfume but it could be said this was the place where the upscale masculine perfume market began causing men to replace their Old Spice or English Leather with something a bit more sophisticated. It is that expansive Hedione which is what sets it apart. Despite being jasmine it also carries a hint of aquatic facets which are what interact with a beautifully tart lemon, basil, and rosemary citrus accord before it. The chypre accord in the base is also kept simple only using the vetiver and oakmoss pieces of the traditional recipe. The other great thing about Eau Sauvage is it the one masterpiece by Edmond Roudnitska that has been realtively unscathed by reformulation. According to Michel Roudnistka the only changes come from the IFRA regualtions about some natural ingredients Bergamot, Bergapten free, Oakmoss and certain synthetics. They kept to the original formula as  much as possible  although some ingredients are irreplaceable, but met  it with the Roudnitska family's approval).

Le Parfum de Therese signed Edmond Roudnitska for Frederic Malle (courtesy of Editions de Frederic Malle)

M. Roudnitska lived his entire career known only to a few. That is one of the reasons why in 1999, his son Michel agreed to allow Frederic Malle to release Le Parfum de Therese as one of the first Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle (nick-named "The Plum" in the Dior offices, Edmond Roudnitska created this perfume for his wife Therese in 1960, but  it was deemed too edgy to launch during that era). The year 2000 was the first time his signature literally appeared on any of his olfactive art.

Edmond Roudnistka in his garden, Cabris, France 1988 (photo Michel Roudnitska)©

Every artist signs their work. Edmond Roudnitska signs his fragrances from the center out with memorable and exquisite raw materials which define the art of perfume.

-Michelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief and Guest Contributor Mark Behnke, Editor of Colognoisseur 

 

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23 comments

  • fazalcheema says:

    I am a huge fan of eau sauvage and almost consider it my signature fragrance besides vintage cuiron. I have tried all formulations from original eau sauvage to latest one and I do not agree with the opinion in this article that reformulation has left eau sauvage unscathed. In fact, every reformulation starting with white box packaging of eau sauvage is ruined. I hoard eau sauvage and must have over 2L if not 3L of it. I got 5 white boxes versions of eau sauvage in 2011 something and sold everyone of them because they were blind buy and I didn’t expect the formula to be so bad.

  • Roger Engelhardt says:

    I remember the Eau Sauvage of ‘66. I was 13 at the time and my dad wore both Eau Sauvage and Chanel Pour Monsieur, they were his staples. I used to sneak spritzes of both. Both great fragrances!
    The current Eau Sauvage, to me, is nothing more than fragrant water and so far away from the original, that Dior does an injustice to Mr. Roudnistka and the Eau Savage heritage! Again, my opinion.
    Rochas Moustache was another I wore in my teen years, but I have not sniffed that in a very long time. I even wore Femme for a full bottle years ago, always felt masculine on me.
    Le Parfum de Therese, is still beautiful ❤️

  • Michelyn Camen says:

    Hi Roger and Fazal: Michel Roudnitska has concurred that the only changes have been due to IFRA and were for safety reasons. The "heart" and spirit is there, unlike the other 16. Please read the Post Script,

  • Thank you Mark and Michelyn for this wonderful article! I learned so much. I especially liked reading about the art of Diorissimo, how M. Roudnitska took almost a minimalist approach to create such a fascinating fragrance.

  • Thanks Mark and Michelyn for this inspiring article! I use several perfumes by Roudnitska and I discovered only later they had been formulated by this incredible artist. My favorite is Ocean Rain, his last creation, a dream of flowers an sea water on a tropical beach. It was launched in 1990 and I’m still wearing it nowadays, thanks to a dear friend of mine, that discovered a bottle of this precious gem in an old Italian shop. Ocean Rain was launched under the Italian brand Mario Valentino and for the first time the name of his creator was mentioned in the adversity campaign.

  • Beautiful article! Le Parfum de Therese is one of my favorite perfumes of all time. Thank you for the insight into one of the greats!
    Bookmarking this as well.

  • Lovely article, thanks, and it’s great to see some new pictures of Roudnitska. But regarding the picture of the Roudnitskas from the late 1980s, who is the figure on the right? It can’t be THE Christian Dior – he died in 1957.

  • Tom Schroeder says:

    What a wonderfully informative article, and the pictures bring his story alive! Thank you so very much for sharing.

  • fazalcheema says:

    Hi Michelyn, I understand it is because of IFRA regulations and IFRA regulations are a major factor why it is next to impossible to stay loyal to original eau sauvage formula. Almost all the major notes in Eau Sauvage became a victim of IFRA regulations including jasmine, bergamot, oakmoss etc.

  • I must say this is one of the most beautiful tributes to a wonderful man of awe-inspiring vision in the perfume industry. I am truly honored to have some of his art in my collection. I loved this quote from the top of the article, “If it was perfume it was aspirational with its primary purpose to elevate something within the wearer as all art attempts to do. I have always thought of this as a main purpose of fragrance.
    Thank You, Mark, Michelyn & Michel for a brillant article and some amazing priceless photos!!!

  • I have read other accounts of Edmond roudnitska life but the authenticity and emotion of this article by Michelyn and Mark really gave me insights I never knew before. One example is that Parfum de Thèrése was actually created on 1960!
    Thank you for this tribute

  • Thanks to everyone who commented. I think it is evident that this series is a labor of love of perfume for Michelyn and I.
    More to come, stay tuned to CaFleureBon.

  • what a lovely read. both vintage and reformulated femme are among my favorite perfumes. now i have to try le parfum de therese –very curious to see if there are similarities with femme (sounds like it from the notes.) thanks for this!

  • Most enjoyable read for my Sunday morning. Thank you so much for this fantastic insight into this incredible man.

  • Marvelous! The photos and advertisements are delightful to see. Thank you for sharing them and the story of Mr. Roudnitska, his work and life.

    I wore Dior Eau Fraiche long ago and miss it terribly. I recently had my first sniff of a new bottle of Diorissimo and fell hard in love with that lily of the valley. I would have bought a bottle on the spot if I did not already have a bottle of Michel Roudnitska’s Parfums DelRae Debut that I adore and wear often.

  • IFRA have now ruined countless classics while the reformulations are very synthetic. Eau Sauvage was such a masterpiece.