Collection: Histoires de Parfums
More about Histoires de Parfums
There are many perfumes that tell stories – in our opinion, this is one of the most important qualities that perfumes can have: They can awaken memories and conjure up images in the mind's eye, evoking emotions. But Gérald Ghislain, the man behind Histoires de Parfums , wants more: He wants to write history himself, namely perfume history – with perfumes that not only tell stories, but also history. The inspiration for Ghislain's fragrances is always people, outstanding personalities of their time, characters from bygone eras who were style-defining in some way – or even entire periods themselves, epochs whose zeitgeist influenced history.
"Every perfume is a wonderful memory, and behind every memory lies a wonderful story," says Ghislain, the storyteller whose current career was a long-held dream: As a bon vivant and adventurer, the man born in the South of France and raised in Morocco had already pursued all sorts of other professions. He worked in the catering industry, later as the owner of a bar and a restaurant, and even produced a tango show that successfully toured the world. He then followed his passion to study at the infamous ISIPCA in France and founded his company , Histoires de Parfums , in 1999. Ghislain's library of fragrant history(ies) spans the period from the 18th century (with his fragrance 1725) to the modern era (with his fragrance 1969). The majority of the collection consists of Les Personnages – fragrances dedicated to specific individuals and bearing both their names and a year. In addition, as in any well-stocked library, there are the Livres Cultes, a few cult books—here, exclusive, selected and special fragrance editions. And finally, there are Les Soliloques, the monologues: Here, Ghislain saw himself as a (super)mediator, a transporter of the language of flowers.
Both the bottles and the outer packaging of the collection are designed like books and can therefore be placed sideways, creating the illusion of a book spine.