More about Robert Piguet
The famous fashion designer and perfumer Robert Piguet was born in 1898 in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland. At the age of 17, despite fierce opposition from his family, he moved to Paris, where his first attempt to make a name for himself in the fashion world by opening his own shop on Avenue Montaigne failed. Nevertheless, he remained true to his ambition and initially worked for the fashion designer Paul Poiret and the fashion house Redfern. In 1933, the time had finally come to open his own salon on Rue du Cirque, which he later relocated to the Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées due to its continued success. During this period of his great breakthrough, Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy, and Pierre Balmain worked for him, all of whom would later found their own, now famous, houses.
Piguet always moved in artistic circles and so he designed numerous costumes for stage performances, for example for well-known names such as Jean Cocteau, Colette, Sacha Guitry and Édith Piaf.
In 1944, Robert Piguet set out to conquer the perfume market: He released the now legendary leathery chypre fragrance "Bandit," created by the exceptional perfumer Germaine Cellier, the first celebrity female perfumer ever. And as the name suggests, this fragrance lent the wearer a wild and rebellious aura, which Marlene Dietrich, among others, used. No less famous was "Fracas," also created by Cellier, which became one of the most famous tuberose fragrances of all time – Madonna is said to be a big fan of it. Both fragrances are now true classics, and since their reintroduction, they have been delivered in the simple, Bauhaus-inspired bottles that underline their historical yet modern character.
Robert Piguet could not find a successor for his fashion house and so it was to be closed in 1951, two years before his death.