The stories Behind 8 Iconic Perfume Bottles

I'm not a perfume bottle collector although I'd love to be. Unfortunately I don't have room for a collection despite the fact that they're so priddy! Even so, I really enjoy learning about the inspiration and anecdotes behind a perfume bottle's design and the branding. A behind the scenes look around. It also gives a glimpse into history as the bottles reflect the fashion of the time or the origins of the brand. Many of the bottles below were designed by celebrated perfume bottle designer Pierre Dinard. Over at Guerlain, Robert Granai was mentored by Guerlain himself to create many of the brand's perfume bottles. I wrote a similar post a few years back about The stories behind 6 other perfume bottle designs which you can read The stories behind 6 other perfume bottle designs which you can read here.

Eau de Cologne Impériale, Guerlain (1853)

Guerlain's Bee Bottle was launched in 1853 after Pierre-François-Pascal Guerlain won the title of the official royal perfumer to Napoleon's Wife. Since then the Napoleonic bee symbol has been incorporated into Guerlain's brand image. Guerlain engraved the bee bottle with the Empress' coat of arms and each bee and scalloped edge were hand-painted with gold. Nowadays there are two versions, one with the hand-painted decoration called 'the golden bee' and without called 'the white bee.'  Many people assume the domed shaped bottle was inspired by a beehive, but in fact it was actually the top part of the Vendôme column which was in the same vicinity of Guerlain's original boutique. The Vendôme column celebrated Napoleon's battle of Austerlitz and stands at the centre of the Paris Place Vendôme. Before 1955 it was common practice at Guerlain to use the same bottles for different perfumes even today the bee bottle atomizer is used for the majority of Guerlain's feminine EDT and EDP.

Calandre Paco Rabanne (1969) 

Paco Rabanne's concept for this perfume bottle was sex in a a car. Dinard responded that it's uncomfortable to have sex in a small car. Eventually they settled on a car that would be big enough- the Rolls-Royce. Then they needed something to symbolise the Rolls-Royce, not the logo, not the door but the radiator grill enclosure at the front of the cars. Calandre means the radiator grill in French and yes I'm fully aware of all the possible  innuendos in what I've just written- cars that are penis extensions etc! Dinard's minimalist design was pioneering because it was the first example of electroplating, a thin layer of metal covered a plastic grid. Personally I would have liked the bottle to show the distinctive grill like in this hip flask.


Opium Yves Saint-Laurent (1977)

Yves Saint Laurent summoned Pierre Dinard to Marrakesh. Once he arrived, Laurent declared that he wanted to make a perfume inspired by the East. When Dinard asked him what the East was for him, he replied ' "It’s fireworks....If you do not see it press your closed eyes with your fingers and stop when you feel bad.'" Dinard tried this and saw yellow-red-violet spots floating in front of his eyes. He used these colours for the box. The bottle was inspired by Japanese inro boxes used by Samurai for keeping spices, salt, herbs and opium. In Dinard's original design he named the perfume 'Ichi.' However Laurent preferred the name Opium. Dinard's work influenced the final concept and advertising of Opium. Since the 70's the bottle has evolved into a simpler design but the colours remain the same.


POISON Dior (1985)

Dior wanted to recreate the success of controversial perfumes such as Yves Saint Laurent's Opium and Revlon's Scandal. They had even obtained the licence for the name Poison almost 3 years before working on the actual scent. Bill Slater (senior vice president / general manager of  Dior NY ) explains that they were '"looking for something to shock the consumer... the name is provocative and it stops the customer, each year it becomes more difficult to attract the public's attention."' Dior Perfumes marketed Poison as  'a new temptation, a new seduction, a new emotion' essentially like forbidden fruit worn by the 'adventurous.' The bottle has a crystal stopper and is shaped like an apple, evoking the poisoned apple given to Snow White and the apple Eve ate from the tree of knowledge that poisoned Eve and Adam's paradise. Instead of  red for the apple they chose an amethyst purple because it was 'bold, rich and different' along with a emerald green box. The precise colours of the bottle and packaging were chosen after a miscalculation while developing a roll of the promotional film.  Dior Poison won a Fifi Award for the Best Luxury Perfume of the Year in 1987. Since it's release Dior Poison has spawned new generations of perfumes such as Hypnotic Poison, Pure Poison, Poison Girl, Tendre Poison and Poison Extrait de Parfum. 

Boucheron (1988)

In 1988 the highly prestigious French jewellery company Boucheron (whose clients have ranged from Tsar Nicolas II to Nicole Kidman) wanted to launch their own perfume. The bottle is made from rock crystal and is shaped like a ring, with a dip in the centre to create a ring band and a sapphire blue 'jewel' for the perfume cap. This was a unintentional but genius marketing strategy because many of their customers flocked to the store in Place Vendrome to purchase the actual jewel that matched the bottle. So Boucheron hastily created a matching ring.The bottle fits snugly in the hand. As the 'perfume jewel' became popular they later designed another perfume in the shape of a jewel- the Boucheron Jaipur bracelet.

Eternity Calvin Klein: (1988)

This bottle was designed by Dinard for Kelly Rector, Calvin Klein's bride and design assistant. Klein was inspired by a ring he had bought for Kelly at auction, it was the same ring that Prince Edward had given to Wallis Simpson. The ring was engraved with the word 'Eternity.' The scent was specifically created for the wedding and the theme of eternal love embodied by the familiar wedding vow " till death do us part" symbolising eternal values of loyalty, love, family and peace. Dinard went with a religious motif, with the stopper based on a cross design. The fragrance  won the Most Successful Women’s Fragrance Award at the 1989 FiFi Awards.


Samara Guerlain (1989)

Samsara comes from Sanskrit and in both Hinduism and Buddhism it means the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. According to Guerlain 'Samsara is a symbol of harmony, of absolute osmosis between a woman and her perfume. It is a spiritual voyage leading to serenity and inner contemplation.'  Samsura is a floral oriental scent and the bottle design reflects this. Granai was inspired by a statue in the Guimet Museum in Paris. It was a statue of a Khmer dancer sitting with her hands folded in offering, symbolising plenitude and femininity. From her posture and hat he created a rough silhouette that became the shape of the bottle.  He chose the colour red for it's spiritual importance in the Far East. Allegedly this perfume was made especially for a woman who fascinated Jean Paul Guerlain and it took eleven years to perfect before he was properly satisfied and then he presented it to her. Awww...How romantic!

Galop d’Hermes (2015)

In 2015 Christina Nagel the in house pefumer at Hermes wanted to update the Galop d'Hermes fragrance. She took her inspiration from Hermes leather cellars, a high-security library that houses every single Hermès leather the brand uses. It took a year and 111 versions to perfect the balance between the leather and rose scent. The bottle and packaging were influenced by the Hermes Le Carré scarf which features illustrations from Gianpaolo Pagni. It was the stirrup pattern that inspired the stirrup sketches on the boxes. The actual bottle consists of thirteen different pieces to create a stirrup-like shape that was beautiful as well as functional. Each bottle is supposedly polished by hand.