The history of Russian perfume began, as they say, "for health". Foreign perfumers, who were not too lucky in their homeland, moved to Russia, where they unfolded with might and main. Yes, and Russian "noses", having successfully studied abroad or worked as apprentices, "gave" their homeland their talents: Russian perfumery - aromatic products became more and more popular. At the end of the XIX - beginning of the XX century, the names of A. Ferrein rumbled throughout the country, and the suppliers of the Imperial Court - A. Ostroumov, G. Brokar, A. Ralle and A. Siu - were known not only in Russia, but also abroad. So, Alexander Ostroumov became famous for inventing soap from dandruff, and later he opened his own perfumery factory.
The famous "nose" Alfons Ralle supplied the Russian perfume - aromatic products not only to the Imperial Court, but also to His Majesty the Shah of Persia and His Highness Prince Chernogorsky. His firm received the State Emblem of Russia four times - the highest award, awarded for high quality products. It was at the factory "A. Ralle and Co. "began as a laboratory assistant Ernest Bo (author of the famous Chanel No. 5). If it were not for the revolution that made the talented perfumer emigrate, he would take the post of director of the firm, and it is not known what would be the alignment of the "world perfume deck". Another trump card pre-revolutionary Russian perfumery - Heinrich Brokar. This hereditary "nose" is a native of France. Arriving in Russia, he opened his own business and initially started producing not perfume, but perfumed soap. Many in his work, Henry owes his wife - Charlotte. It was she who prompted him a win-win option: to sell a cheap "gift" soap (of unusual shape) - ball-shaped and with printed letters of the alphabet. Brokarovskaya advertising has become a byword. At the opening of one of the shops the firm offered to the buyers "an advertising sale: just for a ruble it was possible to buy a set consisting of ten items, which included perfume, cologne, lustrine, toilet vinegar, vaseline, powder, puff, sachet, lipstick, soap. The excitement was such that the police had to close the store.
Another advertising of Russian perfumery - aromatic products - cologne "Flower" - also shook the whole of Moscow. At the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition a "scented" fountain was built, in which anyone could dip a handkerchief, a glove and even a frock coat. The idea turned out to be so successful that "Flower" became Russia's first mass cologne. When Grand Duchess Maria Aleksandrovna came to Moscow for a visit, Brokar presented her with a bouquet of wax flowers - roses, lilies of the valley, violets, daffodils. And each flower was smothered with a corresponding smell. Admired Maria Aleksandrovna granted the perfumer the title of her court supplier.
The "Brokar and Co" partnership has grown so much that the Russian perfume was called "the Brokar Empire", and its incense was sold for sale to many European countries. At various international exhibitions, the factory received 14 gold medals, became a supplier not only of the Russian Imperial Court, but also of the Spanish royal house, and on the company's signboard there were three state emblems, confirming the highest quality of the goods.
If Brokar started as a soap, then perfumer Adolf Siu - as a manufacturer of rolls and cakes. Having a pretty decent income from the confectionery business, Siu decided to do perfumery and so succeeded in this business that he began to supply the Imperial Court not only with his cakes, but with perfumes. His incense belonged to the section of "high perfume" and was not available to everyone. In short, the perfume industry in pre-revolutionary Russia flourished. And then the year 1917 broke out ...
Actresses of the beginning of the XX century about the spirits of A. Ostroumov, Ekaterina Geltser, the Bolshoi ballet dancer: "When I dance in the" Corsair ", I always use the perfume Violette ..." Elena Podolskaya, opera soloist: "Your perfume" Ideal "surrounds me with such a delightful atmosphere , that, inhaling them, I walk, as in the dreams of fragrant flowers. " Raisa Reisen, actress of the Maly Theater: "If Napoleon had been smothered by witty Napoleon, Josephine would never have betrayed him."
Phoenix, reborn from the ashes
Post-revolutionary Russia ... On the agenda: the eradication of all bourgeois. And including perfumery - the most bourgeois of all the bourgeois production areas. The new country breathes the smoke of factories, a healthy working sweat and a clean body. Red Army soldiers and people need only soap - and nothing more. The rest are bourgeois remnants. As a result, all perfume factories received ordinal numbers and turned into soap-bins. The company Ralle became "State Soap Plant No. 4", and later - State Soap and Cosmetic Factory "Svoboda". "Brokar" turned into "State soap and perfumery plant number 5" (later in "New Zarya"), "Siu" - in the factory "Bolshevik", "Bodlo and Co" - in the factory "Dawn".
During the NEP period, the production of perfume was resumed, but in the Stalin era it quickly came to an end-unnecessary. The most elegant woman of the Soviet elite, the "second lady of the USSR", the wife of Molotov, Polina Zhemchuzhina, joined the "struggle" with Stalin for domestic perfumery. She replaced the first director of the "New Dawn" A. Zvezdov, transferred to another position. Later, the Pearl was headed by the trust "Fatness", uniting all perfumery and cosmetics firms, and several years later she was appointed head of the General Directorate of perfume, cosmetics, synthetic and soap industry. It was Polina Zhemchuzhina who managed to persuade Stalin not to exterminate perfume, she was able to prove that "perfumery is a promising area, profitable and very necessary for the people". And she even persuaded the "father of the peoples" to give "good" to the perfumery of essential oils. So Russian perfumery acquired a second, relatively decent life.
In 1930, the specialization of Russian perfumery - aromatic products and production - perfumery departments of the factories "Svoboda" and "Bolshevik" was taken over by the "New Dawn". So "New Dawn" received a monopoly on the production of perfume products. There were other perfume and cosmetic factories in the Union republics, but they did not define the party's "perfumery policy."
On the agenda of perfume factories there was a serious question: how to ensure that the spirits reflected the party's policy? It was worked out the main rule: forget about exquisite bouquets and unusual ingredients. Aromas are needed by the working people, which means they should be simple, understandable and "strengthen love for the Motherland". Many people today notice that the spirits of the Soviet era were rather coarse and harsh, and the aromatic palette remained poor.
However, gradually, step by step the domestic perfumery "won" the lost positions. From the brokar "bins" got forgotten formulas, the domestic "noses" were taken for experiments, the area of "elite perfumery" was developed. Phoenix was reborn from the ashes. Naturally, the first violin was played by the "New Dawn", her spirits enjoyed a frenzied popularity (good, there was no competition, and foreign incidents did not even dream of a Soviet citizen). The company presented its flavors at international exhibitions and even received prestigious awards. Today, the famous perfume company - "Red Moscow", "Black Box", "Blue Casket", "Stone Flower" - are sold as rare at insane prices. The Russian perfumery region flourished, as well as any business behind the "Iron Curtain" in the absence of serious competitors. But now another thunder broke out - the economic crisis, the decline in production, the collapse of the USSR ...
Again from scratch
When the flow of Western products poured into the domestic market, Russian companies producing Russian perfumery - aromatic products could not stand the competition and went into the shadows. Of course, after the collapse of production, Russian masters had to start virtually "from scratch" - to learn from the West, to recall the "grandfather's methods" and to try to build their own way on the groomed-perehozhennom field of perfumery. However, reviving prerevolutionary perfumery traditions is a thankless task. Formulas developed a century ago and based only on a limited number of natural ingredients, are now obsolete and "look", at least, old-fashioned. Domestic chemical laboratories are inferior to the Western in terms of equipment and can not afford to create original refined components. In addition, many illegal factories producing low-quality products have bred, and a huge number of fakes have appeared. As a result, the Russian buyer finally lost confidence in the "native" brands and prefers to use the products of Western companies. Today, domestic perfumes are more like an unreasonable baby. Uncertain attempts to interest the consumer are undertaken by the "New Dawn", or rather, its next incarnation - "Nouvelle Etoile". Original fragrances at times frighten off with their impersonal names. "The Time of a Woman", "The Mania of the Night", "So Beautiful", "The Shaman Charming", "The Life in the Pink", "Follow Me at Night" - sound more like a mockery. In other perfumes, experts say, "smells" of Western spirits are heard: "Kuznetsk bridge" is similar to Climat from Lancome, "Russian beauty" - to Coco Mademoiselle from Chanel, "Talisman of love" - to Angel by Thierry Mugler. The design of packages and bottles - boring and unattractive - is much inferior to foreign design. Yes, and advertising leaves much to be desired. In a word, if domestic firms decide to finally regain the consumer (and foreign brands control more than 60% of the Russian "fragrant" market today), the struggle is serious. However, the "third century" of Russian perfumery is just beginning, and, perhaps, it will again reach the heights, from which it once collapsed.
NOUVELLE ETOILE
It's not a foreign company at all, but our own "New Dawn". The company has been cooperating with French partners for ten years, and many fragrances of the factory are being developed in French laboratories. The logical continuation of this cooperation was the renaming of the company.