Égoïste is a men's perfume produced by French fashion house

Chanel Chanel ( , ) is a French high-end luxury fashion house founded in 1910 by Coco Chanel in Paris. Chanel specializes in women's ready-to-wear, luxury goods, and accessories and licenses its name and branding to Luxottica for eyewear. Chane ...

. It was created by perfumer

Jacques Polge Jacques Polge (born 14 June 1943) is a French perfumer, best known for his role as Head Perfumer at Les Parfums Chanel from 1978 to 2015. Early life Jacques Polge grew up near Avignon, France, where he says he was inspired as a child by the s ...

. The perfume was released in 1990. The word is

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

for "egoist" and "egotistic" (both noun and adjective), which means selfish or self-centered (person). Commercials for the perfume have been directed by Jean-Paul Goude.

Product history

Based on Bois des Îles, Égoïste is the first male perfume with

sandalwood oil Sandalwood oil is an essential oil obtained from the steam distillation of chips and billets cut from the heartwood of various species of sandalwood trees, mainly ''Santalum album'' (Indian sandalwood) and ''Santalum spicatum'' (Australian sandal ...

as its main note. Another of its components is ambrette seed. The fragrance's name when it was introduced domestically in the 1980s was Bois Noir, French for "Black Wood", a name that was originally used in the working stage. Prior to its 1990 international launch, the product was

rebranded Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investor ...

because Chanel's marketing department did not like the Bois Noir name. The company had to purchase the rights to use the Égoïste name from photography magazine publisher Nicole Wisniak.Gaboué, Stéphane. "Q&A with Legendary Chanel Perfumer Jacques Polge," Hint (web fashion magazine), Thursday, September 2, 2010.
Retrieved December 2, 2017

Advertising

The centerpiece of Chanel's advertising campaign to launch Égoïste first in Europe in April 1990 and in the United States one year later was "Le Carlton",https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYJW6VK2vjg English-dubbed version of the French original a 30-second commercial in French without subtitles, directed by Jean-Paul Goude and costing more than $1 million. It was filmed in a desert outside of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. A stucco facade inspired by that of the

InterContinental Carlton Cannes Hotel The Carlton Cannes is a historic 332-room luxury hotel opened in 1911, located at 58 La Croisette in Cannes on the French Riviera. It is famous for hosting movie stars from around the world during the annual Film Festival. After operating as ...

was constructed by 300 workers in less than four weeks. Its primary feature was 36

balconies A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony is ...

situated four high and nine wide, each with shuttered doors. With " Dance of the Knights" from

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, ...

's ballet ''Romeo and Juliet'' as its background music, the film opens in black-and-white with a sequence of women dressed in ball gowns shouting lines adapted from Pierre Corneille's tragicomic play '' Le Cid'': The ad won a Gold Lion award at the International Advertising Festival held at Cannes. Égoïste's sales exceeded initial projections by 35 to 40 percent fifteen months after the international launch.

Notes

References

{{Chanel Perfumes Chanel perfumes History of cosmetics Products introduced in 1990 20th-century perfumes