Germaine Cellier (1909–1976) was a French
perfumer. She was known for creating bold, pioneering fragrances such as ''Fracas'' and ''Bandit''. Cellier was also one of the first prominent female perfumers, at a time when the industry was dominated by men.
Early life
Cellier was born in
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...
, France in 1909. In 1930, she moved to Paris to study chemistry. After obtaining her degree, she went to work as a chemist for the French company Roure Bertrand. In 1943, she left Roure to work for
Colgate-Palmolive
The Colgate-Palmolive Company, commonly known as Colgate-Palmolive, is an American multinational corporation, multinational consumer products company headquartered on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company specializes in ...
as a functional perfumer, but returned to Roure after three months.
Career
In the 1940s, Cellier met
Robert Piguet, a former designer for
Paul Poiret who had started his own fashion house. Piguet aspired to create young, vibrant fashions for the post-war period. In 1944, she created ''Bandit'', one of the first leather
chypre
Chypre () is the name of a family (or ''concept'') of perfumes that are characterised by an accord composed of citrus top note (perfumery), notes, a middle centered on labdanum, cistus labdanum, and a mossy-animalic set of basenotes derived from oa ...
s in perfumery. Cellier used 1% isobutyl quinoline to give ''Bandit'' an intense, leathery quality.
In 1947, she created ''Vent Vert'' for the house of
Balmain, which contained an overdose of
galbanum, and was considered to be the first "green" perfume.
In 1948, she created
''Fracas'', considered today to be the landmark
tuberose
''Agave amica'', formerly ''Polianthes tuberosa'', the tuberose, is a perennial plant in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae, extracts of which are used as a Note (perfumery), note in perfumery. Now widely grown as an ornamental plant, ...
fragrance. The formula, among other ingredients, contained Indian tuberose absolute, Tunisian orange blossom absolute, French jasmine, and Italian iris root butter.
Throughout her life, Cellier cultivated friendships with some of France's most famous figures, such as writer
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...
, actor
François Périer, and Pierre Brisson, long-time editor of
Le Figaro
() is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...
.
In 1999, Fashion Fragrances & Cosmetics, owner of the Piguet fragrances, launched re-orchestrated versions of ''Fracas'' and ''Bandit''.
List of creations
Balenciaga
* ''La Fuite Des Heures'' (1949)
Balmain
* ''Elysees 64 83'' (1946)
* ''Vent Vert'' (1947)
* ''Jolie Madame'' (1953)
* ''Monsieur Balmain'' (1964)
* ''Miss Balmain'' (1967)
Robert Piguet
* ''Bandit'' (1944)
* ''Visa'' (1945)
* ''Fracas'' (1948)
* ''Cravache'' (1963)
Nina Ricci
* ''Coeur Joie'' (1946)
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cellier, Germaine
Businesspeople from Bordeaux
1909 births
1976 deaths
French perfumers