Lubin Perfume and Lubin Cologne

Only the houses of Houbigant and Guerlain really rival Lubin in ancestry. One of the oldest perfumery houses in the world, founded by Pierre François Lubin who founded the company in 1798. It is linked to the high society who were the patrons of Lubin during the Napoleonic era when he began supplying scented ribbons, rice powder balls and masks to "Les Merveilleuses" (socially exulted women who frequented Thermidorian drawing rooms of Napoleonic France) as well as the "Incroyables," (members of the subculture that mixed fashion and propaganda which emerged following the terror that was the immediate aftermath of the French Revolution of 1789). Several of the wares can be seen at the International Perfume Museum in Grasse, France.

When the Bourbons were restored, Lubin dedicated his fragrances to Queen Marie-Amelie, gradually extending his clientele to all the crowned heads of Europe. His fame travelled across the Atlantic where his fragrances were imported in the USA in 1830. Production flourished until the 1940s, although high-end perfume making was finally abandoned in the 1980s. Edward Lubin, an American physician and businessman who is a descendant and limited partner of the company, was a long-time holdout against public sale of Parfums Lubin. Thus a reviving took place at the House of Lubin in 2001, under the creative force of acclaimed perfumer Olivia Giacobetti who has re-introduced the classics under a modern prism as well as original creations. Clearly Lubin is a perfume house we should keep an eye on for years to come!