Creed Part II

You may have noticed many of the designers I’ve talked about here on The Well Versed Wardrobe actually have fragrance lines of their own.  It’s also not hard to notice that everyone and their mother has their own fragrance.  Brittney Spears, Michael Jordan, Donna Karan, Paris Hilton, Justin Beiber (you can’t have world entertainment domination without a fragrance), P.Diddy (or whatever his name is these days), even Derek Jeter (who, believe it or not has the #2 selling celebrity fragrance in the country: "Driven"). I could go on, and on... and on, and on.  With such a slew of them to choose from, it’s easy to forget, just like in fashion there are a few industry elitists.

Undoubtedly the people who have been doing this the longest, with a well deserved reputation for luxury and excellence are the Parisian based fragrance house CREED. Started in 1760, the house is the oldest (and currently only) dynastic (passed down from generation to generation) privately held luxury fragrance house in the world. Steadfastness to tradition and production techniques along with being strongest proponents of natural ingredients in their fragrances (in the industry) has earned the company quite the following.   Royals, Starlets, Politicians, and even Athletes have all fallen in love with the allure of CREED. They have created customs scents from King George the III to Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt.  Speaking of which, they actually have a very unique place in the world of politics. People in places of government seem to be quite drawn to the house. In fact Laura Bush is known to wear “Love in White” and was rumored to have left a bottle at the White House as a housewarming present for Michelle Obama, who has also admitted to wearing the fragrance. This has earned “Love in White” the nickname “The White House Fragrance” With over 44 fragrances their extensive collection of fragrances for both men, women and universal scents has something for everyone.  From fruity florals to spicy musk each fragrance is unique, with its own inspiration, components, and details. 

For over 250 years the company has been perfecting its craft and making the world smell better with the rarest and finest ingredients, harvested from around the world that are then macerated, blended and filtered by hand even to this day. Almost all other fragrance houses have abandoned these historical processes. These techniques started with the company’s founder James Henry Creed who made the first CREED fragrance “Royal English Leather” for King George the III.  A little history factoid: Back in the day if you were blindfolded, there was very little difference between the aroma of the Royal Palace and the Royal Stables. It would often get so bad, the king would hold his leather gloves to his nose to get a breath of fresh air. James Henry Creed, who happened to be the King's glove maker, was commissioned to create a fragrance the King could spray onto his glove to do the job even better. Hence the birth of “Royal English Leather”.

Since then, the company has been passed down, from father to son for six generations (verging on it’s seventh). Each of the heirs learns the family business from a very young age, and is sent to trek the world meeting with the companies trusted suppliers, many of whom they have had relationships with for decades. For instance, CREED is one of the only companies left in the world that can actually use responsibly harvested sandalwood from Mysore, India because of the long standing relationship with the local growers.  This sandalwood is the highest quality and most expensive grown under strict regulations in a location not accessible by air, making it nearly unobtainable by other companies.  

Olivier Creed

Currently, Olivier Creed sits at the helm. Inherited in X Olivier has spent the past several years adding successful fragrances such as Acqua Fiorentina, Green Irish Tweed, and Aventus (just to name a select few) to the line.  His son, Erwin Creed is currently learning the craft, and will be ready to take over the family business when the time comes. Now, he is busy traversing the world hand selecting the different components that create the different CREED scents.  While he may not head the company, he has already had a significant impact on the collection, working with his father to create Love in Black, Original Santal, and Royal Ceylan.

Erwin Creed photographed by Melissa Hom for New York Magazine

The company, while not expanding in size business wise, (very intentionally), is still working on expanding it's fragrance collection. I can't wait to smell what they come up with next.

Napoleon and Awards Shows: Just Another Day With Creed (No, not from The Office)

A little outdoor adventure this weekend inspired me to do a little rearranging on my vanity this weekend.  The end result was a semi- shrine to my fragrance collection- all two bottles of it. I’m not a huge perfume person. I love smelling wonderful like any girl would, and I also appreciate how a fragrance can be that one last step in adding ambiance to your look, but after working with it all day long sometimes, the thought of it makes me nauseous.  Somehow though, these two scents by CREED manage to hold a special place in my heart… and nose.

For as much of a girly girl as I may seem to be, you might be surprised to know that both of these fragrances are actually intended for men. Well, Aventus is legitimately a men’s fragrance, Millesime Imperial is unisex.  I’ve always been attracted to scents with subtle woodsy aromas… I’m pretty sure this dates back to a family trip in Egypt where we visited an essential oils manufacturer and I fell in love with sandalwood and cedar.  Both of these CREED fragrances have that woodsy base, but their top and middle notes make each one distinctly different. The inspiration behind both is also distinctly unique, one taking a page from history, the other pop culture.

Aventus, the newest fragrance in the CREED line was launched in 2010 and was inspired by the illustrious career of Napoleon. This inspiration runs across everything from the ingredients that were chosen to the design of the bottle, and certainly the name (which comes from an archaic word meaning “success”).   The ingredients tell the story of Napoleon’s conquests and victories, from black currant from Corsica, the island which he was born, Caville Blanc apples, native to France, the headquarters of his Empire, Dry Louisiana Birch, the wood of his throne, to even pineapple, his favorite desert.  Along with subtle hints of oak moss, ambergris and Gourmand vanilla the ingredients combine to form an elixir that smells, quite simply like bottled ambition.

I can’t explain it, but for me it’s a scent that inspires confidence and strength. This could all just be the result of a female wearing a man’s cologne, but I love it. I reserve it for those special occasions on colder days when I need an extra backbone. Another special touch that adds to that masculine power-trip feel is the bottle itself. It is actually wrapped in leather- a first for the Creed line-. The flask shape of the bottle actually dates back to the Nepoleonic era, just another way to tie in the inspiration.

Millesime Imperial (the other fragrance nestled so nicely alongside Aventus on my vanity) takes a different tone. The inspiration for this one is not quite as robust- it is actually inspired by the Hollywood awards season. With all the glitz and gold of Emmys, Tonys, Oscars, and Golden Globes CREED produced what is now often lauded as the “Gold Standard” of fragrance (this comes from the gold bottle inspired the statues synonymous with the awards season). This fragrance is lighter and definitely geared toward warmer weather. While it has a similar woodsy base to Aventus, it also draws on sea salt, lemon, bergamot and Florentine iris to deliver a completely different feel- one that is supposed to, according to CREED, “transport you to another world of opulence and luxury.” I’d say it at least helps you pretend.

If there is one thing CREED gets, it is luxury. Since 1760 the company that has been passed down from generation to generation has used the finest ingredients harvested from all over the world to produce its fragrances. In fact that’s where the “Millesime” comes from. CREED always uses ingredients of incredible quality, but the “Millesime” perfumes are the ones that are made with cream of the crop from that year- it’s a mark of quality.

It’s that long standing history and dedication to quality that I will cover on Wednesday in Part II of the CREED Odyssey. You’ll see why CREED should be part of any Well-Versed Wardrobe.