Angel

A first fragrance born of childhood memories

In the early 1990s, Thierry Mugler was among the most prominent couturiers in Paris, yet he had not launched a fragrance. He teamed up with the Clarins group, which entrusted the project to Vera Strubi. The couturier arrived with childhood images: the fairground, cotton candy, caramel and chocolate.

Perfumer Olivier Cresp agreed to take up the challenge. More than six hundred trials were needed to settle the formula, built on an overdose of patchouli and on ethyl maltol, a molecule that recalls caramel and cotton candy and whose first use in fine perfumery the house claims as its own.

A slow start, a long-running success

Angel came out in 1992 in a glacier-blue bottle, with an unprecedented scent that puzzled some retailers. Victoria Frolova, of Bois de Jasmin, recalls that it took three years of constant support from Mugler and Clarins before the fragrance reached the top of the sales charts.

Angel has remained among the best-selling fragrances in France ever since and serves as the foundation for a family of flankers, from Angel Muse to Angel Nova, Angel Elixir and Angel Fantasm. Its sweet patchouli accord has also inspired many creations from other houses.

Angel today

The fragrance now belongs to L’Oréal, which took over the Clarins fragrance business. The house describes Angel as a reinterpretation of orientals without a single flower, built on three facets: a celestial Calabrian bergamot, a gourmand praline paired with caramel, and a voluptuous patchouli warmed by vanilla absolute.

Thierry Mugler said he wanted a fragrance whose touch was so sensual that it would make one want to devour the person one loves. Today the house presents the Angel woman as a dreamer guided by her blue star, between heaven and earth.