Femme

Alongside the great nose Edmond Roudnitska, Marcel Rochas composed this Femme as a sensual and carnal ode to the woman he loved, but also for all the women who inspired him. A true perfume of absolute femininity, Femme conveys an air of freedom to the women of the Liberation...

Femme je vous aime or Femme de Rochas...

The Rochas perfumes had already won women over in the 1930s with lovely fragrances bearing evocative names such as Audace or Air Jeune. But the perfume that, like the house's supremely feminine designs, would carve out its own distinct identity and breathe new life the way Marcel Rochas liked to instill in his fashion, was still missing.

During the war, Marcel Rochas met the great Edmond Roudnitska, to whom he spoke of his bold project to create a perfume in honor of his future wife, Hélène. The nose, already so talented, presented him with an original composition built around a synthetic material which, combined with prunol, formed a wholly delicious candied plum scent. By adding splendid flowers, a chypre base and a few fruity spices, a perfume of an entirely new sensuality was born: Femme de Rochas.

Released in 1944, Femme de Rochas achieved enormous success among women who, at the end of the war, were seeking only brilliant novelties and scents that would exude joie de vivre and sensuality. Like an elixir of love, Femme de Rochas invented a new way to wear perfume and to love, in a single bottle...

Femme de Rochas, a sensual chypre of absolute femininity

Offered as the brilliant and captivating silhouette of a dreamed-of woman, the Femme de Rochas bottle was first made in Lalique crystal to create such voluptuous curves. The glamorous black lace that then adorned Femme's packaging referred, of course, to the creation Marcel Rochas had made a few years earlier for Mae West, the great actress.

Edmond Roudnitska's beautiful composition opens with a lovely ballet of fruit notes, between velvety peach and sparkling bergamot. Plum appears candied, blending better into the preciously floral heart of this Femme. Indeed, the chorus orchestrated around jasmine, rose and ylang-ylang delivers its splendor while taking on exotic and spicy immortelle tones. Finally, the chypre sensuality built around ambergris, patchouli, oakmoss and sandalwood is wrapped in a sparkling cumin to create a deep, spicy sillage worthy of Rochas's beloved Femme.

Madly in love with Hélène, his wife of a short while, Marcel Rochas urged Edmond Roudnitska to concoct for him a perfume of absolute femininity. A perfume that would capture the style of his sculptural creations with their heightened sensuality. Interparfums (owner of the Rochas house) on Femme.