Fidji

In 1966, Fidji launched the fragrance line of the Guy Laroche couture house. The brand now speaks of it as a timeless and elegant classic, designed for a natural and refined woman. Joséphine Catapano signed the formula.

An island for a name

The name comes from the Fiji archipelago in the South Pacific. Elena Vosnaki of Perfume Shrine reports that the idea came to the brand’s executives while they were vacationing on these islands, at a time when dreams of faraway places were sweeping the youth of the 1960s.

The house claims a first: having linked a strong image to the name of a French couturier as early as 1966. For Elena Vosnaki, Fidji broke with the couture fragrances of its day, because a perfume now had to tell a story that answered its audience’s desires.

Joséphine Catapano

Elena Vosnaki recalls that Joséphine Catapano worked for IFF for many years, where she later trained Sophia Grojsman, and that she composed for Estée Lauder. Neil Chapman of The Black Narcissus also credits her with Youth Dew, Cinnabar and Norell.

A lineage

Elena Vosnaki sees Fidji as a variation on Nina Ricci’s L’Air du Temps: Catapano reportedly took its spicy clove heart and gave it a green rather than fruity opening. She quotes Michael Edwards, for whom Fidji paved the way for a generation of fresh fragrances.

She hears its echo in Guerlain’s Chamade, Cacharel’s Anaïs Anaïs, Chanel’s No. 19 and Revlon’s Charlie. Neil Chapman in turn likens the atmosphere of Fidji to that of L’Air du Temps, which he compares to a veil surrounding the woman who wears it.

Fidji today

The eau de toilette, in 50 and 100 ml bottles, remains the usual form of Fidji, which also exists as an eau de parfum. The house describes it as a fragrance of contrasts, both fresh and sunny, soft and refined, and classifies it as a green floral chypre.