Guerlain
Habit Rouge Eau de Toilette
Habit Rouge: A strong man in contact with nature. If the Shalimar woman has a man, his name is Habit Rouge and he wears beautiful oriental and animalic colors. Released in 1965 at a time when men's fragrances lacked originality, Habit Rouge offers a distinctive olfactory world, leathery, spicy and animalic, to strong and elegant men, accomplished yet always tender...
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Habit Rouge, or the passionate story between Man and Horse
In 1965, fragrance trends were rather smooth and sorely lacking in edge and stylistic depth. Habit Rouge by Guerlain then offered an unprecedented world built around the relationship, both sober and complex, between Man and Animal, between Man and Nature, without ever forgetting that the Guerlain man remains, unmistakably, an elegant gentleman.
Habit Rouge embodies a dandy man capable of every audacity, combining sophistication and refinement. He leads his life with fervor and stands out through a sillage of extreme sensuality. Guerlain. Thus every visual and advertising campaign built around Habit Rouge would be designed around the carnal bond between the rider and his horse, itself a great passion of Jean-Paul Guerlain, the creator of this powerful oriental fragrance.
Inspired by a morning horseback ride through the forest of Rambouillet, Guerlain then created a voluptuous and spicy Habit Rouge, delightfully modern while remaining entirely faithful to the traditional and historic values of the house. Yet whatever the flankers of Habit Rouge or the era, the bond between man and animal would always be depicted in its finest guise, even if, in the 2010 campaign, the horseman was dressed in an elegant suit rather than the traditional red riding habit logically used until then for Habit Rouge.
Shalimar and Habit Rouge, the two forerunners of the oriental fragrance
Between modernity and tradition, Guerlain has never chosen sides, and each of the house's wonderful fragrances strives to be the delicate link between Guerlain's historic past and the necessary avant-garde notes brought by the house's great perfumers.
Thus Jean-Paul Guerlain, to carry his Habit Rouge with sobriety, used a refined and elegant bottle in which the amber juice, the metallic cap and the red label served as the colorful, modern markers of forms drawn with clear-cut, tasteful precision. As for the Habit Rouge fragrance, it too was marked by this striking contrast between the olfactory traditions of the Guerlinade and the irresistible, powerful scents of leather and powdery, spicy, vanilla-laced, rose-tinged sweetness, unprecedented in men's perfumery.
In the top notes, Habit Rouge offers citrus freshness, slightly bitter, from bitter orange and lime, delightfully paired with the power of lavender and the exotic, floral originality of neroli. A floral touch in the top notes that resonates with a deep heart of jasmine and rose, luxurious and precious raw materials rare in men's perfumery. Finally, the sillage built around the famous Guerlinade touches of vanilla, patchouli and tonka bean is heavily dosed with vanilla notes while being paired with lovely woody notes of birch and cedar, powerful animalic notes of ambergris and labdanum, as well as delicate spices of cinnamon and clove. An explosive final cocktail of precious materials wrapped sensually in a beautiful patchouli.
Habit Rouge is a sensual and carnal fragrance, an ode to distinctive and tender masculinity... Modern in its geometry, rigorous in its forms, Habit Rouge is a timeless figure of French elegance. Guerlain.
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The advertising
The Guerlain family has always been closely tied to the equestrian world. As such, Jean-Paul Guerlain was a passionate horseman and an accomplished trainer. It was thus that he one day had the idea of creating a fragrance named Habit Rouge. While walking through the forest of Rambouillet, he was fascinated by the autumnal scents mingled with the smell of leather and tobacco, as a fox-hunting rider crossed his path. Although this fragrance was created in 1965, and today ranks among the oldest scents still on the market, it has recently been accompanied by a new advertisement. Launched in 2014, this television campaign has in turn helped revive the renown of this cult fragrance... A final opportunity to immerse ourselves once more in its world!
An advertisement inspired by the equestrian world
To accompany the launch of his fragrance, Jean-Paul Guerlain explained his creation in these terms: Wisps of bluish mist clung to the russet lace of a summer already gone. Then a murmur seemed to rise from the distant heather. The voice of the hounds mingling with the deep sound of hunting horns pierced the morning freshness. Then, in a flash, came the fleeting appearance of the strident red of a man's coat, whose energetic hand gripped the reins of a thoroughbred. Had I dreamed it? Yet there lingered, in the wake of the red habit, unsettling autumnal scents mingled with a sensual perfume of leather and tobacco. Habit Rouge was born in me. In other words, Habit Rouge is intimately tied to the equestrian world. Logically, the advertisement for this fragrance therefore features a horse. Yet it involves neither fox hunting nor red habits. Guerlain instead chooses to depict an elegant model dressed in a suit, facing a spirited horse. Here, it is more a matter of dressage, set in a decidedly spectacular atmosphere. The scene is remarkably clean, yet the magic works instantly. The horse's fervor comes through the screen, as does the magnetic charisma of the young man facing it.
Habit Rouge, an advertisement entirely in black and white
While one might have expected touches of red here and there in this advertisement, there are none! Guerlain chooses a highly stylized advertisement, shot entirely in black and white. Here, the interplay of light creates a certain magic and a mystical atmosphere. No other element disturbs this dressage scene, not even background music. From there, the intensity between man and horse becomes palpable. Only the words Habit Rouge appear in red at the end of the campaign, in particularly bold lettering. Finally, the advertisement closes with the word Guerlain written in white on a black background. Not a single word is spoken. The renown of this fragrance seems to speak for itself. In all its simplicity, this campaign remains no less captivating!