Monsieur Balmain is a fragrance that came into being in 1964 and was conceived in the image of the house's founder. It is a resolutely elegant juice. Monsieur Balmain is, in a way, a gentleman in the form of a fragrance.
The house of Balmain's great masculine fragrance owes its sparkling audacity to the wishes of its favorite couturier but also to the woman who composed the vast majority of Balmain fragrances, Germaine Cellier. A remarkable woman who created for the house of Balmain fragrances that remain timeless, such as Vent Vert, Miss Balmain or Jolie Madame. To this Jolie Madame, Balmain would offer the artist's own personal composition, named first Verveine citronnelle then… Monsieur Balmain.
Monsieur Balmain and the aromatic, precious winds of the first female perfumer Germaine Cellier
While in the vast majority of cases the creation of Monsieur Balmain is placed in the 1960s, following Vent Vert or Miss Balmain, in reality this is not so! For the beautiful citrus juice was named Monsieur Balmain in 1964 in order to offer a masculine juice to the sparkling Miss Balmain, but it had already existed since 1947!
Indeed, the great couturier Pierre Balmain brought perfumer Germaine Cellier into his fold in 1946 to compose fragrances for the haute couture house in keeping with the elegant, refined style of his clothing. The talented and bold woman would soon compose Élysées 64-83 and then, the following year, the now cult Vent Vert. That same year, Pierre Balmain asked Germaine Cellier to create for him a tonic masculine fragrance, based on Eaux de Cologne, but much more refined and present. She would dedicate to the great man the composition of Verveine Citronnelle.
However, Pierre Balmain decided to let his personal fragrance go in 1964 in order to offer a tailor-made alter ego to the Jolie Madame of the 1950s and to the one that would come out a little later, Miss Balmain. Germaine Cellier's Verveine Citronnelle would thus be named Monsieur Balmain from 1964 onward and would follow a path paved with success, opening the way for masculine fragrances toward sporty-chic scents that were entirely of their time.
Monsieur Balmain is a fragrance of subtle, masculine elegance embodied in an eau fraîche, memorable and timeless. Balmain, on Monsieur Balmain.
When the fragrance Monsieur Balmain was reborn in 1993 thanks to its reformulation by Calice Becker
Having finally offered Monsieur Balmain to the public in 1964, Pierre Balmain succeeded in giving men a true fragrance that, while very dynamic and effervescent, lacked neither character nor audacity. Moreover, Balmain's friend, the no less famous Marcel Rochas, drew inspiration from this bottle, which he himself wore, to compose Eau de Verveine.
Despite the beauty of its innovative accords and its extraordinary longevity, Monsieur Balmain eventually disappeared in the 1980s, a victim of new juices but above all of new regulations in effect. It was in 1993 that Monsieur Balmain would once again join perfumery shelves thanks to the talents of Calice Becker. Monsieur Balmain was reformulated but lost none of the liveliness of its top notes nor the beauty of its floral-spicy heart accords. Moreover, just as at its first launch, Monsieur Balmain would once again make a triumphant entrance among masculine fragrances.