At the edge of a wood, a man spoke to me of his love for the earth, of the magic of the seasons. Subtle odors seeped into me, detaching me from his story. The man extolled an imperceptible odor of tobacco mingling with the scents of nature, underscored by the fragrance of generous freshly turned earth.
Born in the mid-1950s, Guerlain's Vétiver is a true icon of perfumery. The first creation by Jean-Paul Guerlain, it is built, as its name indicates, around vetiver root. Its subtle dosage evokes the earth and nature at the first light of dawn. Guerlain's Vétiver carries us to the first morning of the world, while unfolding a woody, elegant and sophisticated accord. Its refinement and strong character have allowed it to endure through the decades, remaining one of the most acclaimed fragrances for men on the planet. Over the decades, the formula of Guerlain's Vétiver has remained unchanged. Its bottle, however, has evolved, taking on different forms.
The first bottle of Guerlain's Vétiver
When it was released for the very first time, the men's perfume Vétiver was presented in a bottle almost identical to the one we know today. It was a bottle borrowed from an earlier Guerlain perfume: that of Habit Rouge. However, unlike that one, Vétiver stood out with a green label, perfectly matched to the color of its juice. Incidentally, the green hue of its fragrance is the only element that has been preserved throughout its history. In its first edition, the Vétiver bottle was nonetheless topped with a chrome metal cap, bearing a darker ring at its neck.
A second bottle chosen by Robert Granai
This initial bottle was ultimately redesigned in 2000, as if to mark Vétiver's passage into a new millennium. This task was entrusted to Robert Granai, who then had the ambition of giving it a new modernity and a more distinctive look. He chose to create a square bottle with a very massive shape. This vessel had sharp edges and sturdy shoulders. It was meant to be particularly masculine. Its glass, for its part, was ribbed, forming several horizontal bands. To heighten this effect, two different types of glass were combined, one perfectly transparent while the other was more frosted. At the top of this structure sat a square cap bearing a metal band on which the Guerlain name was inscribed. Despite the beauty of this bottle, this choice did not sit well with conservative devotees of the house of Guerlain. They seemed to prefer its elegant, timeless classicism of former times.
Vétiver returns to its origins
Thus, once again, the bottle of Guerlain's Vétiver was reworked. In the new edition that we know today, its shape is almost identical to that of its very first version. However, the green of its fragrance becomes paler, as if to stand out more sharply against its label. Likewise, for greater modernity, the whole is topped with a wood cap, also tinted green, sitting above a chrome metal ring. Guerlain's Vétiver is available in several different sizes, in 50, 100 or 200 ml spray bottles.