OrientalZoé Coste
Zoé Coste founded Réminiscence in 1970 in Juan-les-Pins with Nino Amaddeo. The couple sold Oriental-inspired jewelry there before launching Patchouli, Ambre and Musc, the house’s first three perfumes; she signed Patchouli with the perfumer Maurice Sozio. She was behind Rem, composed in 1996 by Francis Camail. She died in 2007.
Juan-les-Pins, 1970
In 1970, Zoé Coste and Nino Amaddeo opened a boutique in Juan-les-Pins called Ylang-Ylang, selling Oriental-inspired jewelry and perfumes, before it took the name Réminiscence. Lili, of Needs and Moods, presents her as an artist and speaks of a luxury bazaar.
Élisabeth de Feydeau, in Les Parfums, places the house in a niche that was new at the time, high-end costume jewelry. According to Lili, the couple’s jewelry sat alongside objects gathered on their travels.
Patchouli
Lili traces the birth of the perfumes to a trip to London: at Portobello market, the couple came across cashmere fabrics that merchants scented with Indonesian patchouli oil to keep moths away. On her return, Zoé Coste called on the perfumer Maurice Sozio.
Patchouli, Ambre and Musc were born in 1970. Élisabeth de Feydeau attributes Patchouli to Maurice Sozio and Zoé Coste, and names it the house’s best seller, with 156,000 units in 2008.
Rem
According to Lili, it was Zoé Coste who asked the perfumer Francis Camail to bottle the memory of the beaches of Saint-Barthélemy. Rem was born in 1996; its name is an anagram of mer, the French word for sea, and Lili counts it among the very first feminine perfumes with a marine accord.
After 2007
Zoé Coste died in 2007. The couple’s children, Lilla and Sébastien, joined the family business. Lili describes a brand long faded from view, relaunched by Gaëlle de Prunelé and David Lozano with the backing of the Robertet group, who kept the original formulas.
Creations by Zoé Coste
Oriental
Floral