Molyneux was founded by the British fashion designer Edward Molyneux from London. He opened his own fashion house in Paris in France in 1919 after working for the design house of Lucile. He dressed famous personalities, among them Greta Garbo, Gertrude Lawrence, Margaret Leighton and Vivien Leigh, and his designs were admired by Christian Dior and Pierre Balmain.
During the times of World War 2, he moved his company headquarters to London, but eventually moved back to Paris in 1946. During this time he was working as an infantry captain for the British Forces. Molyneux retired in 1950 and left his design house in the hands of Jacques Griffe. When in 1964 he felt the urge to express his ideas through fashion designs, he founded Studio Molyneux which designed ready-to-wear collections. This company closed down in 1977 after continuous mixed reviews.
Despite the fashion branch lying dormant, fragrances are still produced and sold under the Molyneux brand name which is now owned by Perfume Berdoues. The first fragrance, Le Parfum Connu, was presented in 1925. Back then it was called Le Numéro Cinq. Legend has it that Edward Molyneux and Coco Chanel agreed on making their own "number 5" each and to wait and see which one would be the more successful one. No one knows for sure if this indeed is a legend or the truth, but assuming it was the truth, it would make sense to understand why Molyneux's Le Numéro Cinq had been renamed to La Parfum Connu.
1932 was the year that Le Chic was launched. Le Chic is a floral chypre composed of mango, peach, coconut, blackcurrant, lily of the valley, ylang-ylang, lily, jasmine, gardenia, amberwood, iris, sandalwood, cedar, vanilla and musky accords.
The fragrance Fete was presented 1962. It features dominant notes of caraway, plum, peach, bergamot, brazilian rosewood, lilac, orris root, jasmine, ylang-ylang, leather, sandalwood, benzoin, civet, oakmoss and vanilla. Vivre was Molyneux's fragrant offering from the year 1971. The popular floral-aldehyde composition centered around aldehydes, coriander, green leaves, bergamot, orris, orange blossom, jasmine, hiacynth, ylang-ylang, lily-of-the-valley, rose, leather, sandalwood, tonka bean, oakmoss, vetiver and myrrh.
Several other fragrances, among them the legendary Quartz, Galoise and Initiation, have been launched until the mid-1990s.
Designer Molyneux has 21 perfumes in our fragrance base. Molyneux is an old perfume house. The earliest edition was created in 1932 and the newest is from 2017. Molyneux fragrances were made in collaboration with perfumers Ilias Ermenidis and Raymond Chaillan.
