Parfums Lubin is one of the oldest perfume

Perfume

Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils and/or aroma compounds, fixatives, and solvents used to give the human body, animals, objects, and living spaces "a pleasant scent"...

 houses in the world.

Its early history is linked to the high society of the Napoleonic era

Napoleonic Era

The Napoleonic Era is a period in the history of France and Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly, the second being the Legislative Assembly, and the third being the Directory...

, and its products became the imprimatur of haute couture

Haute couture

Haute couture refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing. Haute couture is made to order for a specific customer, and it is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable seamstresses,...

, and indicators of fashion and social hierarchy.

Pierre François Lubin founded the company in 1798 when he began supplying scented ribbons, rice powderballs and masks to "Les Merveilleuses," socially exulted women who frequented Thermidorian drawing rooms of Napoleonic France; and the "Incroyables," members of the subculture that mixed fashion and propaganda which emerged following the terror that was the immediate aftermath of the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

 of 1789.

The fragrance won over the Imperial Court, and was worn by the likes of Joséphine and Pauline Bonaparte

Pauline Bonaparte

Pauline Bonaparte was the first sovereign Duchess of Guastalla, an imperial French Princess and the Princess consort of Sulmona and Rossano. She was the sixth child of Letizia Ramolino and Carlo Buonaparte, Corsica's representative to the court of King Louis XVI of France. Her elder brother,...

. When the Bourbon

House of Bourbon

The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...

s were restored, Lubin dedicated his fragrances to Queen Marie-Amelie. Eventually, Lubin's perfumes were worn by all the crowned heads of Europe, and were imported to America in 1830.

Lubin was still a major perfumery in the 1940s, but abandoned high-end perfume making in the 1980s. A financial reorganization took place at the House of Lubin in 2001. Its wares and antique documents can be found displayed in Musées de Grasse's International Perfume Museum in Grasse

Grasse

-See also:*Route Napoléon*Ancient Diocese of Grasse*Communes of the Alpes-Maritimes department-External links:*...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

Edward Lubin, an American physician and businessman who is a descendant and limited partner, was a long-time holdout against public sale of Parfum Lubin.

Olivia Giacobetti

Olivia Giacobetti

thumb|Olivia Giacobetti. Photo: Guillaume Luisetti.Olivia Giacobetti is a French perfumer, currently creative director at Parfum Lubin.-Biography:...

is the current fragrance designer.