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Francois Coty: Fragrance, Power, Money
"If anyone wants to understand the fate of France in the 20th century, this is the book to read." --Arthur Herman, historian and bestselling author of How the Scots Invented the Modern World. In 1906, Fran'ois Coty became a multimillionaire within two years of creating his first perfume, the legendary La Rose Jacqueminot. In the 30 years he ruled his perfume and cosmetics kingdom, Coty became France's first billionaire, acquiring unimaginable wealth during the most devastating war in the history of Europe, World War I. Born in Corsica next door to the home where his idol and distant relative Napoleon Bonaparte was born, Coty, with his unshakable charisma, ingenuity, and of course, his incredibly sensitive "nose," revolutionized the world's fragrance and cosmetics industry. Now, for the first time, comes this stunning biography of France's fragrance king, the incredible story of the ambitions, loves, losses, and triumphs of one of the 20th century's most famed yet enigmatic entrepreneurial geniuses.
312 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 23, 2024
This is an interesting read for a variety of reasons. First, I knew nothing about Coty the man or Coty the perfume empire before reading this biography; Coty's influence on perfume--in terms of creating scents; bottling, marketing, and selling them; and including them in cosmetic products--cannot be overstated.
The biography is written by two people, one of them the former wife (Elizabeth) of Coty's grandson. Her involvement in the project is interesting. Because Coty divorced his wife and she took him for half his fortune, she ended up with the Coty perfume empire; however, the man she remarried sold it to Pfizer, and one of the stipulations of the sale was that no Coty could ever work for the company again. So one of Elizabeth's clearly stated motivations throughout the book is to reclaim an inheritance that she feels has been stolen from her child and the other Coty heirs. Along with that, though, I get the sense that Elizabeth genuinely admires Coty and his perfumes and is fascinated with his intellectual achievements beyond their family connection. One textual feature of the book that annoyed me while reading is that Elizabeth's writing is italicized, and Toledano's is not, but I didn't realize that at first because Elizabeth's opening Preface is not italicized; her writing isn't italicized until the book proper begins, and it's interspersed with Toledano's. So at first, I thought her writing was just quotations, and it took me a few pages to figure out what was going on.
The book doesn't shy away from discussing Coty's infidelity or his antisemitism at length; while his antisemitism is never excused, it's hard not to come away from the book with the sense that Elizabeth believes that the infidelity is excusable, especially since she characterizes her divorce from Michel, Coty's grandson, as a mistake she made when she discovered his infidelity. She implies that she should have stayed married to him despite his infidelity, and she implies that Yvonne should have stayed married to Coty, especially since their divorce led to the ultimate ruin of the perfume empire.
Another thing I didn't like about the book is that I wanted pictures of the original Baccarat and Lalique perfume bottles and had to look those up on google instead. I did appreciate many of the pictures included, but I really wanted to see those most of all.
I definitely think this is worth a read.
The biography is written by two people, one of them the former wife (Elizabeth) of Coty's grandson. Her involvement in the project is interesting. Because Coty divorced his wife and she took him for half his fortune, she ended up with the Coty perfume empire; however, the man she remarried sold it to Pfizer, and one of the stipulations of the sale was that no Coty could ever work for the company again. So one of Elizabeth's clearly stated motivations throughout the book is to reclaim an inheritance that she feels has been stolen from her child and the other Coty heirs. Along with that, though, I get the sense that Elizabeth genuinely admires Coty and his perfumes and is fascinated with his intellectual achievements beyond their family connection. One textual feature of the book that annoyed me while reading is that Elizabeth's writing is italicized, and Toledano's is not, but I didn't realize that at first because Elizabeth's opening Preface is not italicized; her writing isn't italicized until the book proper begins, and it's interspersed with Toledano's. So at first, I thought her writing was just quotations, and it took me a few pages to figure out what was going on.
The book doesn't shy away from discussing Coty's infidelity or his antisemitism at length; while his antisemitism is never excused, it's hard not to come away from the book with the sense that Elizabeth believes that the infidelity is excusable, especially since she characterizes her divorce from Michel, Coty's grandson, as a mistake she made when she discovered his infidelity. She implies that she should have stayed married to him despite his infidelity, and she implies that Yvonne should have stayed married to Coty, especially since their divorce led to the ultimate ruin of the perfume empire.
Another thing I didn't like about the book is that I wanted pictures of the original Baccarat and Lalique perfume bottles and had to look those up on google instead. I did appreciate many of the pictures included, but I really wanted to see those most of all.
I definitely think this is worth a read.
January 25, 2020
The obsequious tone, "François was the greatest", gets really old really fast. However, the personal reminiscences and details about Coty'a political views she'd light on this complicated man.
February 12, 2016
One of the most fascinating and engrossing biographies I have ever read. I got it at a second hand store really looking more for a general book of perfumes but once I started reading I could not put it down. The innovations he made not only to the beauty world but the life of the factory worker, giving sick time, 8 hour days, a day care so mothers could visit their children. This is really jumping ahead. He envisioned his perfumes to be the finest on the market - and they were. Starting with La Rose Jaqueminot, bottled in a Baccarat flacon.
He later worked with Lalique to create flasks for other perfumes. And they were worn by the most rich and powerful of society. All the Romanov daughters and their mother had their own favorite Coty perfume much to the chagrin of centuries older houses such as Houbigant.
He was innovative, a natural "nose", a philanthropist and a pioneer in the creation of fragrances and cosmetics. He and his wife owned old homes all over the world furnishing them with the most lavish antiques and specially-made walls of teak and Lalique glass. They had the finest of everything, bespoke clothes, jewels kept in drawers from ceiling to floor needing a ladder to reach the top. All designer jewels. No expense was spared.
But as he threw himself into the world of fragrance and cosmetics, he also was a a man of many other talents. Designing and overseeing construction of homes, factories, buying newspapers such as Le Figaro which ended poorly for him.
A Corsican by birth he poured money into that island bringing electricity to it, giving large sums of money for the poor, building a sporting arena, the only thing that retains his name and is a symbol of his largesse.
During the war he saved the franc by pouring money into the coffers of the government. However he was not a man without faults. He had several mistresses, a family of five by one, was always busy on one innovation or another. Not the most doting father. But he always kept his family well provided for.
The end of his life and that of the Coty empire is very sad. In the 60s his wife's second husband convinced her to sell the company to a German Canadian firm which put it in drugstores. It now mainly produces perfumes for celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Katy Perry, Beyonce and David Beckham. But it does control other high end companies such as Joop!, Vera Wang, Davidoff and Marc Jacobs to name a few. Here's a list of what Coty has acquired:
https://www.coty.com/brands
However it will never be the same luxe brand it once was and he envisioned. Sadly, the Coty family has nothing to do with its current production. Part of the the deal was that no Coty family member would be employed in the new merger.
I don't think I'm giving away any spoilers - I've barely scratched the surface of the history of this man's legacy. I do remember being fascinated by my mother's perfumes and cosmetics and seeing the round container covered in orange paper with a white powder puff pattern. This was the famous "air-spun" powder Coty created and the packaging has not changed since the 60s. So there there a little bit of his legacy in every woman's boudoir.
You can still get some of the original fragrances at www.vermontcountrystore.com such as Emeraude and L'Origan. Others are on ebay and Etsy. I remember when four were available at VCS. Had I known then what I know I know now I would have snatched them up!
He later worked with Lalique to create flasks for other perfumes. And they were worn by the most rich and powerful of society. All the Romanov daughters and their mother had their own favorite Coty perfume much to the chagrin of centuries older houses such as Houbigant.
He was innovative, a natural "nose", a philanthropist and a pioneer in the creation of fragrances and cosmetics. He and his wife owned old homes all over the world furnishing them with the most lavish antiques and specially-made walls of teak and Lalique glass. They had the finest of everything, bespoke clothes, jewels kept in drawers from ceiling to floor needing a ladder to reach the top. All designer jewels. No expense was spared.
But as he threw himself into the world of fragrance and cosmetics, he also was a a man of many other talents. Designing and overseeing construction of homes, factories, buying newspapers such as Le Figaro which ended poorly for him.
A Corsican by birth he poured money into that island bringing electricity to it, giving large sums of money for the poor, building a sporting arena, the only thing that retains his name and is a symbol of his largesse.
During the war he saved the franc by pouring money into the coffers of the government. However he was not a man without faults. He had several mistresses, a family of five by one, was always busy on one innovation or another. Not the most doting father. But he always kept his family well provided for.
The end of his life and that of the Coty empire is very sad. In the 60s his wife's second husband convinced her to sell the company to a German Canadian firm which put it in drugstores. It now mainly produces perfumes for celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Katy Perry, Beyonce and David Beckham. But it does control other high end companies such as Joop!, Vera Wang, Davidoff and Marc Jacobs to name a few. Here's a list of what Coty has acquired:
https://www.coty.com/brands
However it will never be the same luxe brand it once was and he envisioned. Sadly, the Coty family has nothing to do with its current production. Part of the the deal was that no Coty family member would be employed in the new merger.
I don't think I'm giving away any spoilers - I've barely scratched the surface of the history of this man's legacy. I do remember being fascinated by my mother's perfumes and cosmetics and seeing the round container covered in orange paper with a white powder puff pattern. This was the famous "air-spun" powder Coty created and the packaging has not changed since the 60s. So there there a little bit of his legacy in every woman's boudoir.
You can still get some of the original fragrances at www.vermontcountrystore.com such as Emeraude and L'Origan. Others are on ebay and Etsy. I remember when four were available at VCS. Had I known then what I know I know now I would have snatched them up!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews