The ultimate in luxury brands, Hermès is synonymous with opulent and sumptuous goods, finished to the highest standards. This house has perfected the art of luxury since its foundation as a saddlery in 1837. From the outset, the Hermès brand was a favourite of the highest of nobility and the Parisian elite who would seek out no other maker for their equestrian and carriage equipment. The maison would use it’s leather-making expertise to craft various other accoutrement essential to the comfortable travel of its distinguished customers, including luggage and travel cases. With the advent of the automotive age, the brand would apply its prestige and know-how to upholstering the very best motor cars and expanding into leather goods, such as handbags, belts, boots and so forth. This also marked the transformation of the brand into a high fashion label, renowned for their selection of the best materials and elaborate prints to create beautiful accessories and apparel. Today the brand stands as the height of luxury, admired and desired throughout the world.
Tag Archives: FRAGRANCES & PERFUMES
PENHALIGON’S
Known for their luscious scents and beautiful packaging, Penhaligon’s is one of the world’s oldest perfumiers. Founded in London in 1870, the brand has become one of the preferred luxury fragrant makers for those in the know, including a coterie of royal clients. Penhaligon’s offer a range of candles and home scents as well as bathing, beauty, cosmetic and grooming lines for men and women.
MAX MARA
Few items of apparel are as iconic as Max Mara’s camel coat, a cashmere wrap coat that is, arguably, one of the most in-demand pieces of womenswear ever produced. It has been the mainstay of the Max Mara house, founded in 1951 as a Ready-to-Wear high fashion designer. Initially focussed on the Italian marker, the Reggio Emilia outfitters offer a full range of fashions, accessories, fragrances and jewellery to an international customer base. The label has also ventured into couture and has an acclaimed bridalwear range.
LUXURY FRAGRANCE & PERFUME BRANDS
For millennia humankind has sought to perfect the dark arts of the perfect fragrance, a scent to evoke, to attract, to mask. Alluring combinations of botanicals, florals, fruits, oils, woods and spices are conjured to create an essence that is a sum greater than its parts. Early society believed that the vapors emitted from natural resources, including our own bodies, had powerful effects and that, harnessed correctly, could influence the world around us. So it is that apothecaries and chemists would begin to experiment with recipes that would begin a global industry worth billions of dollars. Today, every designer eventually seeks to expand their brand and their artistic profile into the world of fragrances and perfumes, joining specialist perfume houses, some of which have honed their craft over hundreds of years. We look into the more famous, luxury brands in this category in more detail here.
ACCENDIS: INDULGENT FRAGRANCES TO ILLUMINATE THE SOUL
What began as a passion project of founder Emy Cesaroni in 2015, Accendis has grown to become one of the world’s most celebrated perfumiers. The luxury fragrance house has curated a collection of scents for the most discerning customers. The Accendis range takes advantage of traditional Italian ingredients in order to produce aromatic and evocative perfumes with subtle yet, somehow, indulgent notes. The brand has made significant headway since its introduction to the high-end fragrance market and can be readily found at your favourite department stores or online.
ZILLI: A LEATHER JACKET EMPIRE IS BORN
The Zilli story begins in 1965 with the foundation of the iconic brand which, today, is synonymous with luxurious apparel and stylish, tailored pieces, especially leather apparel. It was then that a collaboration would begin which would shape the direction of the Maison Zilli line – a collaboration between a French entrepreneur and an established Italian tailor with a reputation for sleek and elegant designs for discerning customers.
ISSEY MIYAKE: A VISIONARY JAPANESE FASHION HOUSE
Issey Miyake is a high-end Japanese fashion brand, named for the late designer who founded the house in 1970. The designer behind the eponymous label was a known for his innovative and technology-driven clothing designs, a brief which continues to influence the label’s collections today. Miyake was born in Hiroshima in 1938 and lived through the atomic bombing of the city as a child. This experience had a profound impact on him and his work, and he often spoke about the importance of peace and harmony in design and in culture.
CAROLINA HERRERA: THE DARLING OF NEW YORK FASHION
Carolina Herrera is a Venezuelan-American fashion designer known for her elegant and sophisticated designs. She is also known for dressing some of the world’s most famous women, including Jacqueline Onassis, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama, and Melania Trump. Herrera was born in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1939. She began her career in fashion as a publicist for Vogue magazine. In 1981, she launched her own fashion line, which quickly became known for its classic and timeless designs.
ALEXANDER MCQUEEN: BRINGING THE AVANT-GARDE INTO HIGH FASHION AND CLASSIC TAILORING
Alexander McQueen is a British luxury fashion brand known for its avant-garde and often provocative designs. The brand was founded by the renowned British fashion designer Lee Alexander McQueen in 1992. McQueen quickly gained recognition in the fashion industry for his innovative and boundary-pushing creations.
DIOR: A PRE-EMINENT COUTURE GRAND MAISON
Christian Dior’s eponymous fashion house has had a profound impact on the world of fashion and luxury goods since its foundation in 1946. The designer label has come to epitomise what is signature French style, both through the long association with high fashion and Couture as well as ready-to-wear and off-the-rack pieces.
FITZGABRIELS 