Fabergé

Fabergé as a fragrance and toiletries brand traces back to 1922, when F. Eugène Fabergé and Alexander Fabergé established Parfums Fabergé in Paris to produce toiletries and related products. In 1936, the business expanded to the United States with the creation of Fabergé Inc in New York in association with Samuel Rubin, who registered the Fabergé Inc name in 1937 for perfumes and toiletries. Through the 1940s to 1970s the company developed a portfolio of mass-distributed fragrances and grooming products that leaned heavily on bold, attention‑grabbing compositions rather than discreet luxury positioning.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Fabergé helped define the mainstream masculine and feminine scent landscape with launches like Brut (1964), which became a widely recognized fougère for men, and Babe (1976), a women's fragrance that in its first year became Fabergé's largest‑selling women's perfume worldwide and won Fragrance Foundation awards for both its launch success and advertising campaign. Babe was fronted by model and actress Margaux Hemingway, who reportedly signed a $1 million contract to promote the scent.

Corporate ownership of the Fabergé name shifted several times. Samuel Rubin sold Fabergé Inc to Rayette in 1964, which later evolved into Rayette‑Fabergé. The brand's fragrance division was re‑emphasized in 1982 with a dedicated unit to market its then 13 major fragrance lines. In 1989, Unilever acquired Fabergé Inc for about US$1.55 billion, and subsequent restructuring folded the portfolio into larger personal care operations; today, the Brut line remains one of the most visible surviving Fabergé‑originated fragrances under Unilever's umbrella.