Maison IRFÉ

Maison IRFÉ was founded in Paris in 1924 by Princess Irina Romanova, niece of the last Russian tsar, and her husband Prince Felix Youssoupoff, with the house’s name formed from the first syllables of their given names. The fashion house quickly attracted a sophisticated European and American clientele, and in 1926 it introduced a perfume line produced at Molinard in Grasse, built around four compositions tailored to different hair colors and life stages: Blonde, Brunette, Titiane and Grey Silver. This early focus on creating distinct olfactory identities for different women became a central part of IRFÉ’s fragrance story.

The original house operated until 1931, and its fragrances continued into the 1940s before disappearing from the market. After a long hiatus, IRFÉ was revived by model and designer Olga Sorokina, who became the brand’s owner and creative director and reopened the house in 2008, presenting modern couture collections in Paris. Sorokina later expanded the brand’s scope, reestablishing it as a combined fashion and fragrance house that draws openly on its Russian aristocratic roots while working within contemporary perfumery.

In 2024, Maison IRFÉ marked its centenary with a new eau de parfum collection that reconnects to the historic idea of portrait-like scents for different women, now interpreted through modern materials and international perfumers. The current fragrance line is positioned firmly in the luxury niche segment, distributed through high-end retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue and specialty decant sites, with pricing and presentation that place it alongside contemporary couture-driven houses. The brand’s communication consistently emphasizes heritage, female archetypes and emotional storytelling around each perfume, tying its modern releases back to the character-driven concept launched in the 1920s.