Parfums Caron

Parfums Caron is a French perfume house founded in 1904 in Paris by Ernest Daltroff. Early in the life of the company he partnered with Félicie Wanpouille, a former dressmaker and milliner who became his artistic director and business collaborator, creating the bottles and visual identity while Daltroff composed the scents. Their first boutique opened in Paris in 1904, and by 1923 Caron had established a boutique in New York, signalling its international ambitions.

Caron quickly built its reputation on bold innovations. Tabac Blond, launched in 1919, is often cited as one of the first major leather fragrances, and Pour Un Homme de Caron, released in 1934, is widely described by the brand as the first fragrance conceived specifically for men. During World War I, N’Aimez que Moi became known as a sentimental gift from soldiers to their fiancées. Alongside perfume, Caron entered cosmetics in 1908 with Pompon Poudre and later developed extremely fine face powders such as Madame Peau Fine and Mademoiselle Peau Fraîche in the 1930s.

Ownership of Caron has changed several times. As of 2019 the company is owned by Luxembourg-based Cattleya Finance, part of the Edmond de Rothschild / Rothschild & Co ecosystem, and in 2018 Ariane de Rothschild integrated Caron into the Rothschild group before a major relaunch in 2021. Throughout these transitions, the house has maintained in-house perfumery and a strong focus on perfume rather than fashion, preserving historical formulas while also issuing modern reinterpretations and new lines.