Alphonse Rallet
the French perfumer to the Czars of Russia.
Russia, in the 19th century, was the cradle of the perfume industry. Alphonse Rallet, a Frenchman living in Moscow, was responsible for giving birth to this industry.
It was in 1843 that he opened his first perfumery in Moscow, which also offered beauty products, cosmetics and soaps. His business prospered quickly due to being specialized in luxury products to seduce the nobility.
He exported his perfumes across Europe, the Middle East and to Asia, and his fame soon brought him to the attention of the Imperial Court, to which he became a supplier in 1846.
Alphonse Rallet received the "Imperial Eagle" designation from Czar Nicolas 1er, a supreme distinction which rewarded the excellence of his "Russian perfumed colognes" as well as his famous soaps scented with strawberry and lemon.
In 1852 Czar Alexander named him the "appointed perfumer of his personal court.”
At the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1900, Rallet won the highest distinction: the Grand Prix.
Ernest Beaux is the other key character in Rallet’s business. Beaux, who later created n° 5 for Chanel, joined Maison Rallet in 1889 for which he became “the nose” and for whom he created many successful perfumes.
By the end of the 19th century, the Maison Rallet operated with the most modern equipment and tools, managed three perfumeries in Moscow and opened branches across Europe.
During the Russian Revolution in 1917, the perfumery’s assets were nationalized and the company relocated to France to occupy the Chiris factory in Cannes La Bocca.
Sold in 1926 to François Coty, the house of Rallet and its perfumer, Ernest Beaux, had excelled in the pantheon of that time, which historians now refer to as "the golden century of Russian perfumery.”
