- Caron perfumes and colognes:
Country:France
Main activity:Fragrances
Brand website:link
Niche designer
Parent company:Cattleya Finance
Parfums Caron is a legendary French perfume house founded by Ernest Daltroff in 1904. Though he had no formal training as a perfumer, Daltroff—endowed with a passion for fragrance instilled by his mother and an exceptionally discerning nose—set out to create what would become one of the most enduring and cherished perfume houses in the history of the fragrance industry.
The tale of Parfums Caron is intertwined with a story of unspoken love. Daltroff enlisted Felicie Wanpouille, a former dressmaker, as the company’s artistic advisor. Wanpouille oversaw the design of the house’s bottles and packaging, playing an integral role in its success. She was Daltroff’s muse, and while rumors abounded that he was deeply smitten with her, he never formally declared his affection. Their remarkable success, boundless ambition, and the emotional undercurrents in their personal and professional bond gave rise to some of the 20th century’s most innovative and beloved fragrances.
Narcisse Noir (1911) marked the house’s first scent to gain widespread acclaim. This iconic fragrance was later immortalized in the filmSunset Boulevard, held in the hands of screen legend Gloria Swanson. N’Aimez Que Moi (“Love No One But Me”) is said by some to be a covert expression of the affection between Daltroff and Wanpouille. Its 1916 release also made it a fitting gift for soldiers to give their sweethearts as a symbolic “forget-me-not.” Introduced in 1919, Tabac Blond was crafted for the emerging modern woman of the era—one unafraid to flout societal conventions by smoking cigarettes in public.
Less well-known is another of the perfume house’s exceptional creations: a finely milled luxury face powder, first launched in the 1930s and still available today. The manufacturing process behind this powder remains a closely guarded secret.
As World War II loomed and the Nazis advanced, Daltroff—who was Jewish—fled to America to escape persecution, leaving Caron in Wanpouille’s highly capable charge. He never returned to Europe and passed away in 1947.
Wanpouille kept the house thriving, introducing new perfumes in collaboration with other perfumers and overseeing its operations until her own death in 1967.
Patrick Alès acquired Caron in 1998. In 2018, Alès Groupe sold the storied French fragrance house to Cattleya Finance, the private investment holding company of Benjamin and Ariane de Rothschild.
Designer Caron boasts 132 perfumes in our fragrance database. As an established perfume house, its earliest fragrance dates back to 1911, with the latest edition released in 2025. Caron’s fragrances have been crafted in collaboration with perfumers including Ernest Daltroff, Richard Fraysse, Dominique Ropion, Jean Jacques, Michel Morsetti, Gerard Lefort, William Fraysse, Akiko Kamei, Francoise Caron, Jean Claude Delville, Jean-Pierre Bethouart, and Vincent Marcello.
