Fragrance house

Kookai

Kookai was founded in Paris in 1983 by Jean-Lou Tepper, Jacques Nataf and Philippe de Hesdin. The founders built the brand around colorful knitwear, rapid collection development and deliberately irreverent advertising, including 1980s campaigns aimed at customers known as “Kookaillettes.” From 1992, Kookai developed in Australia and New Zealand under Robert Cromb and Danielle Vagner, beginning with one Melbourne boutique; that Australian business later became the global owner. In 2017, Magi, Kookai’s long-term Australian and New Zealand partner, acquired the European business from Vivarte, creating a unified Franco-Australian family group. After entering receivership in France in February 2023, Kookai underwent a partial takeover on 30 November, when Antonelle-Un Jour Ailleurs took over 16 shops and 17 corners and preserved 70 jobs. Kookai’s current identity combines Parisian chic with femininity, confidence, allure, independent style and self-expression, with collections designed through studios in Melbourne and Paris. Its fragrance heritage includes Oui Non and L’eau de Kookai, launched globally in the 1990s, and a Signature Scent created in 2014 from Danielle Vagner’s perfume work, first diffused in boutiques before becoming a take-home scented collection.