Fragrance house

Milano Cento

Milano Cento was launched in 1989 by interior-design business partners Dean Tatum and Matthew Bright. Conceived initially as a clothing range, it evolved into fragrance, with its original scent showcased at the Beauty International show at Olympia in June that year. The brand’s identity brought together Italian fashion and lifestyle with the founders’ British retail, interior-design, and fragrance experience. Its original fragrance was discontinued in 1992, but Milano Cento returned in 2016 after Valissa Tatum and her son Jasper set out to recreate a bottle as a 50th-birthday gift for Dean Tatum; the effort grew into a full relaunch. The reissue retained the fragrance’s character while making minor regulatory formulation changes and updating the bottle, packaging, and advertising. Milano Cento is especially associated with Milano Cento HIM, an aromatic masculine fougère with a citrus-herbaceous-woody profile shaped by citrus, lavender, rosemary, basil, woods, and warm spices. The fragrance gained a following in perfumeries and department stores, and former customers and stockists helped prompt its return.