Fragrance house

Van Cleef & Arpels

Van Cleef & Arpels was established in 1906 at 22 Place Vendôme in Paris, following the union of Alfred Van Cleef and Estelle Arpels. Its creative identity draws on nature, couture, dance, luck, stories and legends, and astronomy, pairing poetic themes with gemstone expertise and craftsmanship. During the 1920s, it adopted geometric Art Deco forms; in the 1930s, creative director Renée Puissant and designer René Sim-Lacaze helped establish its distinctive style. The Maison also developed the Mystery Set, a gemstone-setting technique with a concealed mounting, in the 1930s and patented it in 1933. In 1951, it introduced the Zip necklace, designed to be worn as either a necklace or a bracelet. The Alhambra long necklace followed in 1968, built around a four-leaf-clover motif that became emblematic of the house. Its creative program later included themed High Jewelry collections such as Frivole, created in 2003, and collaborations with choreographer Benjamin Millepied and L.A. Dance Project; in 2020, Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels reaffirmed its commitment to choreographic arts. Fragrance began with First, composed by Jean-Claude Ellena in 1976 and described as emblematic. Created in 2009, the Collection Extraordinaire translates the gemstone-oriented identity into perfumes centered on noble perfumery materials and ingredients.