Fashion scents

French actress Isabelle Huppert appears in a Fracas de Robert Piguet ad. photos Provided to China Daily

"In the world of couture, Robert Piguet is perhaps its most important figure. He trained as 'stagiairies' the greatest French masters, including Christian Dior, Pierre Balmin and Marc Bohan - all in his Paris atelier. It is often said that, had he not died at such an early age, his designs and celebrity would have far surpassed that of Coco Chanel."

Piguet passed away five years after Fracas' release. Mismanagement led to a gradual decline of his company and dilution of the brand in the following decades.

Garces had his work cut out for him when he took the reigns. He sourced the original formulae of the house's signature scents, put years into revamping their marketing and got the company out of debt.

He restored the perfumes from Piguet's original 20 fragrances that he thought would best suit today's market and created new ones with the help of Grasse native Guichard.

Today, Robert Piguet Parfums is once again attracting style icons' passionate devotion.

"Isabelle Huppert, a prominent artist of our generation, has professed her love for Fracas de Robert Piguet," Garces says.

"She is an elegant, versatile and beautiful theatrical and film actress from France, who has impressed audiences in Asia with her performances in The Piano Teacher, 8 Women and (South) Korean production In Another Country, directed by Sang-soo Hong.

"We paid tribute to her by producing a limited-edition IH Fracas box set, launched in Paris on the 160th anniversary of Le Bon Marche de Rive Gauche, an iconic fashion department store on the Left Bank."

The Classic series includes Fracas, Nouvelle and Pacific.

"We believe that Chinese women have exceptional taste and they enjoy wearing fragrances that celebrate their individuality," Garces says. "The Pacific Collection is inspired by Asian culture, and these scents are ideal for Chinese women."