The Glamorous Origins of Eight & Bob Perfume
A French perfumer’s brand with a history as special as his divine fragrances
According the perfume experts at Scent Bar, the original Eight & Bob fragrance combines citrus, spice accord, violet, iris, cedar, sandalwood, gaiac, and ambergris. Created by Parisian aristocrat Albert Fouquet, this sophisticated combination comes with a remarkable history. In fact, the way it unfolds is much like a screenplay.
Fouquet met a young John F Kennedy in Côte d’Azur during 1937. Kennedy remarked on the fragrance Fouquet was wearing. Later, Kennedy would find a small bottle of cologne Fouquet had left for him at the hotel, with a note attached that read: “In this jar, you will find the dash of French glamour that your American personality lacks.” After returning to the States, JFK sent a message requesting eight sample bottles of Fouquet’s perfume and one more for Bob. The bottles arrived labeled “Eight & Bob.”
Fouquet began receiving letters from the USA inquiring about his fragrances from Hollywood elite. Fouquet perished in a car accident in 1939 near Biarritz and, as WWII was beginning, Philippe (the family butler and close confidante) wanted to protect the fragrances’ secrets from the Nazis. He made hidden compartments inside books to hide the bottles and perfume formulas. Decades later, he was able to recover the perfumes that he had helped create in the attic of Fouquet’s family home all those years ago and make them available again.
With the reissue of the original Eight & Bob, the bottle has been packaged inside a book. This hidden presentation—and every single detail—is important to the brand. And while the ’40s-inspired bottles, with smooth lines and clean edges “offer an impeccable image,” Eight & Bob’s Patricia Conejero says, “the most important thing is what’s inside, the fragrance.”
The company now offers their limited production original formula, which also comes with quite the story, “The soul of the original scent is the extract from this plant called Andrea,” Conejero explains, “which Fouquet found in the Andes Mountain during a trip to Chile.” Other fragrances have also been released after “exploring and recovering several of his fragrances based on stories that have reached our days—important people Albert met, and his life experiences that represent his scents. The combination of this led to our new fragrances,” Conejero says. “These scents were special in the past and keep being special today, they are timeless and unique. Our scents suggest exclusive moments, life experiences, memorable feelings…”
Just this month, they launched the Robert F Kennedy Special Edition—collaborating with the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Foundation and donating a percentage of sales there. “Eight & Bob is especially sensitive to social causes, including the defense of human rights with the aim of achieving a more just society. This new edition commemorates Robert Kennedy’s vision and dream of a more fair and peaceful world,” Conejero tells us.
Ultimately, Eight & Bob is—of course—about fragrances, but the remarkable passion and friendship of its history only adds to the brand’s allure. Conejero says, “It is very important for us to keep the story alive.”
Images courtesy of Eight & Bob
