“A house like this survives not by competing with giants, but by offering what they cannot, heritage, artistry, and a distinct voice that still resonates today.” Nicolas Chabot
A Revival Begins with a Bottle
On an ordinary day in Paris, Nicolas Chabot was browsing the stalls of a flea market when he came across a sculptural Art Deco bottle unlike any other. Inside was Sortilège, its perfume still vibrant despite the decades. He called his grandmother, whose family had run perfumeries since the 1930s, and she spoke of the scent with unmistakable warmth. In that moment, the flacon by Julien Viard became more than an object. It was proof that Le Galion had left a mark strong enough to outlast time. For Chabot, this was not a charming accident. It was the start of a serious project, to bring back a house that had everything: audacity, elegance, and a story worth telling today.
From Aristocratic Origins to the Golden Age
Le Galion was founded in 1930 by Prince Murat, a descendant of Joachim Murat, brother-in-law to Napoleon I and King of Naples. The early fragrances, with names like Chypre, Indian Summer, and Champs de Mai, carried a refined yet daring sensibility.
In 1935, the prince sold the house to perfumer Paul Vacher. Born in 1902, Vacher began his career with Marcel Guerlain and went on to work at Lanvin, where in 1927 he created the enduring Arpège. The fragrance became a classic of French perfumery, with Vacher as its author and André Fraysse, Jeanne Lanvin’s nephew, contributing in the laboratory. By the mid-1930s, he was ready to lead his own house.
Defining the Le Galion Signature
Sortilège, launched in 1936, became an instant success, composed with over eighty natural essences. It was worn in Parisian cabarets, American salons, and famously at New York’s Stork Club. Vacher followed with Bourrasque, Iris, and Tubéreuse, all produced from the finest raw materials.
During the Second World War, he introduced Brumes, encouraging women to keep their beauty rituals alive despite the hardship. By 1946, Vacher’s reputation had earned him a place alongside the greatest perfumers of the twentieth century. Christian Dior asked him to create a debut fragrance for the fashion house, and Vacher responded with the chypre masterpiece Miss Dior.
A Laboratory of Excellence
In 1950, Vacher moved Le Galion into a mansion in Neuilly, housing its own laboratory and production facility. There, he supplied Christian Dior Parfums with jasmine, rose, and neroli, and produced the concentrates for Miss Dior and other creations. Alongside this work, he launched Le Galion’s own icons: Special for Gentlemen, Frac, Snob, Whip, and La Rose. This was a golden age when French perfumery’s elegance was inseparable from technical mastery.
By the early 1960s, Sortilège was sold in ninety-seven countries. Vacher continued to innovate, creating Diorling for Dior in 1963 and L’Eau Noble in 1972, while also working for houses like Jean Dessès. His fragrances were both refined and assertive, made to last in memory as well as on the skin.
Loss and Decline
When Paul Vacher died suddenly in 1975, his daughter Dominique De Urresti, trained by her father, took over as Le Galion’s perfumer. In 1978, she created Mégara in homage to him. But in 1980, the house was sold to an American group. Poor management led to its collapse, and with it went an image of France built on elegance and quality.
Return of the Gallant Ship
More than thirty years later, Nicolas Chabot’s flea market discovery set the revival in motion. By 2014, Le Galion was reborn, bringing back original formulas and crafting new fragrances in the same spirit. The Art Deco bottle, reinterpreted by Pierre Dinand in 1972, was reimagined in 2022 by Dinand and his grandson Jules, exactly fifty years later, as a contemporary homage to the past.
In 2020, to mark the house’s 90th anniversary, a new collection of nine perfumes was released, one for each decade of the brand’s existence. And in 2023, Ava Gardner returned as the muse of Sortilège, sixty-five years after first embodying it.
Then and Now
In Vacher’s time, production was entirely in-house. Today, Le Galion works with trusted perfumers, glassmakers, and artisans, but creative and technical control remain central. Every formula is conceived and directed by the house, every raw material is chosen with care, and the founder’s family still lends insight to maintain fidelity to the brand’s spirit.
Interview with Nicolas Chabot
Your career began inside the world of luxury with major groups before you turned to independent perfumery. What perspective did that give you on how a house like Le Galion could survive and matter again today?
Working in the big groups taught me the mechanics of scale. Everything is orchestrated: the industrial capacity, the marketing power, the financial muscle, the distribution networks. That gives you a sense of how brands grow, but also how they sometimes lose their soul by chasing numbers and trends. With Le Galion, the opportunity is the opposite: it is about intimacy, identity, and authenticity. A house like this survives not by competing with giants, but by offering what they cannot, heritage, artistry, and a distinct voice that still resonates today. Le Galion is making people feel they are entering a legacy, not just buying another product.
The rediscovery of Sortilège at a Paris flea market has been called the moment that set Le Galion’s revival in motion. What convinced you this was not just a charming coincidence but the foundation for a serious project?
Finding back a bottle of Sortilège at a Paris flea market was a moment suspended in time. At first, not knowing the brand myself, I called my grandmother, our family has run perfumeries since the 1930s, and she spoke to me about it with warmth and affection. Within that bottle, designed by Julien Viard, one of the great Art Deco glassmakers, lay an intact promise. Its sculptural, strikingly modern design already suggested that Le Galion was no ordinary house. And then there is the story of Sortilège itself: a true phenomenon of the 1930s and 40s, a trail woven into the golden age of French couture, worn in Parisian cabarets as well as New York salons. To hold that flacon, to smell a composition still so vibrant, was not about nostalgia, it was living proof that Le Galion had left a mark strong enough to transcend time. At that moment, I knew this was no charming accident but the foundation of a serious project: to bring back to life a house that had everything, audacity, elegance, and a story worth telling today. And still today, Sortilège awakens memories of youth for so many women who wore it, and seeing that emotion resurface each time never fails to move me deeply.
Le Galion was founded by Prince Murat and later defined by Paul Vacher. When you think about the house’s true DNA, which elements of that heritage feel essential to preserve in the 21st century?
Le Galion was born with aristocratic allure under Prince Murat and gained its true identity through Paul Vacher’s creative genius. The DNA that must endure is this balance between elegance and audacity: refined French perfumery with a couture sensibility, but also the freedom to innovate without compromise. In the 21st century, preserving that spirit means staying faithful to the artistry and narrative depth that made Le Galion unique, while speaking in a contemporary voice. Keeping the French Timeless Elegance is the driver to retain relevance.
Reviving archival perfumes means balancing fidelity with evolution. How do you decide when to protect the integrity of a historic formula and when to adapt it for modern wearers?
It is always a balance between respect and relevance. Certain iconic formulas such as Sortilège, L’Astre or Special for Gentlemen must be preserved in their integrity, as they embody the very DNA of the house, altering them would mean betraying that heritage. For other creations that are less emblematic, there can be more flexibility: keeping their spirit and architecture while adapting to regulatory requirements or contemporary tastes. The same applies to new fragrances: they must carry this continuity and reflect the spirit of the house, so that every creation, whether archival or modern, speaks with the same voice. The aim is not to freeze the past, but to let it resonate today while staying true to what makes Le Galion unique.
In Vacher’s time the house had its own laboratory and manufactured in-house. How does production operate today, and what degree of creative and technical control do you keep in your hands?
In Paul Vacher’s time, Le Galion owned its laboratory and produced entirely in-house in its private mansion house located in Paris. That is also where Paul Vacher started producing for other renowned houses like Christian Dior or Jean Dessès. The landscape today is different: the industry is more fragmented, with specialized ateliers, glassmakers, and production partners each bringing expertise. But what matters most has not changed, the creative and technical control stays firmly with us. Every formula is conceived and directed by the house, every raw material is chosen with the same care as before, and every step of production is supervised to ensure it reflects our standards of excellence.
We also have the privilege of working closely with Paul Vacher’s daughter, who continues to give us her insight and her taste. Her presence is a living link to the founder’s vision, and it is invaluable in ensuring that each decision we take remains faithful to the spirit of Le Galion. We collaborate with trusted partners, the best perfumers, glassmakers, and artisans, but always with the conviction that Le Galion must remain true to its heritage. Outsourcing production does not mean outsourcing identity. On the contrary, it allows us to combine the savoir-faire of specialists with the same independence of vision that Paul Vacher established. In the end, whether past or present, the soul of the perfume remains in our hands.
Relaunching a dormant heritage house requires significant resources. How was the revival of Le Galion financed, and what does its financial structure look like now?
Reviving a dormant house like Le Galion required both passion and resources. At the beginning, the project was self-financed, driven by conviction rather than investors. Over time, we built a structure that remains deliberately independent: privately owned, without pressure from large groups, which gives us the freedom to focus on quality, artistry, and long-term vision rather than short-term returns. It is a model that may grow step by step, but it ensures that Le Galion develops in a way that is true to its spirit.
The landscape is full of revived perfume houses. How do you make sure Le Galion is not seen as another nostalgic comeback, but as a brand with relevance and distinction in today’s niche market?
It is true that many houses are being revived today, but nostalgia alone is not enough. For Le Galion, the goal was never to create a museum piece, it was to bring a living voice back to life. What makes the house relevant now is its sense of continuity: a passage into posterity where each era adds its layer, without breaking the thread. You see it in the perfumes, from icons like Sortilège to new creations such as Tilleul, our best-seller created by Quentin Bisch, or Eau Folle, our latest release faithful to the same spirit, and you see it in the design of the bottle. The original Art Deco flacon by Julien Viard was reinterpreted in 1972 by Pierre Dinand, and fifty years later, the same Dinand reimagined it again in a more contemporary form. That story of evolution without rupture embodies what Le Galion stands for today: not just a comeback, but a house that continues to live, to create, and to resonate in the present.
Sortilège and other Le Galion perfumes were tied to cultural figures from Marilyn Monroe to Ava Gardner. How do you approach that legacy of glamour without allowing it to overshadow the present identity of the house?
Marilyn Monroe and Ava Gardner, both official muses for the brand, Judy Garland, Bette Davis, Grace Kelly, and many others wearing Sortilège is of course a wonderful part of our heritage, but it does not define the whole of who we are today. What matters is how these perfumes speak in the present. We are especially proud to have reissued L’Astre, the fragrance Paul Vacher created specifically for Ava Gardner, at the request of her niece, not as nostalgia, but as proof of its timeless relevance. For me, glamour is not only about Hollywood stars of the 50s, it is about celebrating the same Parisian elegance and audacity today. The past inspires us, but the identity of Le Galion now is about creating fragrances that write new stories while carrying that timeless spirit forward.
The archives hold more than forty perfumes, only a fraction of which have been revived. What criteria guide your choice of which formulas to bring back and which to leave in the past?
The archives of Le Galion are a treasure, each with its own story. But not every formula needs to return. Our criteria are threefold: first, historical importance, creations like Sortilège, Eau Noble, and Special for Gentlemen that embody the very DNA of the house. Second, olfactory relevance, formulas that still feel alive and can resonate with contemporary wearers. And third, coherence, making sure each revival adds to a balanced collection rather than becoming a catalogue of the past. Some fragrances will probably remain in the archives, like silent witnesses of their time. Others, when they still have a voice, deserve to speak again.
Running Le Galion alongside other perfume projects means balancing multiple creative directions. How do you protect Le Galion’s identity, and what does long-term success for the house mean to you personally?
Balancing several perfume projects is a challenge, but Le Galion has a very distinct identity, rooted in elegance, audacity, and a remarkable heritage. Protecting it means being clear about what belongs to its voice and what does not. I approach Le Galion with a curator’s mindset: every decision, from formula to design, must serve the house’s DNA.
The other projects I lead follow very different paths and speak to different audiences. Æther is molecular perfumery, a laboratory of abstraction. Headspace is contemporary haute parfumerie, celebrating the most beautiful raw materials of perfumery, twisted through the science of headspace. Each project has its own language and its own audience, which allows me to preserve Le Galion’s identity without compromise.
For me, long-term success is not about chasing size or volume. It is about ensuring that in ten, twenty, fifty years, Le Galion is still recognized as a house of integrity, artistry, and timeless relevance. Personally, it is also a matter of responsibility, to honor Paul Vacher’s legacy, to respect the trust of his family, and to pass on a living, vibrant house to the next generation.
Le Galion’s revival under Nicolas Chabot is more than a return to the shelves. It is a continuation of a voice first shaped by Prince Murat’s aristocratic vision and Paul Vacher’s mastery. The house moves forward by holding on to its elegance and audacity, creating new fragrances that speak the same language as its icons. In a crowded market of heritage comebacks, Le Galion stands apart because it is neither frozen in the past nor chasing trends, it is sailing steadily between heritage and modernity.
Elevated Classics Classification
Primary Category: Revived Heritage
Secondary Tags: Family Legacy Collaboration, Archival Formulas, Independent Ownership, French Timeless Elegance, Cultural Iconography, Outsourced Production
Ownership: Privately owned, independent
Notable Strengths: Authentic revival anchored in founder’s vision, strong balance of archival and new creations, bottle design evolution with Pierre Din and legacy, continuity in glamour and craftsmanship.
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