CLEOPATRA'S BOUDOIR

Cabochard is the fragrant image of Madame Alix Gres (born Germaine Emilie Krebs). The name, chosen by Madame Gres herself (in French Cabochard means 'stubborn' or 'headstrong') and reflected her free spirit and will.

Cabochard was created after Madame Gres' trip to India. She described a beautiful perfume to the young perfume creator Guy Robert – very flowery, rich like tuberose yet softer, contrasted by fresh, slightly green note. It was a water hyacinth! After several trials, Madame Gres recognized her perfume. It was light and floral.

However, the trend at the time followed an intensive and strong chypre scent such as (Tabac Blond (1919), Cuir de Russie (1924), Scandal (1933), and Bandit (1944)), so with these perfumes as her inspiration, Madame Gres decided to launch two perfumes of her own at the same time: the floral, Chouda and the leather chypre, Cabochard, created by Bernard Chant with IFF.

Cabochard was launched in 1959 and instantly became very popular; Madame Gres said that it reminded her of her walks along the long and empty beaches of India: sharp freshness of the morning air, warmth of sandalwood, a touch of flower and comfort of the sea breeze.

A couple of months after it was created the production of Chouda was suspended. The delivered 5 liters of the perfume was most probably worn by Madame Gres herself.

The first bottle of Cabochard was very plain (Madame Gres wanted to minimize the costs), with a simple pharmaceutical looking top and a tied with a grey bow, the Chouda bottle had a green bow.

The stopper is frosted glass emblazoned with a large G for Gres, please note that this is not a Lalique bottle but was made Pochet et du Courval who has made all of Gres' perfume flacons since the 1950s.

Cabochard was later flanked by two special edition fragrances, Air de Cabochard, and Ambre de Cabochard.

Air de Cabochard by Gres is a chypre fragrance for women and was launched in 2000, it  was created by Max Gavarry and Domitille Michalon. The fragrance features floral notes, spices, leather and oakmoss.

Ambre de Cabochard by Gres is a Oriental fragrance for women, it was launched in 2006 and created by Jean-Claude Delville and Jean-Pierre Bethouart. Top notes are ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, mandarin orange, black currant and blueberry; middle notes are tuberose, lily-of-the-valley and cyclamen; base notes are musk, patchouli, amber, tonka bean, vanille and woodsy notes.