No Hollywood Celebrity could Resist this Scent

The list of proms is endless. Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich were addicted to Krigler fragrances. Also the eccentric writer Ernest Hemingway and the legendary style icon Jackie Kennedy wore them.

Do you remember your very first contact and experience with fragrance?

Yes, it was when I was a child and my mother was working on perfumes she was creating for a client. She was mixing essences and I couldn’t understand at first what she was doing. She then explained to me that she was creating scents we smell. For a while as a child, I thought that she was creating every scents in the world. The scent of flowers, the scent of the ocean, the scent of food. For a while, she was like God. Then I understood.

Which celebrities impressed you the most?

In our situation, our fragrances have been adopted by celebrities. Mostly, the fragrances were purchased by celebrities. Such as Grace Kelly who was a client of our house in New York in the 1950s. She purchased Chateau Krigler 12 when she was still a debutante and a young actress. At Krigler, the most important part is the story behind the fragrance and that is what touches everybody, celebrities or you. F. Scott Fitzgerald and Marlene Dietrich both wore once Lieber Gustav 14. It’s the perfect example of a story that inspires people’s mind and chemistry. The fragrance was created as a symbol of eternal love between two human beeings in Berlin and Provence. It was a bridge over barriers.

Is there a fragrance you have created exclusively for yourself?

I have created Sierra Vista 2142 specifically for myself. But I launched it in 2014.
I just wanted to have a fragrance in the collection that embodies everything I like on me. What I do is I mix a lot of fragrances together on me, that’s my kind of exclusivity even though, anybody could do it.

Please name a fragrance ingredient which will never be used by Krigler?

Well today, I would say anything coming from animals. And I’m so glad for that. The industry has luckily evolved a lot.

Which questions do you ask the person before you create a customized fragrance?

There are about hundreds of questions we ask. But my favourites are: Where do you come from? What flavour do you like the most? What scent-memory of your childhood do you remember the most?

Have you ever refused to work for a private client and why?

The only time we refused was when a Russian client brought some oil, that was obviously coming from an animal. We told him, that we couldn’t use that to make a fragrance.

How much do I have to pay for a bespoke Krigler fragrance?

We have different offers. The pure Bespoke perfume starts at 50.000 Euros. The timeframe to create it is a minimum of nine months, usually, and it could take up to two years. For that, you meet for a minimum of six sessions to create a scent. You also get a personalized trunk, which we design for you and have it made in Paris by our artisan. A crystal bottle, that could be engraved with your initials. You may also order a fragrance from the archives, since Krigler has over 600 fragrances in our archives. You may lease a perfume for a minimum period of six months and be the only one to wear it. This is a faster way to get an original perfume historical, and that only you would be wearing in the meantime. This cost starts at 5.000 Euros.

Can you tell from the scent that someone has choosen on his personality?

Kind of yes, we kind of tell what scent will please someone better than another. Also, it has to do with the place people live in.

If you have to choose something to express yourself, would it be an exclusive fragrance or an exclusive piece of fashion?

Well, I would choose a fragrance, because I’m always wearing the same kind of clothes. A fragrance is more personal and symbolic. It can be actually correlated with fashion. For instance, abroad, I love to wear my Trachten Jacken and I gladly wear it with Eleganter Schwan 06. The fragrance created for the Schloss Neuschwanstein. I actually like to wear local or traditional clothes somewhere else. And I mix them together. I have my jackets from Japan that I love to wear with a note of Gardenia. And only abroad. I cannot fit the locals, I always want to be different. It’s so much fun to be yourself when you want it. (on IG @benkrigler)