When Mugler Angel first launched in the 1990s, it actually didn't sell well. This gourmand fragrance, now regarded as an icon, was initially met with a lukewarm market response.
Perfume critic Persolaise revisits this story in an article published on his personal website. He points out that key figures at the time—including Thierry Mugler himself and Vera Strubi—remained confident in the fragrance. Meanwhile, Clarins Group, the parent company holding decision-making power at the time, chose to take a long-term view of the new scent, rather than rushing to pull the plug or change direction in the early days of lackluster sales.
Time was on Angel's side. As the years went by, the fragrance gradually found its own devoted following, eventually becoming one of the best-selling perfumes of all time. Persolaise uses this as a springboard to explore the concept of "slow perfumery"—in an industry obsessed with rapid market validation, is being willing to let a fragrance take its time to be understood and remembered, in itself, a kind of choice?
This article was published on Persolaise's personal website and Substack; the full piece can be read on the author's Substack page. It comes with a companion video recorded from a panel discussion at Esxence, the perfume trade show in Milan. Persolaise is an independent perfume critic and four-time winner of the Jasmine Award, who has written extensively on fragrance for outlets including Harrods Magazine, The Sunday Times, and Condé Nast Traveller, and is the author of the perfume guide Le Snob: Perfume.
