History

Georges Baud (pronounced "Oh?"),  a Paris perfume maker, decided to go into the perfumery business in 1940 when he was a prisoner of the Germans during World War II. Before the war, he worked as a mining engineer.

Tuscon Daily Citizen, 1952:
"There is a fascinating story about the creation of the wonderful fragrances by Carven. Three French chemists in a German concentration had dreamt of what they would like to do when they were free once again. Their one wish was to offer the world a perfume that was gay, refreshing, and as new as tomorrow. A fragrance to give lift to the spirit ad put a song in the heart. A perfume that was clean and fresh, neither heavy or light yet had all the excitement of youth. That's how Ma Griffe was born...a beautiful dream come true."

He escaped in 1942, but had to wait til after the war before he and two partners could start the business. This gave him plenty of time to ponder the effects of perfume on a woman's life.  His partners included perfumers Maurice Pinot, Jean Prodhori and clothing designer Carmen de Tommaso, also known as Madame Carven Mallet, could start their new business, Carven Perfumes. Baud became Carven's chief chemist and director.

Madame Carven opened her haute couture house in borrowed apartments in the elegant Rond Point des Champs Elysees in 1945.


"We decided there was too much heavy perfume." he said while on a trip in 1953 to arrange distribution of his two perfumes in American shops. And added that  "Very few women should wear heavy, dramatic perfume. So we developed something that is sophisticated, yet light and young. Even the packages are not so serious, bright green and white stripes."

He went on explaining that  "each woman should find at least one or two scents that are right for her. She's just kidding herself if she sends hubby to a perfume counter alone to pick something that sends him.

She should pay more attention to picking something that gives her a lift. It is no reason for her to wear a perfume just because her husband admired it on someone else. What dazzles him dabbled on the wrist of a blonde behind the counter may leave him cold when his wife applies it.

Men are blissfully unaware that perfume can give a different impression on different women, so they'll only be baffled when the effect of the Christmas perfume (they gave as a present)  turns out to be disappointing."

As for advice for the American women, he replied that, " Maybe French women do one thing better (than American women), they carry their perfume with them and renew the scent every few hours. It is wrong to put on a lot at one time and try to make it last through a day or evening."

In 1959 Carven became the first perfume company to sell fragrance in-flight. Parfums Carven was bought by Shulton in 1965. Shulton built up the Jacqueline Cochran company, which owned the Nina Ricci and Carven names in the United States and  Jacqueline Cochran, Inc started distributing the Carven fragrances in 1966. In 1992, it was acquired by perfumers Daniel Harlent and in 1995 by Worth.

Carven donated some of their perfumes periodically to help with charity events.

Ma Griffe by Carven: a perfume made to spin a web of distinction about its wearer.

Vert et Blanc by Carven of Paris created in Paris for the 1958 Universal Exhibition in Brussels .

Eau de Vetiver Pour Monsieur, was inspired by the herby Indian plant and produced bottled and sealed in France by this noted perfume house.

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