“It is only by enlarging the scope of one’s tastes and one’s fantasies, by sacrificing everything to pleasure, that that unfortunate individual called man, thrown despite himself into this sad world, can succeed in gathering a few roses among life’s thorns.”
—Marquis de Sade, Philosophy in the Bedroom
From the very beginning, one of Charenton Macerations’ goals has been to liberate fragrance wearers from tired stereotypes, especially those tied to gender. Fragrance, particularly fine fragrance, is overwhelmingly marketed to women. Even men’s fragrances, which make up less than a quarter of the market, are often purchased by women. Fragrances labeled as unisex occupy an even smaller space. How did the industry become so gynocentric, and why has it persisted for so long?
Before the Napoleonic era, fragrance was rarely discussed in terms of gender. It was a cultural, spiritual, and hygienic practice shared equally by men and women. Knights, for instance, were said to wear the same scent as their ladies when heading into battle, a symbolic gesture as meaningful as displaying a family crest. Napoleon represents one of the first historical examples of gendering fragrance. He famously wore Giovanni Maria Farina’s Eau de Cologne, while Empress Josephine’s scents were more exotic and floral. His insistence on scenting his troops demonstrated early masculine formulation and set a precedent that continues to inform modern men’s fragrance.
The tilt toward women came later, in the 1920s, with the intersection of fashion and perfume. Gabrielle Chanel launched Chanel No. 5, a fragrance emblematic of femininity and the modern industrial era. As fashion codified gender distinctions, perfume followed suit. Scent was divided into “for him” and “for her,” reinforced by department store counters targeting women as primary consumers. Marketing amplified this divide, particularly in the postwar 1950s, creating a cultural message that fragrance belonged to women, while men were offered a small counterpoint in grooming products.
Attempts at unisex fragrance, popularized in the 1990s with scents like CK One, typically relied on a limited set of notes deemed safe for both sexes. These were compromises rather than true explorations of olfactive freedom.
At Charenton Macerations, we reject these confines. We embrace the full spectrum of scent, crafting unexpected aromatic juxtapositions like Christopher Street that refuse to be confined to masculine or feminine categories. Our fragrances are collisions of ideas and notes, born from a belief that scent should serve creativity and self-expression, not marketing conventions. Just as Charenton itself was a space for defiance and invention, our fragrances challenge the rules, opening a path to true olfactive liberation.