When it comes to the endlessly vast world of fragrances, it can be easy to get bogged down with terminology. While designer fragrances (most people’s first foray into the scented world) are relatively easy to define, there’s often confusion surrounding the difference between niche and indie perfumes. The terms ‘niche’ and ‘indie’ are often used interchangeably, however there’s a marked difference between the two — not all niche perfumes are indie and not all indie perfumes are niche. And, despite designer perfumes typically being easier to identify, even card-carrying fragheads have erroneously miscategorised certain niche perfumes as designer ones.
Although semantics may seem petty here—and granted, they don’t change the way each fragrance smells—it can be helpful to understand where each perfume (and perfume brand) fits in on an industry level.
To demystify the fragrance industry, we break down exactly what designer, niche, and indie fragrances are and how to recognise where a perfume house fits in. Plus, a bonus category — artisanal fragrances!
Need a quick summary? Click here for the TL;DL.
Designer fragrances
Also known as commercial fragrances, designer fragrances are those that are produced by major luxury fashion and beauty houses such as Chanel, Dior, Valentino, Gucci, YSL, Burberry, Armani, Givenchy, Versace, Viktor & Rolf, and Prada. For these fashion houses, fragrances act as a mechanism to engage a wider range of consumers by providing them with an affordable entry point to own a ‘piece’ of the brand — essentially, while not everyone can buy a $5000 handbag, many of them are able to purchase a $250 fragrance.
Take Viktor & Rolf, for example. Founded by Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren, the Dutch luxury fashion house is known for its—often avant-garde—haute couture. The debut of its fragrance Flowerbomb in 2005 acted as something of a saving grace for the brand, which was in a poor financial place. While the circle of clients willing to drop four to five figures on a tulle ball gown rotated 90° to the left or emblazoned with the word ‘NO’ is a small one, the mass appeal of Flowerbomb (and its subsequent flankers) allowed the brand to stay afloat. The brand’s success in the perfume realm has allowed Horsting and Snoeren to continue creating couture that appeals to the minority while benefiting from the commercial viability of its fragrance offering.
Hence, designer fragrances are designed with mainstream commercial viability in mind; they’re likeable, approachable, and easy to wear. Familiarity is also a key element present in designer fragrances, with even wholly new releases smelling like something you may have experienced before. They often make use of popular ingredients and tap into fragrance trends.
Celebrity perfumes also fall into the commercial fragrance category. While they’re technically not designer scents (i.e. not produced by a luxury fashion or beauty house), they take the same approach when it comes to producing scents with commercial viability in mind. Some popular examples of celebrity perfumes include Sarah Jessica Parker’s Lovely, Britney Spears’ Fantasy and Curious, and Ariana Grande’s Cloud. These celebrity perfumes are typically sold through mass market retailers (including Ulta, Sephora, Target, Priceline, Boots, and Chemist Warehouse) rather than on dedicated websites. It’s worth noting that these ‘celebrity fragrances’ differ from fragrance brands started by celebrities — but we’ll get to that later.
Naturally, Mses Parker, Spears, and Grande aren’t standing about decanting oil extracts into vials. Neither are Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren of Viktor & Rolf or any of the ever-changing creative directors heading up the likes of Gucci, YSL, Versace, and Prada. The creation of these designer fragrances is typically outsourced to external companies such as Givaudan, Robertet, Firmenich, and International Flavours & Fragrances (IFF).
That said, there are some anomalies. Chanel, Hermès, and Dior all have in-house perfumers — Olivier Polge (who took over from his father Jacques Polge), Christine Nagel, and Francis Kurkdjian (owner and perfumer of niche and indie fragrance brand Maison Francis Kurkdjian), respectively.
Niche fragrances
Niche fragrances have received a lot of attention over the past few years. As a result, there’s been no small amount of debate about what actually constitutes a niche fragrance. However, the most accepted definition is a fragrance released by a brand that exclusively makes fragrances (and sometimes related products like home fragrances and scented candles); which sits in contrast to designer fragrances, which are created by beauty or fashion houses. Essentially, niche perfumes are those released by brands whose ‘niche’ (or speciality) is perfume — so, brands that were founded to create perfume.
That said, sometimes niche perfume brands branch out to produce beauty, makeup, and skincare products. Such is the case with Serge Lutens and Guerlain. The latter in particular often has its fragrances miscategorised as ‘designer’, however as Guerlain was originally founded as a perfume store (by Pierre-François Pascal Guerlain in Paris in 1828), it’s still technically a niche perfume house. The same applies to Serge Lutens.
Niche perfume houses can have in-house perfumers, however many still outsource the formulation of their fragrances to one of the big fragrance houses mentioned above.
Niche perfume houses can be independent or owned by a larger conglomerate. Examples include Creed which is owned by Kering, Kilian Paris which is owned by Estée Lauder, and Byredo which Puig has a majority stake in. These three fragrance houses are niche but not independent (or ‘indie’).
While the technical definition of niche fragrance pertains to the original specialisation of the company, it doesn’t address the colloquial implications that accompany the term ‘niche perfume’. The rapid proliferation of the fragrance community has resulted in definitions being confused and conflated, with descriptors like “this smells so niche” often used as a form of praise. “This smells so produced by a company that specialises in perfume” just doesn’t hit quite the same way, does it?
These fragrance lovers are often using the term ‘niche’ to connote a perfume that’s unique, distinct, different, or even groundbreaking. However, niche perfume houses can produce generic and crowd-pleasing fragrances while certain designer houses make delightfully creative fragrances. Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540 and Le Labo Santal 33 are often cited as ‘basic’ due to their mainstream adoption, however these are technically niche perfumes (as both brands specialise in perfume). Contrast these with fragrances like Comme des Garçons Incense Avignon and Costume National Homme which smell decidedly unique — both are classified as designer fragrances.
With that in mind, many of the best niche perfumes are those that have a certain distinct, elusive quality that sets them apart from the masses. As most niche perfume houses don’t have the same pressure to create universal crowd pleasers that designer houses do, there’s room for creative experimentation and sensorial storytelling. These can range from widely beloved hits like Creed Aventus to more esoteric scents like Orto Parisi Stercus, the latter of which has a hyper realistic note of manure and is touted as a masterpiece by a (very) select coterie of fragrance lovers.
Indie fragrances
Indie fragrances are produced by perfume brands that are independently owned. The idea behind this is that the owner has complete control over the conceptualisation and production of their fragrances and is not answerable to a higher power. This is in contrast to designer fragrances released by fashion and beauty houses which have numerous stakeholders to answer to and larger niche perfume houses which often have a creative director overseeing the nose (i.e. perfumer) and may be answerable to upper management and/or the brand’s parent company.
While indie perfume brands may have an in-house nose—it may even be the owner themself—they often employ external perfumers or larger external fragrance manufacturing companies to produce their formulations based on conceptualisation and creative direction by the brand. Examples of indie perfume brands include D.S. & Durga, Zoologist, Masque Milano, d’Annam, Essential Parfums, and Maison Louis Marie. Both Essential Parfums and Zoologist are notable for bringing the perfumers they work with out of the shadows and highlighting them across their marketing material.
Indie fragrances are technically niche, however not all niche fragrances are indie. That said, we find it best to differentiate between the two, as some indie fragrance brands operate on such a small scale that they warrant being discussed in a separate category.
Artisanal fragrances
Ah, a surprise category! Artisanal fragrances are what many people think indie fragrances are. Namely, fragrances created by a perfumer who is either the founder or co-owner of the brand and holds the legal ownership of the perfume formula. Put simply; an artisanal perfume brand is one where the person who runs the company is also the one making the perfume. By definition, artisanal fragrance brands are also both indie and niche.
Artisanal perfume brands include Imaginary Authors, Arquiste, Hiram Green, Nasomatto, Perfumer H, and Papillon.
Celebrity perfumes
Not all celebrity perfumes are made the same. There’s a marked difference between the celebrity branded perfumes of the early aughts, perfumes released by celebrity beauty brands, and celebrity founded perfume brands.
The fragrance brand Henry Rose was founded by actress Michelle Pfeiffer and is classified as niche, as are Orebella by Bella Hadid and Eilish by Billie Eilish (yes, really).
Meanwhile, Rihanna released Fenty Eau de Parfum through her brand Fenty Beauty. As Fenty Beauty is a beauty brand and does not specialise in fragrances, Fenty Eau de Parfum is categorised as a designer fragrance. The same applies to Victoria Beckham’s line of (frankly amazing) fragrances released through her eponymous brand, Victoria Beckham Beauty.
Tl;dr
Need a short and snappy summary of the differences between designer, niche, indie, and artisanal fragrances? We’ve got you covered:
- Designer fragrances: fragrances produced by a major beauty or fashion house, such as Dior Sauvage, Chanel No. 5, Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille, and Maison Margiela Repica Jazz Club
- Niche fragrances: fragrances produced by a brand that specialises in perfume. Niche perfume brands include Serge Lutens, Guerlain, Ex Nihilo, Maison Crivelli, Le Labo, Xerjoff, and Maison Francis Kurkdjian
- Indie fragrances: fragrances produced by a brand that is independently owned. Indie fragrances are also niche fragrances, with indie brands including Maison Louis Marie and D.S. & Durga
- Artisanal fragrances: fragrances created by a perfumer who is either the founder or co-owner of the brand. Some artisanal fragrance brands include Imaginary Authors, Arquiste, Hiram Green, and Nasomatto
FAQ
Although the term ‘niche perfume’ refers to fragrances created by brands that specialise in perfumes (rather than other goods such as makeup and clothing), many people mistakenly use the term to describe perfumes that smell unique or distinct.
The term ‘niche quality’ is often thrown around on fragrance forums, TikTok, and Reddit threads. Niche quality isn’t actually a technical term, however in this context it’s used as a descriptor for fragrances that are layered and complex, and often invoked to refer to fragrances that use rare ingredients, are produced in small quantities, and have experimental creative concepts. As we discussed above, this is not a criteria for niche fragrances — many of them are produced on a large scale and employ the same (or similar) ingredients and techniques as designer fragrances.
While most designer fragrances are formulated with the intention of pleasing a wide range of people, not all of them smell generic. In the same vein, not all niche perfumes smell novel or complex. Some excellently formulated designer fragrances include Comme des Garçons Wonderwood, Prada Luna Rossa Black, Dior Fahrenheit, Hermès Twilly d’Hermès, and Valentino Born In Roma Donna Green Stravaganza.
Words by T. Angel
Feature image courtesy of Guy Bourdain
