Bandit(1944)

Created by Germaine Cellier for Robert Piguet, Bandit opens on bergamot and green notes, moves through a heart of jasmine, rose, and orris, and closes on leather, oakmoss, musk, and vetiver. Cellier reportedly built the fragrance around the scent of leather gloves she carried, and its stark, smoky, green-leather structure, with almost none of the sweetness typical of contemporary women's perfumery, made it one of the most radically androgynous and assertive fragrances of its era. It was launched during the liberation of Paris in 1944, presented at a fashion show where models reportedly wore black masks, reinforcing the fragrance's outlaw, transgressive theme suggested by its name. Bandit is now considered one of the most important leather chypres ever created and a foundational reference for later assertive, non-floral feminine perfumery, including Cellier's own later work on Vent Vert and Jolie Madame.