Parfum Inconnu(1910)

Parfum Inconnu, the Unknown Perfume, is a mixed-floral composition from Houbigant perfumer Robert Bienaime, opening on bergamot before a blended floral heart, closing on musk and woods. The evocative, mysterious naming, deliberately withholding any specific identity for the scent, was an unusual choice for the period, when most fragrances took names tied directly to a flower, a place, or a person, and suggests an attempt to intrigue rather than describe. Bienaime had begun working with Houbigant in this period and would go on to create several of the house's early-20th-century releases, including the more thoroughly documented Quelques Fleurs two years later. As with several of Houbigant's smaller releases from this window, the specific floral composition of the heart was not recorded in detail that survives to the present. It represents a curious, atmospherically-named entry in Houbigant's steady stream of early-1910s output.