Definition
Eau de parfum as a category label entered common usage in the 1970s and 1980s when houses began differentiating their portfolios by concentration. Before this, the main categories were parfum, eau de toilette, and eau de cologne. The EDP filled a market gap between the luxury-positioned parfum extrait and the everyday EDT.
In niche perfumery, EDP is now the most common format for flagship releases, with many houses offering only one concentration per fragrance.
How it works
The EDP format became the dominant niche perfumery concentration in the 1990s and 2000s as houses sought to offer high-performance formulas that differentiated from mainstream eaux de toilette. The higher concentration allows richer, more complex middle and base note development, and typically provides 6 to 10 hours of perceptible wear (Wikipedia EN, Perfume, accessed 2026-05-27).
Some houses release both EDT and EDP versions of the same formula; critical consensus is that these are often distinct compositions optimized for their concentration rather than mere dilutions of a single formula. Frederic Malle's portfolio is structured around EDP and parfum concentrations as quality signals; Serge Lutens uses EDP as standard for his export collection (Fragrantica, accessed 2026-05-27).