Rochas

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History of the house

Rochas was founded in 1925 in Paris (France) by Marcel Rochas (1902-1955), a young French couturier. He opened a first couture boutique and later moved the house to avenue Matignon during the 1930s. The young maison took its place within the landscape of inter-war Parisian haute couture, alongside houses such as Schiaparelli and Lanvin. Marcel Rochas became known for his work on the silhouette of the 1940s, including the so-called guepiere corset associated with the late inter-war years.

The perfume activity of the house began in 1936 with Audace, Air Jeune and Avenue Matignon, and came into its own in 1944 with the release of Femme, composed by Edmond Roudnitska. Roudnitska was then a young perfumer at the start of a career that would later make him one of the central figures of twentieth-century French perfumery, signing Diorissimo, Eau d'Hermès and Eau Sauvage in the following decades. Femme was a fruity chypre built around plum, oakmoss, patchouli and bergamot, and Marcel Rochas offered the perfume to his wife Hélène. The perfume appeared in Paris in the final months of the Second World War.

Marcel Rochas died prematurely in Paris in 1955. His wife Hélène Rochas (1927-2011) took over the direction of the house and steered its development for the following decades. Under her direction, the perfume arm grew into the core activity of the maison. Madame Rochas launched in 1960, an aldehydic floral composition signed by Guy Robert that became a second major signature of the house. The couture activity, by contrast, gradually wound down through the 1950s and 1960s, and perfume took over as the principal line of business.

The decades that followed brought several additional olfactory landmarks. Eau de Rochas arrived in 1970, a classical citrus composition signed by Nicolas Mamounas that became one of the most durable commercial successes of the house. Mystere followed in 1978, a more confidential green chypre. In 1987, the house released Byzance, a floral oriental attributed to Nicolas Mamounas, and in 1989 a reformulation of Femme signed by Olivier Cresp after the evolution of IFRA standards and shifts in market expectations. In 1994, the house released Tocade, composed by Maurice Roucel, a bold rose vanilla floral gourmand that helped shape the gourmand floral writing of the decade.

Ownership of the Rochas brand shifted several times from the 1980s onward. Wella acquired Rochas during the 1980s. In 2003, the German cosmetics conglomerate was itself absorbed by Procter and Gamble, which inherited the Rochas fragrance assets as part of the deal. In 2015, Interparfums, a Paris-listed fragrance licensing group, acquired the Rochas brand, fragrance and fashion alike, from Procter and Gamble and has operated the catalog ever since. Its ready-to-wear line, run in-house from 2024 after a licensing period, ended with the fall-winter 2025 collection. The Rochas family has not held a controlling stake in the house for several decades, but the historical catalog, organized around Femme, Madame Rochas, Eau de Rochas and Tocade, remains in continuous distribution.

Since the 2015 acquisition by Interparfums, the Rochas perfume business has operated as a brand owned by a Paris-listed fragrance group.

Notable perfumes

The Rochas catalog covers close to nine decades of perfume activity, from the first perfumes of 1936 to the contemporary releases edited by Interparfums. The seven compositions below were released by the house between 1944 and 1994.

Olfactory signature

Rochas built its olfactory identity around the fruity chypre, inherited directly from Femme (1944) and more broadly from the writing of Edmond Roudnitska, whose work shaped post-war French perfumery. The plum, oakmoss, patchouli and bergamot structure of Femme remains a recognizable Rochas marker, carried over into the 1989 reformulation signed by Olivier Cresp and into the editorial reading of the catalog across decades.

Beyond the fruity chypre, the catalog cultivates several registers anchored in the French tradition. Madame Rochas (1960) places the house in the lineage of structured white aldehydic florals. Eau de Rochas (1970) installs a durable presence within the classical citrus category, where it remains one of the long-running references of the house. Tocade (1994) explores the rose vanilla gourmand accord that anticipated several floral trends of the 2000s.

Rochas belongs to twentieth-century French perfumery in the strict sense. The historical compositions favor natural raw materials, structured accords and the codified families of classical French writing (chypre, aldehydic floral, citrus, oriental). Its heritage catalog retains a distinct editorial reading built on stable compositions and named perfumers, which keeps it cited in the long history of French perfume houses.

A heritage French perfume house anchored by the Roudnitska fruity chypre of Femme (1944), now operated by Interparfums and read as part of twentieth-century French perfumery.

Key characteristics

Frequently asked questions

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