Jean Desprez

The name Jean Desprez is laden with meaning for perfume aficionados. The figure who gave the brand its name was born into a veritable dynasty of gallic perfumers, and was later apprenticed to some of the most legendary perfumers of his time.

This background saw him become a chief perfumer at just 24, and it wasn't long before he was establishing his own eponymous house of fragrance. Jean's rise had been swift, but it would take another four decades – and Paris's arrival into the 60s – for his Bal à Versailles creation to achieve true international acclaim. An oriental fragrance comprised of 300 different ingredients, it fully embodied the brand's approach of viewing 'perfume as art'.