Curve / Liz Claiborne
1996 American department-store fragrance franchise from Liz Claiborne.
Curve is the flagship fragrance franchise of the Liz Claiborne brand, launched in 1996 and aimed squarely at the American department-store market. The women's eau de parfum, a fruity-floral built around blackberry, mandarin, and peony over cedar and musk, and the men's version created by Jean Claude Delville, both landed during the peak of that decade's clean, approachable fragrance aesthetic and found an immediate mass audience. Over subsequent years the franchise extended into multiple flankers and concentrations — Curve Appeal, Curve Sport, and others — cementing its status as an enduringly recognisable accessible-tier name. The Liz Claiborne brand was eventually acquired by Authentic Brands Group, under whose stewardship the Curve line is currently licensed to Elizabeth Arden for manufacturing and distribution. The franchise continues to be sold through mainstream retail channels in the United States and internationally, valued primarily for the familiarity and nostalgia of its 1990s originals.
DNA over time
Each column is an era. Each colored band shows that family’s share of accord weight across every perfume the house released in that window. Bigger band = the house leaned harder on that family.
