Houbigant
Houbigant was founded in Paris in 1775 by Jean-François Houbigant on rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, and within decades was supplying Marie Antoinette, Napoleon and later Queen Victoria. Its 1882 release Fougère Royale, signed by Paul Parquet, is generally credited with founding the entire fougère family — the first fragrance to use synthetic coumarin in a structural role. The house went through long fallow periods in the twentieth century before being relaunched in the 2000s under Italian ownership; the date of 2010 in some databases reflects that revival rather than the original founding. The current catalogue divides between heritage reissues — Fougère Royale, Quelques Fleurs — and newer compositions in classical French registers.
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.
