Sensory Perception: Anne-Lise Cremona Reinvents Henry Jacques

You’re no doubt familiar with haute couture, but how about haute parfumerie? That’s what you find at Henry Jacques, the jewel box of a perfume boutique on Two Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

The ultra exclusive French perfumery was founded in the 1970s by Henry Jacques and his wife Yvette, creating bespoke fragrances for private clients. When it was on the brink of closure, their daughter Anne-Lise Cremona stepped in, and has led the company in opening exquisite retail boutiques around the world.

On Episode 4 of Rodeo Drive–The Podcast, Season 4, Cremona, now global CEO, talks to Lyn Winter about bringing perfume into the 21st century, while preserving the brand's storied history and tradition, 

Henry Jacques takes cues from French haute couture, explains Cremona, which hues to tradition while creating a bridge to innovation. “We produce everything in house. We do a lot of things by hand, and we keep using a certain know-how that doesn't exist commonly today.” 

Meanwhile, the company has opened a state of the art laboratory with more than 1200 components of perfume, and produced cutting edge delivery systems for perfume like the titanium Clic-Clac for solid scents.

She talks about collaborations, with her uncle, Richard Mille, and Rafael Nadal and his wife Maria, and with the maison’s designer Christophe Tollemer on the branding of the company and the luxurious, wood-paneled, apartment-style interiors that offer visitors a sense of mystery and discovery.  “It’s perhaps also the future of retail to open a door and enter a completely new world, where you are transported by a universe,” Cremona says.

Cremona also talks about why the company no longer has the traditional, singular “nose,” and offers thoughts on outmoded gender distinctions in perfume. One evening in Italy, she recounts, her son wore La Nuit, a flowery perfume made of white flowers and orange blossom.  “Everybody was crazy in love with the spirit, the perfume he wore. And who could imagine that this perfume would suit a young boy?”

Finally, Cremona shares her personal wardrobe of scents, the joy of keeping the business in the family, and the endless delight of working with Henry Jacques perfumes, that in addition to being “haute” are also labeled “vivante.” “I like things to be living. And perfume helps you to feel alive. And that's why it's haute parfumerie vivante. We're here, we exist. It's possible.”

The Henry Jacques boutique is located on Two Rodeo Drive at 204 N Rodeo Drive.

Season 4 of Rodeo Drive – The Podcast is presented by the Rodeo Drive Committee with the support of The Hayman Family, Two Rodeo Drive, Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel, and the Beverly Hills Conference & Visitors Bureau.

Season 4 Credits:

Executive Producer and Host: Lyn Winter

On behalf of the Rodeo Drive Committee: Kathy Gohari

Scriptwriter and Editorial Advisor: Frances Anderton

Editor and Videographer: Hans Fjellestad

Theme music by Brian Banks

Production Assistant: Isabelle Alfonso.

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