When Armand Petitjean founded Lancome in 1935 he was already fifty years old, with several careers, several countries, and several lives behind him. These previous lives were to influence the development of the brand's identity, and he was never to forget South America, where he had long worked as an importer of manufactured goods from K u rope; nor would he forget his successful period with the French Foreign Office. And then there was his collaboration with Francois Coty, who had initialed him to the perfumer's subtle art, and from whom he had just parted, to create his own brand.
Coty was renowned as the father of modern perfumery, and had created rare and exclusive fragrances, but in Petitjean's eyes he had committed the ultimate crime: in search of volume, he had gone down-market. Armand Petitjean was going to lake up the challenge; his was to be a prestige brand, or nothing.
And he was not alone. A group of colleagues was ready to undertake ihe adventure with him. Among them were the d'Ornano brothers, the chemist Pierre Velon, and Georges Delhomme, Coty's former design director. All of them had admired their leader, all had felt deceived by the new turn of events.