Venezia by Laura Biagiotti: launched in 1992. Created by Michel Almairac of Creations Aromatiques.
Travel in your imagination to the glorious Italian city of Venice. Elegant. Artistic. A city afloat in a sea of enchantment. Laura Biagiotti captures the magic in an everlasting moment. Venezia is a seduction of the senses, radiating the enchantment of its spirit, the captivating seduction of its spell. A magical new fragrance as beautiful and mysterious as Venice. An intense floral bouquet touched with rich oriental accents, it will draw you into the rapture of this legendary city. A predominant burst of Wong-Shu blossom, an oriental gardenia long treasured by the Venetians - greatly unfolding into a blend of flowery notes touched with a woody opulence, finally enveloping the sumptuous caress of balsamic tones. It will enchant you. It will captivate you. And, ultimately, it will seduce you. How can you resist?
In bringing the perfume Venezia to the United States, P&G was actually entering the department store market for the first time. The company began selling the Laura Biagiotti perfume in US department stores and selected specialty shops in the fall of 1993. It would be their first prestige fragrance available in the USA.
"Procter & Gamble greatly admires the marketing, packaging and selling techniques of the prestige manufacturers - the Chanels, Lauders and Lancomes," P&G Chairmain Edwin L. Artzt said while introducing the fragrance. "These companies are all selling to a very discerning consumer - a consumer whose needs we must meet, if we are going to become the world leader in cosmetics and fragrances."
Until 1993, P&G was largely a drugstore perfume manufacturer, selling its brands like Incognito, Navy, California, Old Spice and Hugo Boss to the mass merchandisers and supermarkets. Since it entered the cosmetics and fragrance business in 1989, it had acquired or developed fifteen men's and women's fragrance lines with sales in 90 countries, primarily in drug and discount stores. P&G got the rights to Laura Biagiotti fragrances when it acquired Revlon's Betrix cosmetics unit in 1991 In the deal, it also got the Hugo Boss colognes for men.
P&G hoped that with Venezia, they would finally have a place at the department store perfume counters next to the prestige brands. The Venezia fragrance was introduced to nine European countries starting in September 1993. P&G transferred to the United States, two top executives from EuroCos, a division that produced perfume with mostly foreign sales.
Almost half of P&G's cosmetic and fragrance business in Europe was done in department stores, perfumeries and similar outlets. Werner Hoffman, president of EuroCos' USA unit explained that "it is a declared policy of the company to be in prestige cosmetics and fragrances to protect the upper end of the market."
For the US launch, it coincided with Laura Biagiotti's newly opened boutique in Manhattan. Hoping this would help build her image in the US, it would be a great way to promote her fragrances. Her other fragrance for women, Roma, was at that time, not yet available in the USA.
At a meeting with department and specialty stores executives in New York, Artzt said, "We are committed to turning Biagiotti into a meaningful designer fragrance name...(to) help give us the foothold we are seeking in the prestige market," Artzt said.
Venezia was first offered only at Saks Fifth Avenue stores before expanding to other doors such as I. Magnin and Dillards. Plans called for introducing the fragrance at 1,200 department and specialty stores by the end of 1993.
Fragrance Composition:
So what does it smell like? It is classified as a woody floral oriental fragrance for women. It begins with a fresh fruity top of mango, blackcurrant, prune and geranium, followed by a spicy floral heart blended with jasmine, ylang ylang, iris, Chinese wong-shi blossom (osmanthus), melting with the warm, soft oriental base of exotic woods of cedar and sandalwood, resting with balsamic tones of tonka bean and vanilla, heightened with musk.
- Top notes: Indian mango, cassis, green notes, dried plum, osmanthus, peach, bergamot, geranium
- Middle notes: galbanum, carnation, orris, ambergris, cinnamon, jasmine, ylang ylang, cedar, rose
- Base notes: cedar, sandalwood, tonka bean, musk, benzoin, civet, vanilla
Lear's, Volume 6, 1993:
"Venezia. Named after one of Italy's most romantic cities, this new oriental scent was the brainchild of Laura Biagiotti, the Italian fashion designer. Top notes include mango, prune, and black currant, plus an extract of the wong-shi blossom, an oriental flower supposedly first brought to Venice by Marco Polo. Other ingredients include jasmine, cedar, iris, and ambergris as middle notes, and sandalwood, civet, musk, and vanilla as bottom notes.
Bottle:
Presented in a stylized harlequin clown made of a rounded clear bottle topped with a ‘carnival clown’ cap stopper evoking the campanile of San Giorgio Maggiore, designed by Peter Schmidt. Even the bottle displays a Venetian influence: Inspired by the city's legendary Renaissance architecture, the rounded form is embellished with a peaked golden cap adorned with red accents of color. Miniscule flakes of gold floated in the perfume, the promotional materials claimed, "reflecting the flow of the past and the richness of the fragrance."
Venezia carried a high price that was in line with its competitors such as Opium, Obsession, Giorgio, Coco by Chanel and Tresor. Prices for the Venezia collection ranged from $25 for Body Creme to $80 for 1/4 ounce bottle of parfum.
Parfum, the most concentrated form of this captivating scent. As treasured as a priceless piece of art, Parfum is meant to be applied at pulse points to merge and develop with the heat of the body. Infused with the glow of a bygone era, ultra-fine flakes of gold float through the perfume adding as tactile richness to this sumptuous scent.
- Parfum: 0.25 oz originally retailed for $80.
Eau de Parfum Concentre, Natural Spray, is a long lasting concentration of essential oils with a diffused quality. Meant to seduce without overpowering. Less concentrated than perfume, and more concentrated than Eau de Toilette, it unfolds in a delicate balance.
- Eau de Parfum Concentre Natural Spray 0.85 oz originally retailed for $50.
Eau de Toilette, a caress of fragrance meant to be worn lavishly. Developing gently, in a wave of subtleness. A perfect form to blend with perfume for long-lasting scent.
- Eau de Toilette Spray, 0.85 oz, originally retailed for $32.
- Eau de Toilette Spray, 1.7 oz, originally retailed for $47.
- Eau de Toilette Spray, 2.5 oz, originally retailed for $55.
- Eau de Toilette Splash, 1.7 oz, originally retailed for $43.
Body Silk, a rare aura of Venezia meant to linger on the body. Delicate, moisturizing, pampering. A perfect form to blend with perfume for long-lasting scent.
- Body Silk, 6.8 oz, originally retailed for $38.
- Body Silk, 3.4 oz
Shower Gel,1.7 oz, originally retailed for $30.
Beauty Bath, a gentle, creamy foam that cleanses mildly, and softens your skin with the sensuous flair of Venezia.
Body Creme, a perfumed body cream enriched with precious macadamia nut oil.
- Body Creme, 5.19 oz, originally retailed for $30.
Fate of the Fragrance:
Discontinued, date unknown, probably by 1997 as old stock was still being offered, but by discounters.
By 2000, Irma Shorell/Long Lost Perfumes created their own version of the fragrance and released it under the name Venezia. This has also been discontinued.
Laura Biagiotti had reformulated and relaunched Venezia in 2011.
By 2000, Irma Shorell/Long Lost Perfumes created their own version of the fragrance and released it under the name Venezia. This has also been discontinued.
Laura Biagiotti had reformulated and relaunched Venezia in 2011.