François Coty

François Coty was born Joseph Marie François Spoturno in Ajaccio, Corsica in 1874. His mother, Marie-Adolphine-Françoise Coti [1852-1877], died when he was only three and his father disappeared a few years later in unknown circumstances, so the boy was largely raised by his great-grand mother, Marie-Josephe Spoturno. When Marie-Josephe died in 1887, François was moved to Marseilles to live with his grandmother, Anna Maria Belone Spoturno. What he did while in her care is unclear but de Sarrhan suggests that he was selling lace and other fancy goods around the streets of Marseilles rather than going to school (de Sarran, 1990, p. 8). Between 1893 and 1898, François underwent military service, after which he moved to Paris to work as an unpaid assistant for Emmanuel Arène, a senator for Corsica. In 1900, François met and married Yvonne Alexandrine Le Baron [1882-1965]. It was also around this time that he was introduced to Raymond Goëry who owned a pharmacy on the Avenue de la Motte-Piquet. It appears to have been Goëry who triggered François’ interest in creating perfumes. Returning to Paris at the end of 1903, Coty had his first real success with a new perfume, La Rose Jacqueminot, developed with two synthetics he had come across while at Grasse and rose essence he had bought cheaply from a bankrupt essential oil business near to the Chiris factory. The perfume went on sale at the Les Grands Magasins du Louvre department store in 1903-4. According to legend, almost certainly untrue, Coty secured this first order for La Rose Jacqueminot after smashing a bottle of it on the floor of the store to generate interest from customers. Where Coty got the money to fund all of these ventures is something of a mystery but financial support may have came from a variety of sources including: the Chiris family; François Carnot [1872-1960] related through marriage to the Chiris family; the Dubois Le Baron family; and Coty’s grandmother, Anna Marie Belone Spoturno (Toledano & Coty, 2009, p. 63). Credit must be given to Coty for formulating La Rose Jacqueminot, L’Origan (1905) and the numerous perfumes that followed, and to his wife, Yvonne Alexandrine Le Baron, for her part in helping to establish the business, but Coty’s good fortune was due in part to an alignment of scientific and economic developments. On the supply side, the use of volatile solvents to extract usable oils, flavours and fragrances – a technique pioneered by the Chiris family – and the replacement of many natural odours with synthetics had reduced the cost of making perfumes and made it easier to manufacture them in bulk. On the demand side, the introduction and growth of the department store – a trend that began in Paris – had made many luxury goods, such as perfumes and jewellery, available to the growing middle class. Coty’s democratisation of perfume was not without its detractors in France. In 1890, Aimé Guerlain and Charles Gallet had organised an association of perfume manufacturers, Le Syndicat National de la Parfumerie Française, which was joined by prestigious perfume houses such as L.T. Piver, Guerlain, and Houbigant. Coty was consistently refused membership (Jones, 2010, p. 33). Above: 1919 Parfums et Produits de Beauté d’Ernest Coty. Established in 1917, the company copied Coty fragrances and packaging until François Coty took them to court. In 1905, François founded Coty S.A. (Société Anonyme) in Paris and the following year he established a new retail outlet at 23 Place Vendôme not far from René Lalique at number 24. Lalique would soon be developing coordinated packaging designs – bottles, labels and boxes – for Coty perfumes and for some Coty cosmetics. Coty perfumes were exported from France very early on. He was quick to recognise the importance of the American market and, by 1905, his perfumes were being imported into the United States. By 1910, Coty subsidiaries had been established in Moscow, London and New York. Above: 1911 Coty Building at 7