The Luxury Perfume That Fascinated John F. Kennedy
Albert Fouquet, the son of a Parisian aristocrat who was part of the select French society at the beginning of the 20th century, succeeded in creating a perfume for personal use with different essences, which later became world-famous. The coveted perfume is called "Eight & Bob".
One summer night in 1937, while on holiday on the Côte d'Azur (France's coastal region on the Ligurian Sea), an American student approached the Parisian aristocrat Albert Fouquet, as he was fascinated by his perfume.
Albert, captivated by the young man's spontaneity, friendliness, and charm, decided to offer him a sample of his cologne, accompanied by an admittedly bold note in which he wrote: "In this bottle is a touch of French glamour that his American personality lacks".
A few months later, Fouquet received a letter from John F. Kennedy - the young student - asking for "eight more samples," and if production permitted, one for his brother Bob.
And although this perfumer, a member of French high society at the turn of the 20th century, had no intention of selling his perfumes made in his chateau, he sent him several boxes decorated in the same pattern as the shirt JFK was wearing when they met and labeled them "Eight & Bob".
Basically, he didn't even quite understand who the perfume was for, and great was his surprise when, a few months later, he began receiving letters from Cary Grant and James Stewart, asking him to sell them a few bottles of what had already become an object of desire in Hollywood.
The Famous "Eight & Bob" Perfume
In the spring of 1939, Albert Fouquet died in a car accident in Biarritz (France), his formula disappearing with him. The Second World War had broken out. Fortunately, his butler hid some of the essences they produced together in a series of books, with the pages cut out to prevent the Nazis from finding them.
Decades later, the butler's family recovered several formulas along with their elaborate production process. And from that point on, another wave of success began, with "Eight & Bob" becoming one of the favorite fragrances of the most elegant men.
The presentation of the fragrance is a book between the pages of which the cologne bottle is hidden. This gives great personality to the perfume, which can only be found in the great luxury perfumeries.
Eight & Bob's Mysterious Aromatic Plant
The particularity of the perfume that fascinated JFK is that it comes from a wild aromatic plant that the alchemist in question discovered in January 1934 during a trip to Chile at the invitation of the Italian ambassador.
Collecting the "Andrea" plant, as it was called, is complex because of the lack of sprout and the altitude at which it flowers. Harvesting can only take place in December and January, with only 7% of the crop selected.
The process is completed in March and April and only then is it known how many units of Eight & Bob can be bottled and how many bottles are allocated to each country. A luxury reserved for the very few.
