Which French perfume house launched 'Shalimar' in 1925?

Guerlain launched Shalimar in 1925, creating one of the defining perfumes of the twentieth century.

The fragrance was composed by Jacques Guerlain for the French perfume house Guerlain. Its name refers to the Shalimar Gardens associated with Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal, the same romantic Mughal story linked to the Taj Mahal. That cultural reference helped give the perfume its exotic, luxurious identity.

There is an important timeline detail: Jacques Guerlain originally created the fragrance in 1921. A naming dispute temporarily forced the house to market it as “No. 90,” and it was re-released under the name Shalimar at the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris. That is why 1925 is treated as its launch year.

Shalimar is especially associated with vanilla and ethylvanillin, alongside bergamot, iris, jasmine, rose, tonka bean and woody notes. It is often described as an oriental fragrance, a historical category that is increasingly being reconsidered in modern perfume language. Chanel, Dior and Yves Saint Laurent also launched influential perfumes, but none of those houses introduced Shalimar.