Gendarme to create 3 scents for Rustan's

You know Gendarme as the men’s cologne adored by celebrities both male and female, from Tom Cruise and Bill Clinton to Debra Messing and Sharon Stone.

You’ve probably heard that Gendarme is a godsend for asthmatics and allergy sufferers alike; thanks to its pure, natural ingredients it is one the few fragrances they can wear.

You may even be aware that Gendarme is the French word for “policeman,” an appropriate moniker for such a subtle yet arresting scent.

But did you know that this holy grail of fresh scents is going to make a line exclusively for Rustan’s? Yes, for the venerable department store’s 60th anniversary, Gendarme will create three limited-edition fragrances only Rustan’s customers will be privy to.

Jonathan Risco, president of Gendarme Fragrances, broke this piece of news on a recent trip to Manila, where he launched Gendarme’s latest collection at Rustan’s Makati’s Grand Mall, a new beauty boutique in the area near the bridgeway to Glorietta 2.

With its masculine vibe — leather chairs and lots of wood — the Gendarme section of the boutique is patterned after The Gendarmerie, the brand’s spa for men in WeHo (West Hollywood), but its comfortable, open feel will also invite women in. According to Risco, women now make up about 40 percent of Gendarme’s market, and they’ve taken over the once all-male Gendarmerie just as they’ve co-opted the gents’ scent.

Gendarme doesn’t advertise and hasn’t given its scents away for free endorsements, so how did it acquire such a huge celebrity following? Risco attributes it to their celeb-heavy WeHo location and great word of mouth. Some other celebs he’s met because they personally bought the juice are Robert Downey Jr., LL Cool J, Janet Jackson and Queen Latifah (“Her real name is Diane.”) “Pat O’Brien (of The Insider and Access Hollywood) hugged Chad Lowe, who said, ‘Hey, you’re wearing my fragrance!’ Risco says. “They both bought it themselves.”

Even Gendarme’s origins have acquired the glamour of Hollywood myth. Legend has it that founder Topper Schroeder, a record-industry honcho, had a friend who made fragrances for Chanel and sneaked him one prototype scent to try. “Topper loved it, and he’s allergic to everything,” Risco says. Schroeder ran out of his scent stash in 1982, but unfortunately Chanel never produced the fragrance. “He called his friend, who said, “I can’t do it anymore. If Chanel knew, they’d fire me.”

So Schroeder approached a perfume maker to replicate his favorite scent … unfortunately the minimum order they would take was enough perfume oil to make 700 bottles of perfume. So the music boss started giving bottles away to recording artists like Elton John and John Denver, all the while thinking, “But I don’t have 700 friends!”

One happy consequence, though, was that Topper was always getting stopped and asked, “What fragrance are you wearing?” Buyers from Fred Segal, a chic and trendy California department store, told him they loved the stuff and wanted to sell it. Thus, Gendarme was born. With 700 pieces, Schroeder thought, why not? “It was sold out in the first week,” Risco recalls. “We manufactured 100 more, which sold out in four days.”

Barneys New York, Fred Segal’s New York equivalent, unsuccessfully tried to find out who Gendarme’s owner was for two years until Risco set foot in the store. Since then, Gendarme has been Barneys’ No. 1-selling fragrance for the last 18 years, and the line is also sold at prestige department stores like Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s.

Risco holds Rustan’s in such high esteem that Gendarme chose to partner with them and enter the Philippine market even before markets like Hong Kong and China, which still don’t have Gendarme boutiques. “They told me there are two beautiful Filipino women here to see you,” remembers Risco. “And Rhoda (Campos-Aldanese) is very persuasive. Many Filipinos have somebody that lives in the States, so there’s a connection there. And Rustan’s offers the best of the best and they’re very involved.”

The secret to Gendarme’s success is still the fragrance (the original eau de cologne is still the bestseller, with recent addition Gendarme Sky a close second), so what are the ingredients in their winning formula? Risco reveals there’s bergamot, jasmine, lavender and green grass in there — “always freshness and crispness.”

What I like about Gendarme is that while it retains its essential character, it also works with your body chemistry so it doesn’t smell exactly the same on everybody, creating an attractive yet individual aura. Basically you smell like you, only a whole lot better.

Since the original formula is so subtle, you also have the freedom to layer it. “Sharon Stone mentioned us in the National Enquirer and said she layers Gendarme and Chanel No. 5 together,” notes Risco, who does the same thing: “Gendarme is the base for whatever I wear.”

He quickly introduces us to the rest of Gendarme’s collection:

“Sky smells like ice, it’s very exhilarating.

“Gendarme V is very green, based as it is on the grass vetiver. My favorite used to be Guerlain Vetiver, but this is better.

“Gendarme Green has notes of basil, green grass and cucumber.

“Grabazzi, which has cola berry, is the spiciest fragrance we’ve ever made: it’s very dressy, very tuxedo.

“Carriere is for women who have been stealing their man’s Gendarme; it’s the perfume version of Gendarme with a more concentrated oil, and it’s also available as a very luxurious body cream. Talk about a changing of the tides: now men are buying Carriere!”

Shaving cream is the newest product of the company, which introduced bath products three years ago. With medicinal ingredients that help hair grow out so men don’t get ingrowns, “this just glides,” Jonathan says. “It’s the best shave cream you’ve ever had.”

Coming soon is a line of five fragrances called Fleur, and, of course, that exclusive line for Rustan’s. Though it plans to stay true to its credo of “fresh and crisp,” Gendarme has recently been experimenting with more edible notes. Though the results are not exactly gourmand, the unintended effect is they might make you salivate over the wearer.

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All Gendarme products are available at Rustan’s Makati Grand Mall, the boutique located in the bridgeway going to Glorietta 2.