For the 30th anniversary of the now iconic fragrance, and in honour of the passing of Thierry Mugler, Gunnhild Bjørnsti recalls moments from the original launch of the perfume and speaks with Olivier Cresp, nose behind the scent, for a walk down memory lane
Three decades ago, in 1992, a star was born — literally. A star-shaped flacon with light blue fragrance was about to make perfume history. The name? Angel. The aroma? Divine.
Thierry Mugler, iconic fashion designer, was the mind who envisioned this new perfume that would make women fall in love with the angelic scent — again and again. As someone fond of French culture I had the honour to be in Paris for the launch of the fragrance and it was like experiencing a work of art, with the expertise of the ingredients, the personality of the scent, the link to the bottle design and the vision of the creator — everything, a divine creation.
Diana Ross and Thierry Mugler at the launch of the fragrance at Saks 5th Ave. in New York. Photo: Getty
The star-shaped flacon was, like the formula, a challenge to create. The sensitive parts were the sharp edges that tended to break off during the cooling process of the glass. Mr. Mugler insisted, as always, to find a solution for his chosen star shape that represented his lucky symbol. “The star has brought me good luck since I was a child. It is my fetish symbol,” he said back in the day. The glass-savvy factory Verrerie Brosse — who were also behind several famous flacons like Chanel No. 5, Shalimar, L’Air du Temps and Opium — managed to find a solution to produce the 5-pointed glass star, a now collector's item.
Onto the scent, the content had to be light blue, according to Mugler. “For me, the blue of the sky is the art of achieving magic with a touch of dreamlike fantasy,” he revealed about his favourite colour. With this in mind, Mugler did something few have achieved — create a new category in perfumery, the gourmand. Angel had for the first time a chocolate-like aroma that women either loved or hated. Fortunately, most of them loved the evocative fragrance. It was feminine and sexy with a strong character. Thierry Mugler designed clothes for women that looked like power women, amazons and goddesses, Angel became their fragrant accessory.
Olivier Cresp, nose behind the fragrance. Photo: Firmenich
The unveiling of the new fragrance featuring Thierry's iconic star ring. Photo: Getty
Mugler in the launch of the fragrance back in 1992. Photo: Getty
The story behind the scent
Thirty years later, I spoke with Olivier Cresp, the master perfumer that composed the formula and had the savoir faire to give birth to Mr. Mugler’s dream. Cresp, now at Firmenich, has very fond memories of working with Thierry Mugler. “He was a true genius in fashion, photography and forms in the broad sense. I have always been surprised by his ability to project this through his many projects. He was a great visionary. 2022 is the year of Angel's 30th birthday, which will allow everyone to honour him by staying in touch through perfume,” Cresp says.
Developing Angel took time. Over 600 trials, experimenting and testing before the designer was satisfied. In the process, Olivier and Thierry got to know each other. “Working alongside him was a privilege and a unique moment of which I am very proud and happy,” Cresp reminisces. Of course, the news of his passing came hard upon him and the few lines he wrote to honour his now gone friend quickly were picked up by thousands online. “I was very surprised by all the activity from the young generation, because those born after the year 2000 don’t know his fashion, but they know Mugler by his fragrance and by Angel. The link of a name with the fragrance is fascinating, and I feel humble about it. After he passed, I can see forever more how amazing the chance I had of building this fragrance with him was,” Cresp states.
From there, he goes a bit deeper into his relationship with the famous designer during their time together working on the Angel assignment. “Thierry was very well liked, he was loved by his relatives and friends. He was kind and humble, not a show man nor a big ego, never making a big buzz about himself. He also had a deep respect for creative people,” he recalls. “ During the Angel project he was at the top of his career within fashion. It was a rare chance to meet or even approach him, it was unique for me to be given carte blanche for his first fragrance. The one thing he was clear about was the bottle, he loved stars and always wore a ring with a beautiful star, I think it was in silver. Also, his favourite colour was pale blue like the sky — his team was respectful of keeping the star-shaped bottle and the colour of the juice.”
Display for the launch of Angel in 1992. Photo: Getty
A sweet scent that changed perfume history
Cresp then goes on to recall how it was when they first started working on the scent, “I was deeply honoured by this opportunity but what he imagined was also overwhelming — it was unique, avant garde and futuristic. After one week, he smelled some of my samples, he wanted to bring something powerful to the formula, and I brought in patchou to the base with vanilla and 5-6 other ingredients. Patchou is an ingredient like patchouli. He fell in love with it.” After that moment, Thierry and Olivier developed and evolved the formula, and tried more flowery elements that didn’t end up working. To match the blue colour with a certain watery effect with the vanilla and patchouli, turned out to be strange and too much.
“After some time when we got a bit struck against the wall, Mugler said to me: ‘I will spend the whole afternoon with you and tell you about my memories of smells.’ Then he came, sat down in my office and started explaining how he was born in Strasbourg, his childhood memories in the kitchen with his grandma, drinking something pleasant. Most often she prepared milk with chocolate and sugar every morning and some kind of croissant with raisins, a specialty in the Alsace region. He then told me how he would go to local markets and smell almonds, peanuts, sugars and sugar cotton. Also he talked about his travels and his adventures as a photographer, especially around Russia,” he says. From there, Olivier tried to pick up most of his ideas and went back to work at the lab.
He took the patchou and the vanilla and twisted in something edible, at least those were his thoughts. Honey and praline were some of the contenders, this way he blended his experiences with Mugler’s thoughts and memories. After 620 experiments he finally achieved something he was pleased with, “something amazing with a real punch”. It was then, with a fragrance with a characteristic sillage, that Angel was born.
Thierry Mugler in the original launch of Angel back in 1992. Photo: Getty
A new family is born
With the birth of Angel a new fragrance type or family was created — the gourmand. The newest fragrance family is characteristic for having edible notes, think caramel, chocolate, milk, candy, and more, usually with a generous help of vanilla.
“We were pioneers and not only became Angel, a worldwide successful perfume, but people got addicted to it. It was a way of opening a futuristic platform, fitting Mugler’s fashion and his innovative universe in one. A new and unique perfume category, just like Chanel No. 5 who introduced aldehydes in 1921,” explains Creps. “Angel is timeless, and the first niche fragrance with limited launches and even more limited availability.”
From there, Angel’s marketing approach was part of the success it had. “There was an open truck with nice girls inside offering samples of the scent,” he remembers, “we first introduced it in trendy and cool places like Paris, St Tropez and Cannes, always looking for the future with a different approach”. The word of mouth clearly worked and Angel took off and with Jerry Hall’s ad, and the mainstream pick-up of the scent, Angel was recognised as the masterpiece it was and still is.
Now, 30 years later, Angel is still growing, spreading its wings and blessing new generations.