Thierry Mugler Vintage Perfumes

In this post: batchcodes, boxes, labels, and everything you really need to identify Thierry Mugler perfumes from the very beginning.

(Andre's raw notes, year 2015, December. Please note that this writing dates back to the end of 2015 and does not take into account everything that happened after 2016. It is therefore to be understood as "truly vintage" Mugler perfumes)

.....phone call to Piatigorsky (again) asking for some infos about Thierry Mugler perfumes. He has good memories, especially about the first perfume that came out: "Angel" (year 1992)

Piatigorsky says it was a milestone in the field of perfumery, Angel was perhaps the first scent to use "gourmand" notes. Famous writer Michael Edwards, in his book "Perfume Legends" dedicates several pages to this perfume (a news to check). Luca Turin's Perfume Guide gives an exceptional 5 stars. It is likely that in the future it will become a collector's item. "Angel" was the first scent to inaugurate the "olfactive dessert" fashion.

"Angel" was an unusual perfume, because after its launch it had an immense, growing success and at the end of the 90s in France it reached the sales of "Chanel No. 5". One of the consequences was that Thierry Mugler's perfumes became much more famous than the clothes and accessoires, to the point that, shortly after 2000, the Thierry Mugler fashion line declined, and only the perfumes remained (very unusual, news to check, again).

Obviously the great success of "Angel" has given rise to an infinite number of clones and, unfortunately, fakes. The first rule is therefore to make sure you have an authentic perfume in your hands.

How to recognize CHRISTIAN DIOR perfumes.

Now, let's consider another great perfume house.

Christian Dior's are among the most famous (and counterfeited…) scents in the whole world and, unfortunately, will give you some trouble when you want to determine the manifacturing years.

Difficulties derive from the unusual batch code system - and to the fact that until 1995 Christian Dior in many cases did not carved or printed serial numbers on the box, as many other houses did, but only by printing it on the external cellophane/wrap membrane. This means that when you remove the cellophane, the batch number is lost. 
Plus, consider that printed numbers on cellophane are easily erased......
Fortunately, the " batch-code" , i.e. the serial number , was also printed on the bottom of the bottle.

As always, the most important thing in “guessing a date” on a bottle is not knowing the exact month and year , but the historical period.
Old perfumes were usually made using the best materials, and without being subject to restrictions whatsoever. 
As commonly said, "the older, the better"