Local writer explores a sweet-smelling empire

Charlottesville writer Roulhac B. Toledano’s latest book — a biography of French perfume magnate Francois Coty — was originally meant to focus mainly on fragrance.

Instead, “Francois Coty: Fragrance, Power, Money” explores much more. It offers a portrait of France’s first billionaire, a largely forgotten eccentric who built a globe-spanning perfume empire in the early 20th century.

“It was supposed to be mostly about perfume,” Toledano said. “As it turned out, it was a little bit about perfume, a great deal about France’s most important businessman, architecture, philanthropy, collecting, mistresses and on and on and on.”

Toledano, author of more than a dozen books, co-wrote the story of Coty with the magnate’s granddaughter-in-law, Elizabeth Coty, who lives in Luray and was the former director of cosmetics and fragrance for Coty Inc. The duo appeared Sunday afternoon at the Jefferson Madison Regional Library as part of the Virginia Festival of the Book.

Toledano offered the crowd a few tidbits about Coty’s bizarre and often controversial life. Coty founded his perfume company in 1904 at the age of 29. Within months, as the story goes, his perfume was sold across France.

A few years later, his company operated factories in 85 countries. His perfume was the most expensive in the world between 1915 and 1925. And he pioneered the “vertical business” model, in which he owned and controlled nearly every step of production, distribution and marketing of his products.

Coty amassed a fortune larger than France’s other tycoons of the day, including leaders of such industries as tire manufacturing, steel and automobiles.

“He was the smartest perfumer in the world,” Toledano said. “He was the smartest businessman in the world.”

With his fortune, Coty spent an estimated 20 million francs each month on his “projects.” These included numerous real estate acquisitions, several of which were some of France’s most historically significant properties, including Louveciennes, which was once home to Madam du Barry, a famous mistress of Louis XV’s.

Coty had his own share of mistresses. Toledano said she believes he had somewhere between 12 and 20 lovers other than his wife. Coty fathered five children with his favorite mistress.

Irritated at a rival who owned a newspaper, Coty bought the newspaper Le Figaro. He also bought the working-class paper L’Ami du Peuple. He used his publications to push his agenda, which was notably anti-communist and anti-Semitic.

Coty was also highly nationalistic. When Charles Lindbergh landed his airplane in France in 1927, Coty was outraged that someone other than a Frenchman would make the world’s first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris. Coty then financed a cross-ocean flight of his own.

“Despite his missteps, through it all, he thought he was doing it for the glory of France,” said Toledano, an architectural historian on international renown.

In her talk, Toledano did not mention Blanche Krubner’s favorite Coty anecdote, in which Coty sent his private army to overthrow the French government. When asked for more details, Krubner, a friend of Toledano’s who helped edit the book, replied: “You’ll have to read the book.”

When pressed further, Krubner gave one detail behind Coty’s attempted coup. “It happened after he kind of lost his mind,” she said.

Coty Inc. still produces perfume today, though rarely under its original name. Pfizer bought the company in 1960 and eventually sold it to a German firm in the 1990s. “Oh, [Coty] hated the Germans, even though he made millions off them,” Toledano said.

The company now operates out of New York City and produces celebrity perfumes, including fragrances by Jennifer Lopez and Sarah Jessica Parker, as well as fashion houses, such as Calvin Klein.

Sunday was the last day of the five-day festival, in its 15th year.