For Floris, we’re back on Jermyn Street, that bastion of male elegance tucked quietly behind Piccadilly.
Floris have been scenting the gentry since 1730. What’s more, they’ve been doing it from this very shop at 89 Jermyn Street, through wars and blitzes. “There are ghosts here,” says assistant Creative Manager Max Murgia.
It’s a dark but spacious shop. Many perfumeries in London are dinky, but Floris is big enough to accommodate a hundred or so shoppers in the scrum of the post-Christmas sale. The goods are displayed in cabinets made of Spanish mahogany, according to Max; they came from the Great Exhibition of 1861, held at the Crystal Palace.
Quintessentially English, Floris was in fact founded by a Spaniard, Juan Famenias Floris. It began as a barber’s shop, as so many men’s toiletries companies did, and by the 19th Century was catering to the chins of members of the Royal Family. The shop is peppered with Royal warrants, which are carved and painted wooden crests with the insignia of a particular Royal personage shown. It’s still family-owned, and continues its relationship with the Royals, as we’ll see below….
