La Dogaresse (1923)

Launched in 1923, La Dogaresse by Lanvin captured the fascination with travel, history, and exotic grandeur that defined the early 1920s. The name, pronounced as "lah doh-gah-RESS", comes from the French title given to the wife of the Doge, the ruler of Venice during the height of the Venetian Republic. The word itself conjures the elegance of Venetian palaces, shimmering canals, and masked balls. For Jeanne Lanvin, who often drew inspiration from her travels, “La Dogaresse” embodied a spirit of opulence and refinement that resonated both in her couture and her fragrances. The name was more than a passing fancy—Lanvin also christened several of her gowns with Venetian references, making the perfume part of a larger creative vision.

The cultural echoes of the name would have been familiar to a fashionable audience of the time. In 1921, the opera La Dogaresse by Vincent Davico had introduced the title into the broader artistic imagination. To wear a perfume called La Dogaresse was to participate in this world of romanticized Venice—ornate palazzos reflected in rippling waters, sumptuous silks and heavy velvets, and the gilded aura of Renaissance grandeur translated into modern elegance. For women of the 1920s, the perfume’s name suggested aristocratic poise and cultivated sophistication, a way of embodying history while remaining firmly within the spirit of modernity.

The fragrance was created by Madame Marie Zede, whose work with Lanvin often bridged classical inspirations with contemporary tastes. The early 1920s, known in France as Les Années Folles, or the “Crazy Years,” were a time of artistic experimentation and luxury. Women were casting off Edwardian restrictions, embracing shorter hemlines, dropped waists, and the liberating fashions of the Jazz Age. Perfumery, too, was undergoing a transformation: the heavy florals of the 19th century were giving way to modern abstractions, aldehydic brilliance, and orientals that captured the allure of distant lands. Against this backdrop, La Dogaresse would have been seen as refined, cosmopolitan, and slightly theatrical—perfectly in line with the fascination for exoticism that permeated fashion, décor, and scent.

In olfactory terms, the name “La Dogaresse” suggests richness, complexity, and baroque layers of scent. One might imagine velvety florals woven with oriental resins, perhaps tempered with sparkling citrus or herbaceous accents to echo Venice’s role as a crossroads of East and West. If Lanvin’s La Dogaresse evoked the Venetian palazzo in perfume form, it would have conveyed both majesty and mystery: a fragrance designed not for the ingénue, but for the woman who wished to project elegance, intrigue, and cultivated taste.

Within the context of its time, La Dogaresse aligned with prevailing trends that celebrated luxury and exotic references, yet it also stood out through its explicitly Venetian theme, setting it apart from the more generalized orientals and florals of the day. It offered women not just a perfume, but an atmosphere—an invitation to step into the role of the Doge’s consort, surrounded by beauty, ceremony, and the grandeur of history itself.

Fragrance Composition:

So what does it smell like?  I have no notes on this perfume, I would need a sample to tell you what it smells like.

Bottles:

In 1927, the perfume was housed inside of the Sevres porcelain boule flacons. They were made to order and contained extracts of Lanvin's leading perfumes - Lajea, La Dogaresse, My Sin, Le Chypre, Comme Ci Comme Ca, J'En Raffole and later, the most famous of all, Arpege.

First presented in the Baccarat clear crystal "cheval" flacon. 

Baccarat flacon for La Dogaresse, photo by Museu del Perfum

Then sold in the Boule flacon, most notably the gilded version. The gilded version is the typical black glass perfume bottle but lavishly decorated with gilt finish over all, exposing only the Lanvin mother-daughter logo, in fine condition, with a paper label on base. This gilt bottle was available for a short time and only to Lanvin clients.

Height 3 1/2 in. 

Fate of the Fragrance:

Discontinued, probably by 1930.