The story of Azzaro
Born in Tunis to Italian parents, Loris Azzaro settled in Paris and opened his house in 1967. His sequinned dresses and evening jewellery dressed the Paris social set of the 1970s. Fragrance followed quickly and became central: in 1978 Azzaro Pour Homme laid down a generous aromatic fougère, anisic and full of lavender, that became one of the best-selling masculines of its era. Chrome, in 1996, switched register with the very clean citrus-musk freshness typical of that decade. The designer died in 2003, but the perfumes carried on. After years within the Clarins group, the fragrance business moved to L'Oréal around 2020. By then, Wanted (2016) and Wanted by Night (2018) had given the brand a new generation of warmer, spicier best-sellers.
An olfactory signature
Azzaro speaks mainly to men, with two dominant accents. One is the classic fougère: lavender, anise and bergamot in Azzaro Pour Homme, backed by iris, basil and oakmoss. The other is the clean freshness of Chrome, built from lemon, neroli and musk. The Wanted line adds a more modern warmth, ginger and cardamom on one side, cinnamon, incense, tobacco and tonka on the other. The through-line is a frank, legible masculinity designed to be noticed.
Which Azzaro perfume to choose?
For a barbershop classic, Azzaro Pour Homme is still the benchmark, especially if you like lavender and oakmoss. Chrome suits anyone after an everyday citrus freshness. Wanted, a spicy wood with tonka, works almost anywhere. For evenings and winter, Wanted by Night, an eau de parfum of cinnamon and tobacco, brings more depth and projection.
