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Award-winning perfumes and the story of oud
Which perfume won the Oscars of fragrance? Since 1973 The Fragrance Foundation has crowned the fragrances of the year in New York. Below are the confirmed recent winners, the Hall of Fame, the milestones of perfume history and the ancient saga of oud.
Fragrance of the Year: the confirmed winners (2023 to 2025)
| Year | Category | Fragrance | House |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Women's Luxury | Sunkissed Goddess | Kilian Paris |
| 2025 | Women's Prestige | Vanilla Candy Rock Sugar 42 | Kayali |
| 2025 | Men's Luxury | Bois Pacifique | Tom Ford |
| 2025 | Men's Prestige | Polo '67 Eau de Toilette | Ralph Lauren |
| 2025 | Universal Luxury | Desert Dawn | Byredo |
| 2025 | Universal Prestige | Replica Afternoon Delight | Maison Margiela |
| 2025 | Ultra Luxury | Black Lacquer | Tom Ford |
| 2024 | Women's Luxury | Born in Roma Donna Intense | Valentino |
| 2024 | Women's Prestige | Goddess | Burberry |
| 2024 | Men's Luxury | Acqua di Giò Parfum | Giorgio Armani |
| 2024 | Universal Luxury | Vanilla Sex | Tom Ford |
| 2024 | Universal Prestige | Un Jardin à Cythère | Hermès |
| 2024 | Popular | Lychee Rose | Nest New York |
| 2023 | Women's Luxury | Gabrielle Chanel Parfum | Chanel |
| 2023 | Women's Prestige | Paradoxe | Prada |
| 2023 | Men's Luxury | Noir Extreme Parfum | Tom Ford |
| 2023 | Men's Prestige | Terre d'Hermès Eau Givrée | Hermès |
| 2023 | Universal Luxury | The Alchemist's Garden Tears From The Moon | Gucci |
| 2023 | Universal Prestige | Replica When The Rain Stops | Maison Margiela |
| 2023 | Popular | Golden Nectar | Nest New York |
Fragrance Hall of Fame: the consecrated classics
| Year | Fragrance | House |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 Million Eau de Toilette | Rabanne |
| 2024 | Daisy Eau de Toilette | Marc Jacobs |
| 2023 | Flowerbomb Eau de Parfum | Viktor&Rolf |
Perfumery milestones, from 1889 to the oud boom
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1889 | Jicky, by Aimé Guerlain: considered the first modern perfume, a pioneer of synthetic ingredients and the oldest still in continuous production |
| 1921 | Chanel No. 5, created by Ernest Beaux and launched on May 5: aldehydes in an unprecedented dose defined the abstract perfume of the 20th century |
| 1949 | Six houses tied to Elizabeth Arden, Coty, Guerlain, Helena Rubinstein, Chanel and Parfums Weil found The Fragrance Foundation in New York |
| 1951 | Haji Ajmal Ali, who started out harvesting agarwood in the forests of Assam, India, founds Ajmal, today an oud giant headquartered in Dubai |
| 1973 | First FiFi Awards ceremony, Annette Green's idea, at the Plaza hotel: Chanel No. 19 takes the most successful launch award |
| 1979 | Abdul Razzaque Kalsekar opens the first Rasasi shop in Murshid Bazar, Dubai |
| 1983 | At the request of Sultan Qaboos, Prince Sayyid Hamad bin Hamoud Al Busaidi founds Amouage in Muscat, Oman, conceived as the gift of kings |
| 2002 | Yves Saint Laurent launches M7, by Jacques Cavallier and Alberto Morillas, under Tom Ford's creative direction: the first oud from a major Western brand |
The Oscars of perfume have existed since 1973
The Fragrance Foundation was founded in New York in 1949 by six houses tied to Elizabeth Arden, Coty, Guerlain, Helena Rubinstein, Chanel and Parfums Weil, to educate the American public about fragrance. In 1973, at the initiative of president Annette Green, the annual awards nicknamed the Oscars of the fragrance industry were born: the first ceremony, in the ballroom of the Plaza hotel, had 250 guests and crowned Chanel No. 19. The 2023 edition was the 50th. Besides the Fragrance of the Year categories, the awards keep a Fragrance Hall of Fame, which each year immortalizes a time-proven classic, as with Flowerbomb (2023), Daisy (2024) and 1 Million (2025). The table above lists only winners we checked against the official archive and the trade press.
The ancient attar tradition and the tree worth more than gold
Long before Paris, perfumery spoke Arabic and Persian. Around the year 1000, the Persian polymath Ibn Sina (Avicenna) perfected the steam distillation of rose petals, separating essential oil from rose water, the technique that still sustains attars, the alcohol-free perfume oils of the Islamic world. The most mythical raw material of that tradition is oud: the dark resin that the Aquilaria tree of Southeast Asia only produces when infected by a fungus, which happens in roughly 2% of wild trees. That rarity explains the price: first-grade agarwood can reach US$100,000 per kilogram, more expensive than gold, and pure aged oud oil trades as liquid gold. The West only woke up to oud in 2002, when Yves Saint Laurent's M7, signed by Jacques Cavallier and Alberto Morillas under Tom Ford's creative direction, put the note on the mass market. It flopped commercially at the time, but it redrew the map: according to Fragrantica, there were 27 fragrances with oud before M7, and hundreds appeared after it.
The Arabian houses that keep the tradition
While oud was becoming fashionable in Europe, the Gulf houses already lived on it. Ajmal was born in 1951 from the journey of Haji Ajmal Ali, a rice farmer from Assam who started out harvesting agarwood in the forest and built an empire now headquartered in Dubai. Rasasi was opened in 1979 by Abdul Razzaque Kalsekar in Murshid Bazar, Dubai. And Amouage, founded in 1983 in Muscat at the request of Sultan Qaboos, was conceived as the gift of kings, pairing Omani frankincense with French perfumers. Brands on this page are mentioned in editorial, nominative use; this site is independent and is not affiliated with The Fragrance Foundation or any perfume house.
Sources: fragrance.org (official winners archive), Perfumer & Flavorist, Robb Report, Fashionista and WWD (2023 to 2025 editions), Wikipedia (FiFi Awards, The Fragrance Foundation, Chanel No. 5, Jicky, Amouage, history of perfume), Fragrantica and cafleurebon (YSL M7), familybusinesshistories.org and Gulf News (Ajmal), rasasi.com (Rasasi), Plantations International (agarwood prices). Snapshot of July 2026.
Last updated: · Methodology and sources