Parfums Rue Dee

Rue Dee Parfums was one of the many small but ambitious perfume houses that briefly flourished in New York during the glamorous interwar years, only to disappear quietly by the end of the Second World War. Based on East 30th Street in New York City, the company appears to have been active primarily during the mid-1930s, producing a small but intriguing collection of fragrances that are now exceptionally scarce and highly sought after by collectors of vintage American perfumery. Surviving bottles, advertisements, and references to the house are uncommon, suggesting that Rue Dee operated on a relatively modest scale and likely ceased business sometime during or shortly after the wartime years, when shortages of alcohol, glass, imported raw materials, and luxury demand devastated many independent perfume firms.

The company first emerged publicly in 1934. Trade journals such as Drug and Cosmetic Industry announced the organization of the Rue Dee Company in New York, noting that it had been formed specifically to introduce a new line of perfumes to the American market. Particularly notable was the involvement of Rudolph Samuels, formerly stylist and advertising manager for the great French couturier Lucien Lelong. Samuels had spent eight years with Lelong, whose perfumes and fashion house epitomized Parisian sophistication during the late 1920s and early 1930s. His transition to Rue Dee suggests that the company sought to position itself as a fashionable, cosmopolitan perfume house with strong French-inspired styling despite being American-based. Contemporary trade publications listed the company’s New York office at the prestigious address of 655 Fifth Avenue, emphasizing its aspirational luxury identity.

Rue Dee’s perfumes reflected the romantic and theatrical naming conventions popular during the Depression era, when fragrance served as an accessible form of escapism and glamour. One of the earliest launches was Glamour in 1934, a name perfectly suited to the era’s fascination with Hollywood sophistication and silver-screen elegance. Another fragrance introduced that same year was Ermine, described as a delicate, sweet spicy gardenia perfume. The name likely evoked white ermine fur — long associated with aristocracy, evening wear, and luxury — suggesting a creamy floral composition softened with warm spice and velvety undertones. Gardenia perfumes during the 1930s were often designed to feel opulent and feminine, rich with lactonic floral notes balanced by clove, carnation, or soft oriental nuances.

Also launched in 1934 was Plaid, described charmingly as a “flippant, perky perfume.” The name is particularly evocative of the playful sportswear fashions becoming increasingly fashionable during the decade. Plaid textiles had associations with youthful informality, modernity, and spirited femininity, and the perfume likely attempted to capture that mood in olfactory form. Unlike the darker, more dramatic orientals of the period, Plaid was probably intended as a lively daytime fragrance aimed at younger women who embraced the freer, more casual styles emerging during the mid-1930s.

In 1935, Rue Dee released Witching Hour, perhaps the most atmospheric title in their small catalog. Described as a very light and sweet floral perfume, the name contrasted intriguingly with the fragrance itself. Rather than a dark oriental or smoky composition, Witching Hour appears to have leaned toward soft romantic florals, perhaps emphasizing ethereal sweetness and delicacy instead of mystery in the gothic sense. Perfume names during this period often traded heavily on fantasy, romance, and emotional suggestion, and Witching Hour perfectly embodied that fascination with mood and imagination.

Although Rue Dee Parfums never achieved the enduring fame of larger American or French houses, the company remains fascinating precisely because of its obscurity. It represents a distinctly New York interpretation of 1930s perfume culture: stylish, aspirational, and deeply influenced by Parisian couture aesthetics, yet adapted for the American market during a difficult economic era. Today, surviving Rue Dee bottles and packaging are rarely encountered, making them prized discoveries for collectors of vintage perfume history. Their scarcity, combined with the evocative names and the brief lifespan of the company, gives the house an almost ghostlike presence within the broader history of twentieth-century perfumery.

The perfumes of Rue Dee:

• 1934 Glamour
• 1934 Ermine (a delicate, sweet spicy gardenia perfume)
• 1934 Plaid (a flippant, perky perfume)
• 1935 Witching Hour (very light and sweet floral)