Lightyears Collection
Balalaika Cologne
(1945)
Lucien Lelong

Click on image to enlarge Balalaika cologne by Lucien Lelong

The hob bottle shown here is far from the original bottle used for Balalaika but the Lelong perfume business was not a consistent success. For Lelong, who flooded the market with his fragrances, there were but a small number of true winners and a larger number of offerings that, while clever and amusing — and relatively expensive — never translated into a blockbuster business.

The fragrances lingered on, after Lelong's talented couture apprentices had long since gone on to open their own design houses.

Balalaika, in the bottle shown here, is an example of a Lelong fragrance that hung on for years but failed to light a big fire at the sales counter

Click on image to enlarge Balalaika cologne by Lucien Lelong

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