As I round up this deep dive into the New Zealand perfumery scene the third part of my exploration will lean into the retail side and two pioneering businesses that have been instrumental in shaping the perfume landscape in New Zealand.

One cannot begin to explore the current state of affairs before giving reference to one of the great retailers of the past. In an era that stretched from its grand opening in 1880 by Marianne Smith, to 2025, Smith and Caughey department store, located on Auckland’s Queen Street, was the epitome of high-class fashion and taste. A department store of several floors, it remained an NZ institution until its closure in June last year. A turndown attributed to changing markets, internet forces and the post pandemic trends of working from home and online shopping contributed to its closure. I mention it here as it was ‘the’ place to go to purchase ‘Luxury’ goods including perfumes from all the major perfume houses for many decades. The perfumery and cosmetic counters full of the creations of the major French and later American perfume houses, dominated the market. It was the place you went for Chanel, Guerlain, Givenchy, Calvin Klein, Halston, Dior, Estee Lauder and all.

The wonderful displays were enticing and during the 1970’s and the 1980’s it was at these counters that the sea change in New Zealand retail of perfumery occurred, before this era perfume was seen as a rare, formal and completely luxurious item, mainly given as a gift to mark an important occasion. The 1970’s however saw the explosion of bold perfumes like YSL Rive Gauche and the iconic Opium, perfume turned into an everyday ‘essential’ of self-expression and the ‘modern liberated woman’ in New Zealand society. Due to the isolated nature of the country and the terms imposed during that time for import licences, perfumes were seen as expensive items reserved for gifting.

Smith and Caughey and a few other department stores around New Zealand held their ground for many decades, being the reference point for perfumery purchases. As early as 1989 however a change of scene was on the horizon, the couple team of Francis Hooper and Dame Denise L’Estrange-Corbett created a brand known as World or more simply as it is iconically known, World and World Beauty.

They had both been involved in the world of fashion in London having met there, Francis was born in Hong Kong and Denise in New Zealand before emigrating to the UK and London at a young age. Denise had originally trained at the London College of Fashion and Francis had worked for John Galliano, Re Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons and Kansai Yamamoto. The World Brand, which started as an idea that grew out of a conversation the pair had, late one night at a bus stop, began as an eclectic clothing design brand with a 400-dollar budget and a small rented shop in Auckland and gradually grew and drew in a cult following. By 1990 Francis and Denise had moved the brand to a larger store and it was then that they started to add in Object d’Art and the curious and eccentric items, both antique and modern that is a signature for World. As an avant-garde fashion brand, boundary-pushing, it has also evolved to become the premier destination and absolute authority for niche, luxury and artisanal perfumes in New Zealand. Unlike the department stores or mainstream retailers today like Mecca or Sephora, World Beauty completely avoids mass market and designer brands instead focusing as a high-end ‘Apothecary Delights’ purveyor, curating hard to find historic and hype niche perfume houses from around the globe and within New Zealand.

Benny Castles joined World as a 18-year-old, in 2001, with an eye and talent for design, it became obvious early on to Frances and Denise that here was a talent to nurture and over the years he progressed from a design apprentice to the head menswear designer and is now a Director and Co-Owner. Benny, however, also has a real deep seated and enduring passion for the perfumery side of World, World Beauty. He is one of New Zealand’s foremost experts on international niche perfumes, traveling extensively, as Frances used to, to hand pick the perfume and candle brands that will enter the New Zealand market through the World stores. His philosophy in both fashion and perfume is to reject strict rules, to wear whatever gives you a ‘sense of self’ and to use imagination.

Together they have also established the World Beauty Perfume Society, an inclusive community for New Zealand perfume enthusiasts that host launch evenings and perfume related events, often with invited brand owners or perfumers from overseas. I have been fortunate to attend some of these events, it is always a chance to mingle and meet international brand owners and perfumers in private surroundings with an event atmosphere.

The creation of World Beauty as a flagship for indie, niche and artisanal perfumery has opened this world up for Kiwis. The far way location of the country means that the chance to enjoy and purchase these artistic perfumes would be incredibly difficult without Frances Hooper and Benny Castles bringing them into the country. To step inside a World Beauty Store is quite the experience, it’s really like entering into an alternative reality, a place full of curated extraordinary perfumes, colour, quirky clothing and curious, exceptional antique objects. Their other large contribution to the culture of niche perfumery in NZ is by making this world of artistic perfumes available to New Zealanders, they have also been instrumental as a catalyst for locally grown perfumers and brands to emerge, confident in their uniqueness and with the knowledge that there is a dedicated market curious to explore their creations.

At World, there is so much to discover, so much to smell and one can always find a perfume that’s unique and rare to find in New Zealand. Frances and Benny are dedicated to bringing in perfumes from many of the Niche/artisanal brands that now exist and can be found at the many professional fairs in Europe alongside New Zealand brands like Frater – which were mentioned in my previous article. World Beauty have their main stores in Auckland with others situated as outlets within other locations.

World Beauty are at the forefront of some of the key trends emerging from the New Zealand market, firstly as previously discussed the rapidly expanding flush of local, New Zealand home grown artisanal perfumers and a thriving boutique retail scene for international artisanal perfumes. The ‘Fragrance-Frenzy’ effect has even reached as far as New Zealand shores, the fastest growing demographic in the New Zealand fragrance market is younger buyers, particularly males aged 13 to 25. This trend is being driven by TikTok influencers and social media celebrities, these consumers are turning away from the mass-market and embracing complex, higher concentration and more original brands, like those favoured by World Beauty. World Beauty are the exclusive ‘gate-keepers’ for some of the world’s most prestigious niche fragrance houses.

An icon within New Zealand fashion and perfume circles, World Beauty continues to be the place to go if you are looking for the unique, wearable artistry that is niche perfumery. Frances, Denise and Benny built a flagship in so many ways and in doing so, put NZ on the retail map for niche and artistic perfumes and also managed to create a real community that endures.

To conclude this series, for a country that is seemingly quite isolated geographically from the fast-paced worlds of perfumery and niche artistry, New Zealand is enjoying an upsurge in not only interest from consumers but also with brands and homegrown perfumers of note. It is a region of the world to look out for, with its no-limits, innovative and creative approaches to perfume artistry and also with the rising extraction and utilisation of unique botanicals present only in New Zealand. It is a market we will continue to see expand and develop.