Flower Shop Perfumes Co. Launches First In-House Brand Inspired By Legendary Nightclub El Morocco

You may never get to sip a highball next to Lucille Ball in a chic Manhattan nightclub, but El Morocco Perfumery wants to make you feel like you have.

It’s the first in-house brand from Flower Shop Perfumes Co., the fragrance house co-founded by industry vet Isaac Lekach and his wife, jewelry designer Lillian Shalom, a celebrity favorite. Inspired by the New York City club, a beloved haunt of stars like Eva Gabor, Humphrey Bogart and Ball during its run from 1931 to 1970, El Morocco Perfumery is starting with five fragrances—154, Gala, Lulu’s Back In Town, Highball (for Lucius B.) and Two Cigarettes In The Dark—in a $135 discovery set with 2-ml. vials of each scent.

The set is housed in an embossed silver-tone metal compact reminiscent of the vintage cigarette cases popular with El Morocco’s smoking patrons and will be available on the brand’s website and at select niche perfumery shops, including Scent Bar and its e-commerce destination Luckyscent. Full-size versions of the fragrances will launch later this year. Every purchase will come with an El Morocco pocket square.

El Morocco was an “instant yes” for Scent Bar and Luckyscent, which also carry Flower Shop’s licensed projects Parfum Cirque du Soleil and Portals Parfums by Melanie Martinez, according to co-founder Franco Wright. He says, “The way they’ve taken inspiration from an iconic New York club and translated it into such a beautifully crafted fragrance collection is nothing short of awe-inspiring. They outdid themselves, truly created a keepsake that will live on far beyond the samples.”

El Morocco’s debut fragrances were developed in partnership with master perfumers, many of whom have previously collaborated with Flower Shop Perfumes. Céline Barel of IFF created Lulu’s Back In Town; Rodrigo Flores-Roux of Givaudan is behind Highball (for Lucius B.); Alexis Grugeon of Givaudan created 154; Yann Vasnier of Givaudan concocted Two Cigarettes In The Dark; and Barel and Laurent Le Guernec of IFF co-created Gala.

The brief to the perfumers was to evoke the past through a contemporary lens. Notes in El Morocco’s fragrances like Moroccan mint and tea leaves, leather, oakmoss and incense nod to the club’s atmosphere, from smoky rooms to late-night cocktails.

After more than 20 years in the fragrance industry, Lekach decided it was the right time to create his company’s own brand and take control of the entire process. “You take inventory of the world of perfume, the way things are trending, what people are valuing, also how challenging it is to do licenses effectively now. It’s way more complicated,” he says. “Everything was pointing in the direction of, it’s time to do your own thing.”

Zebras are an unofficial mascot of the Lekach-Shalom family, and Shalom kept noticing striking zebra-patterned upholstery in old films she and her husband were watching obsessively a few years ago. The pair had movie marathons with films from the Golden Age of Hollywood featuring silver screen icons like Bogart and Rita Hayworth. Seeing the striking pattern sent Shalom down a rabbit hole to discover where the scenes were shot. She learned that the blue and white zebra print was a signature of El Morocco’s banquettes—the pattern was even trademarked by club owner John Perona.

“After years of researching and collecting original items from El Morocco, its elegance and history began to shape both the brand and the collection,” says Shalom. “Whether it was the club itself, its patrons or the songs that were performed inside the club, every facet contributed to our ability to tell a complete, compelling story through the scent experience.”

Shalom and Lekach’s collection of original items from the club includes matchbooks, ashtrays, stemware and original photographs taken inside the club by its official photographer, Jerome Zerbe. The fruits of Shalom and Lekach’s collecting labors, especially the exquisite photographs, are proudly displayed on El Morocco’s Instagram account. The brand has developed a free print-only magazine to educate customers on the history of the club and encourage deliberate engagement with the brand and its world.

Lekach calls Perona a “marketing genius,” who made El Morocco into an iconic and exclusive A-list hangout by creating the concept of the “velvet rope” and seating unwelcome patrons in a section called “Siberia” to maintain hype. Cigarette culture was a big part of El Morocco’s ambiance. Beyond the cigarette case-inspired packaging for the discovery set, the ceramic bottles for the forthcoming full-size El Morocco fragrances are fashioned after the ornate match strikers that adorned the tables of clubs like El Morocco in the 1950s.

Wright believes the lengths Lekach and Shalom have gone to create an immersive brand experience for El Morocco will inspire sales. “Customers can be attracted purely to scent and be less focused on packaging or storytelling,” says Wright. “However, if the story, branding, concept and perfume all align, and the hype is real, it definitely becomes a unicorn moment.”