A BRIEF PENHALIGON'S HISTORY OF...
WILLIAM'S GREEN

Let’s take a stroll down memory lane, shall we? We do hope you’re wearing sturdy boots (preferably wellies) for this journey into the history of Penhaligon’s signature colour – William's Green – will take us to Egypt via 19th-century France and Victorian Britain, all the way up to the Art Deco movement of the 1920s and Alfred Hitchcock’s 1950s and 60s. 

But first, how to describe 'William's Green'? Well, it all began with Eau de Nil, French for “water of the Nile” - but we prefer to call it the colour of British charm. For a certain type of connoisseur, it’s a light greenish hue that’s more saturated than celadon and less grey than sage. You might also detect tan undertones and a cool blueish cast. It should not, however, be confused with Nile green, which is defined variously as “pale yellow green”, “pale blueish-green” and even “bright emerald green”. Absolutely not.

THE ONLY THING MORE BRITISH THAN TEA AND SARCASM…

The year is 1849. French novelist Gustave Flaubert – he of Madame Bovary fame and a scrupulous devotee of style and aesthetics – embarks on a voyage from Paris to Egypt. His homeland, and indeed the rest of Europe, is in the grips of Egyptomania, inspiring the design and decor of the upper classes.

Upon arrival, Flaubert is mesmerised by the food, the people and the colours. But one hue in particular has him completely enraptured. On a cruise from Alexandria to Cairo, he describes the waters of the Nile “...becoming yellow, then greenish; then the green itself paled, and almost imperceptible, through white, became the blue which made the vault above our heads…” 

The stage was set. Eau de Nil entered the chromatic lexicon in the late 19th-century – just as Egyptomania was hitting its peak.

THE COLOUR OF BRITISH CHARM

Eau de Nil became the perfect antidote to the bright, jewel-toned colours of the mid-19th century. And it set the tone for the lighter colour schemes that were to become au courant at the turn of the century.

But Eau de Nil wasn’t just reserved for fine china and expensive wallpaper. It also became a popular colour in fashion, jewellery, furniture and advertising - a colour in perpetual vogue, even when it's raining.

By the 1950s, Eau de Nil was a veritable classic. It was reportedly Alfred Hitchcock's favourite shade of green. In Rear Window, Grace Kelly dons a sophisticated skirt suit in Eau de Nil, which Hitchcock liked so much, he asked for it to be replicated in The Birds, this time worn by Tippi Hedren.

A COLOUR TO CALL OUR OWN

For Penhaligon's, Eau de Nil harks back to our heritage. The green colour is reminiscent of the willow trees found in the Cornish headlands, the place from which our founder started his defining journey (only without the mud). And, for those fluent in Middle Cornish, you might have noticed that our name also speaks to this; Pen meaning 'head, top, end' and heligen commonly known as 'willow tree' or 'sallow'. Thus, the green colour that we call our own can be linked back to the core of our very existence. 

Penhaligon’s adopted Eau de Nil as its signature colour sometime in the 1920s, when the dusty blue-green was riding a euphoric wave and we started to make a name for ourselves in the world of fine perfumery. For Penhaligon’s, Eau de Nil symbolises glamour, refinement and an awakening of the senses. With it, we harken back to a time of discovery and splendour.

Today, we like to call it 'William's Green' and it can be found most noticeably on our gift boxes. Admittedly a little paler than the shade we used in the beginning, the storied colour still conveys the same history and passion, and is an unmistakable sign of Penhaligon's own brand of Britsh charm.

And just as Flaubert was awestruck by the waters of the Nile, we hope anyone who receives the gift of Penhaligon's will be just as spellbound.