Balenciaga and Rochas are lovely brands that many people has perhaps forgotten about. But we’ll be hearing about them again soon. Coty has just announced an agreement with the first to develop a new line of fragrances. They hope to replicate the success they’ve had with the Chloé label. Like Chloé, Balenciaga is a brand that has come back into the limelight with fashionistas (thanks in large part to the perseverance of the artistic director, Nicolas Ghesquière) but was still a bit of a sleeping beauty when it came to perfume. Rochas is a different deal. Aside from Eau de Rochas and Femme, the house’s other fragrances, though often admired, tend to be well-kept secrets. The Procter & Gamble group decided to get Rochas back into the limelight by appointing Jean-Michel Duriez as the in-house perfumer. In addition, the group, which had ended the house’s couture activities in 2006, changed its mind last fall. Having surely decided that the name recognition granted by fashion was indispensable to the house’s image, the group will be re-launching a ready-to-wear line this year (according to Elle magazine, Marco Zanini is Rochas’s new artistic director). To stand up to the onslaught of new brands that has been observed the past few years, reviving former fragrance stars is surely an excellent idea. To be continued…