BALMY spring day in Paris recently brought an invitation to lunch in an apartment on the Quai d'Orsay. Home to Count Hubert d'Ornano and his wife Isabelle, the high ceilinged rooms are filled to capacity with furniture, bibelots and pictures, many of them portraits of the couple's respective ancestors. The countess's family is Polish, and although her childhood was spent in Spain, she continues to maintain close links with the country of her forbears. Impeccably groomed, both she and her husband have for many years been included in the International Best Dressed List hall of fame.
The d'Ornanos are a close couple, spending the weekends together at their country house where they breed racehorses. During the week, they also work alongside one another at Sisley, the cosmetics business they established 21 years ago. He is the company's chief executive, the countess is vice chairman, their son Philippe is executive vice president and one of their daughters acts as model in any photographic shoots. Sisley is, quite literally, a family affair.
Cosmetics are a long standing interest of the d'Ornanos. The present count's father was one of the founders of Lancome in the 1930s, before going on to establish another prestigious house, Orlane. So when Hubert d'Ornano decided to set up a new business in 1976, it was almost inevitable that he would turn to the same field. But he was not interested merely in repeating an already successful formula. What distinguished Sisley from the start was the plant basis of all its products.
In the 1990s, of course, plant extracts and an emphasis on natural ingredients are widely used - and touted - by every cosmetics house. Twenty one years ago, however, before the word alternative became a compliment, the idea of skincare products derived from plants instead of chemicals was highly unusual. Sisley employs the term phytocosmetology to describe the essence of the company's policy; taking botanical materials and applying them to cosmetic research.
UNEXPECTEDLY, the d'Ornanos prefer to play down the "green" character of their business. Yes, every item in the Sisley range has a strong botanic base, but they like to talk of the scientists working at Sisley research laboratories just outside Paris where each new product is developed. Advancing methods of extraction appears to be almost as important as discovering fresh plant extracts for Sisley. For the d'Ornanos, skincare is a science in which natural materials may be used for their beneficial effects and not simply because they are ideologically fashionable right now.
Because so much time is spent at the Sisley laboratories investigating the potential advantages of different plants, the resultant products can contain startling combinations. There is, for example, Eau de Campagne, one of the company's two scents: a variety of herbs and in particular tomato leaf forms the base of its unusual fragrance. Then there is a moisturiser called Hydra Flash which includes oils of sesame, germ of corn and karite nut butter among its list of ingredients.
No matter how impressive the scientific research behind Sisley's range, the line eventually depends on the quality of its results. On this front, the company is doing remarkably well; every year during the present decade, its global sales have increased by more than 20 per cent. Between 1990 and 1995, the business grew by just over 75 per cent. Sisley, which debuted in Ireland earlier this year, is now sold in more than 40 countries around the world and will open new accounts in both Russia and China during 1997. France, accounts for approximately one third of its total sales but Asia is catching up fast, especially South Korea and Japan.
The d'Ornanos, who personally oversee all new products as well as expansion into fresh markets, insist that they are not interested in expansion for its own sake. The count says his researchers are told constantly not to consider time or expense in their development work. And his wife explains that their success is primarily based on customer loyalty: once a woman has tried Sisley, she tends never to consider anything else. And anyone who meets Isabelle d'Ornano will agree she is testimony to the efficacy of the family skincare line. Her appearance offers a more persuasive argument in favour of Sisley than any amount of smart marketing talk.