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Life of Colleen: Jean Patou Wiki-ness
Jean Patou Wiki-ness
posted by Colleen Shirazi
on
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
at 12:01 AM (Pacific)
From the Jean Patou wiki. (I've taken the liberty of breaking the paragraph into smaller ones.)
... The best known of Patou's perfumes is "Joy," a heavy floral scent, based on the most precious rose and jasmine, that remained the costliest perfume in the world, until the House of Patou introduced "1000" (a heavy, earthy floral perfume, based on a rare osmanthus) in the late 1970s.
Before Joy, the House of Patou released many other perfumes, many which were to celebrate particular events. For example, Normandie (an oriental forerunner to perfumes such as Yves Saint Laurent's Opium) celebrated the French ocean liner of the same name, and Vacances (a mixture of green and lilac notes) celebrated the first French paid national holidays.
Other Patou perfumes of the same time were Amour Amour (the forerunner of Joy, using the same rose notes, but without the jasmine), Adieu Sagesse, Que Sais Je (these three were released at the same time; Patou's idea was that the light floral Que Sais Je was suitable for blondes; the tart, spicy Adieu Sagesse for redheads, and the heavy floral Amour Amour for brunettes), L'Heure Attendue (a wonderful, unique oriental perfume), Divine Folie (a floral vanilla), Caline (a wonderful chypre perfume, similar to the much later Diorling by Christian Dior), Moment Supreme (a perfume based on lavender), Colony (which had a strong pineapple note), Chaldee (Patou's Huile de Chaldee sun oil had become so popular, many customers were buying it purely for its smell, therefore, Chaldee the perfume (a dry musk) was produced), Le Sien (one of the first perfumes for men and women), and Cocktail (literally a floral cocktail).
All these, with the exception of Le Sien, were re-released during the 1980s (under the name Ma Collection), and were available until recently, all in a 50ml Eau de Toilette Spray, 75ml Eau de Toilette bottle, and 30ml pure perfume bottle, each with a unique art deco box. A Jean Patou silk scarf, printed in the same pattern as the box was included with the pure perfume.
Joy remains the world's second best-selling scent (the first is Chanel No. 5), Joy was created by Henri Alméras for Patou at the height of the Great Depression (1935) for Patou's former clients who could no longer afford his haute couture clothes.
Well dang...I don't remember any of this happening in the 1980's. What a fantasy! Loads o' Patou perfumes, boxed with silk scarves yet.
I've smelled only Sublime and Joy, of this group (where the heck was I in the 1980's? still can't fathom this). They're both...warm, friendly scents. Along with the trendier Montale, I can say--based on two scents alone--that I like Patou the perfume house. There's something personal about the creations, in the manner good software is personal, or good shoes.
image courtesy www.passionforperfume.comLabels: perfume
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