Christian Dior – Diorella

Christian Dior – Diorella

If Diorella had a face, it would be the exquisite beauty of Jane Fonda in Roger Vadim’s 1968 sci-fi, B-movie masterpiece Barbarella. Both reflect a beauty which is disarming, innocent, sensual and yet somewhat strange. Dior released Diorella in 1972, yet another masterpiece created by Edmond Roudnitska.

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Diorella first tempts you with the freshness of lemony greens rounded out with a touch of melon and floral notes, giving the opening a hint of ripeness. Were it to end there, Diorella would have been an attractive, linear warm-weather fragrance, perfect for after a shower. But as is often the case with great beauty, Diorella has an underlying complexity which must be experienced if its beauty is to be fully appreciated.

Regardless of how many times I smell the opening, I am always surprised by a sense of underlying strangeness just beneath the surface, not unlike smelling an approaching storm before one feels the first drop.  As the top dissipates, a savory note of basil begins pushing toward the surface, which seems both out of place and brilliant, hinting at the richness of soil which lies underneath. Diorella is not unlike a flower blooming in reverse, its petals collapsing onto themselves and rolling up into the stem, which then plunges below the surface back into its damp, musky bulb. Diorella takes its time unfolding, each layer becoming increasingly sensual as the earthiness of oakmoss and vetiver settle down into the warmth of patchouli and musk.

If Diorella had sisters (or daughters perhaps), for me they would be Calyx Prescriptives and Cristalle for their green ripeness and Ma Griffe for its mossy magnificence.diorella

Chypre

Notes: Lemon, Peach, Basil, Bergamot, Melon, Green Notes, Honeysuckle, Jasmine, Violet, Rose Bud, Carnation, Cyclamen, Oakmoss, Vanilla, Clove, Sandalwood, Vetiver, Musk, and Patchouli.

Chanel – Cristalle

Chanel – Cristalle

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I largely put myself through college via a combination of scholarships, student loans, and numerous jobs to supplement whatever assistance my parents could provide. While this would teach me the importance of careful planning and budgeting, it left little room for personal items, especially those which were not absolutely vital. Exacerbating the situation was the fact that I was attending college in Manhattan, a city not necessarily known for its reasonable cost of living.

Dedication to my studies was not as difficult for me as it was to some of my classmates. I was enrolled in a very challenging school, in one of the toughest cities of the world. I knew that I wanted to be bright and sharp and to do that in such a competitive environment would really require all of my effort to shine. While this did not reconcile well with my love for fragrance and for Chanel in particular, it was a great motivator for success.

During my first year of school, while attending a chemistry seminar, I met a young woman who ultimately became my best friend. She had a similar upbringing and we shared many of the same goals, both scholastically and personally. This included, not surprisingly, a love for Chanel. Given that we were both struggling to meet our immediate needs, together we devised creative ways of sampling and purchasing a few special items. This largely involved two activities which most of us master in childhood: dress-up and pretend.

My friend and I would save up for bus fare to Bloomingdale’s (which cost a dollar in those days) but made it a point always to walk back home. After all, we only needed to look presentable upon arrival. No one needed to know the many blocks we would walk back to return to campus uptown. To prepare for our excursion, we would put on our best outfits and make ourselves up to be sure we looked the part. We also did our research, which in those days involved pouring through magazines at the library. We needed to ensure that we seemed extremely knowledgeable when we arrived at the fragrance counter.

As we sampled the latest releases (which was not the terrifying task it is today), we came up with creative escape clauses for those we did not like, so as not to put off the eager sales associates who were so generous with the vials of liquid gold we so craved. “Oh, my mother just purchased that for me for my birthday” or “My sister wears that one and I could not bear sharing the same fragrance”. With these intentioned hints, we were often able to come away with considerable samples of the fragrances we did want, having given the impression that we were certainly able to afford any of these fragrances at a moment’s notice.

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It was during one of these excursions that I happened upon Cristalle. It was unlike anything I had ever smelled before, though I have since seen it reincarnated to some extent in the magical Calyx by Sophia Grojsman. Henri Robert’s 1974 masterpiece was perfectly named, for it is the scent of something sharp and bright – precisely everything I longed to emulate. Cristalle cuts a sharp plane of light with its bergamot opening but it is the complexity and range of the green notes which is most alluring. These range from savory to sweet and grass-like thanks to a vetiver note. While the EDP version later introduced by Jacques Polge in 1993 pushes the floral accords into a sweeter, headier territory, the original 1974 release achieves in my opinion a greater balance by not allowing the floral notes to drown out the composition.

While Cristalle is often cited on top ten lists for summer and spring fragrances, it is a wonderful winter scent and shall forever remind me of cold Manhattan days and of the power of imagination to forge our destiny.

Chypre

Notes: lemon, bergamot, basil, petitgrain, galbanum, jonquil, jasmine, hyacinth, oakmoss, rosewood, and vetiver

Coty – La Rose Jacqueminot

Coty – La Rose Jacqueminot

For today’s post, I thought I would focus on a vintage Coty fragrance based on the flower which perhaps more than others has come to symbolize Valentine’s Day: the rose. The Général Jacqueminot rose is an early hybrid believed to have originated in Roussel, France 1853. The Jacqueminot is known for its deep red petals and intoxicating fragrance. It is this rose which was the inspiration behind Francois Coty’s creation La Rose Jacqueminot. While there is some dispute regarding the date of the fragrance’s creation (some sources indicate 1903 while others have stated a later date of 1906) what remains uncontrovertible is this: the success of Coty’s vision of the beauty and depth of this flower.

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In what has become a notoriously brilliant marketing move, legend has it that Francois Coty, unable to find a store willing to carry his newly-developed La Rose Jacqueminot “accidentally” let a bottle of it drop and smash on the floor of one of Paris’s most exclusive department stores, sending the ground-breaking scent wafting through the store. Women soon crowded around, clamoring to purchase the fragrance, but whether these were innocent bystanders or “shoppers” planted by Coty, we will never know. While this may be the stuff of legend, Coty was an astute businessman who went on to become wildly successful.

The fragrance starts out with a bright mix of spicy greens and soft honey, creating the impression of a rosebud preparing to unfurl and reveal its bright petals. While some sources list La Rose Jacqueminot as a rose soliflore, I find this to be far from true. As the fragrance progresses, the honey impression is punctuated by warm Autumn spices of cardamom and clove which make for a dark and complex rose.  As the fragrance warms on the skin, the spices settle and the rose becomes more subdued. Thereafter, as the more animalic basenotes of musk and amber emerge, the effect is more of a chypre tinged with rose than a true rose scent, as though the rose is simply there to temper the complexity of the chypre accords. The fragrance in the Eau de Parfum concentration is fairly long lasting, yet wears close, with a subtle silage. The vintage sample I tested is identical to the bottle displayed below.

laroseFor the wearer accustomed to a more opulent, fruitier rose such as Nahema or YSL’s Paris, or a powdery rose like Ombre Rose, this will be a distinct departure as Jaqueminot appears drier, with more emphasis on the spice and green, plant-like aspects of the flower, than on the lush petals.

 

Notes: Rose, honey, cardamom, clove, musk , and amber.