The danger in getting into vintage perfumes is that sooner or later one of them will break your heart. The one that did it to me is La Rose Jacqueminot by Coty. It was one of Francois Coty's first creations, originally released in 1905 (according to Roja Dove. Other sources point to 1906). My bottle is the 1980s reissue of the eau de perfume, so it's not that I'm even yearning for something all that old and unattainable, but knowing that this beauty is gone and would probably not be seen again is painful.
I'm not even a rose person, but this is a very dark and thick rose. I don't know if it ever had lighter top notes that my bottle has lost or if it always been about red wine and roses right from the start. It's a date night perfume, low lights, silk and velvet, black eyeliner and hushed tones. There's quite a bit of spice in its heart which makes me think of faraway places. I smell cardamom, nutmeg and a dirty wood base, a touch of oud, maybe, sandalwood and tobacco. It's rich, romantic, completely devoid of sunshine and so beautiful it makes me dress up to deserve it. La Rose Jacqueminot makes you realize just how much we've lost when Coty turned into a dreck for the masses company it is today, and that's a big part of the heartbreak involved.
Coty's La Rose Jacqueminot was discontinued long ago. Bottles of the later reissue pop up online here and there (there's one right now on eBay, but it's the EDT, so I don't know how it compares to the one I have).
Have you had your heart broken by a vintage perfume? Let's commiserate.
Images:
1939 fashion photo myvintagevogue.com
La Rose Jacqueminot ad from allposters.com
Coty ad from 1943 by Carl Erickson paperpursuits.com
Well, this sounds beautiful! I hope someday I come across a bottle of this.
ReplyDeleteOh, yes. Vintage Bandit. I got hold of some very vintage extrait in excellent condition, and although the present version is nice, it isn't the vintage extrait by any stretch of the imagination.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid to try vintage Rochas Femme, but I will end up doing it sooner or later, and it will certainly break my heart. I love the current version, hopefully I will still do that even after trying the old.
La Rose Jacqueminot sounds fantastic. I'll have to keep an eye out for it.
I just tried La Rose Jacqueminot for the first time. I was expecting a sweet rose-violet but it is not that at all. It's dark, as you say, and complex. I think this is EDT, a sample I bought from a decant seller.
ReplyDeleteI'd say that all of the vintage perfumes cause me to feel dismay -- not exactly heartbreak, but close -- when I try so many of the new ones. The mainstream scents especially smell bizarrely synthetic and unpleasant to me now. It saddens me to think that this is what "perfume" is to so many younger women, part of the coarsening and dumbing-down of, well, practically everything.
I recently got a bottle of La Rose EDP (the newer version as well) and was stunned stupid at how beautiful it is. And now I'm doing what I often do with something beautiful & unattainable... I hardly use it. I know that's crazy, but I'm afraid I'll run out & won't be able to smell it again. Of course I also know I'm dealing with time damaging it or evaporation. I'm facing that now with one of my rare loves, Oh La La by CIRO. I got a full sealed bottle that stays in a cabinet but when I looked the other day evaporation had taken about half. This is the only one I have that's evaporated so drastically. Guess I'll have to get on the ball & go ahead & use it up before it's gone for good. Oh well, it's said nothing good lasts forever. :-(
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I've been curious about this one. All the vintage Coty's I've come across have been great. I agree with Olfacta. After going vintage, the modern ones smell like cheap messes of chemicals that fall apart in about 25 minutes. The backbone is not deep or real enough perhaps. I have Voulez Vous by Dorsay. A deep deep green chypre with leather notes. It smells electrifying real. Heartbreak ahead.
ReplyDeleteCheryl
This is why I haven't gotten into vintage perfumes - I'm afraid I will get my heart broken. Since mainstream fragrances are so boring, I've gotten into the niche scents, which I love. I am certain that vintage will just be more to make me sad about what modern fragrance is.
ReplyDeleteI don't seek out vintage because it is an exercise in heartbreak.
ReplyDeleteI do remember however the wonders of my mothers dressing table: vintage Miss Dior (day wear), Joy (evening), Bandit and Antilope (date night with dad). And the bottle of Eau Sauvage she filched from me one summer because it was "cooling"
The ones available today are nice simulacrums of what was available before, as I remember them.
Yes, I have. And they are Coty fragrances.
ReplyDeleteI recently smelled new Emeraude, and it does not smell much like the Emeraude my favorite Aunt wore in the 1960s. It smelled pale, and too weak to walk. I always thought that if a person crushed emeralds, they would smell almost like Emeraude.
Likewise, L'Origan. My Ma traded off L'Origan with Nina Ricci's L'Air du Temps.
Lawrence in Ohio
Let's look at the positive side, with patience you'll find another bottle. And in the meanwhile be introduced to another beauty , new to your nose. what a wonderful adventure!
ReplyDeleteMuguet de Bois (also Coty) 1960's version just before it went drugstore.
ReplyDeleteand Diorissimo (big sigh) which was my monogamous perfume from 1978 to the mid-'80s, when my husband developed a sensitivity to it, which in hindsight, probably was a reaction to one of the reformulations that utterly destroyed this fragrance.
Given the current state of fragrance chemistry and regulation, I've given up on LotV scents (although Odalisque by Nicolai was wonderful).
Ironically, it's my birth flower, and my mother grew it naturalized outside my bedroom window in Northern Illinois. Alas, I now live in California, where it's too warm to grow Convallaria (they need a hard frost to set).
The perfume of the La Rose Jacqueminot from the 1980's is not even close to the original formulation. The older bottlings reveal a much more simple and beautify contrasted perfume. The Original which was actually created in 1902 is much more rose/ violet. The closest thing on the market today is the original scent Ponds cold cream. It is a La Rose Jacqeminot type. The 1980's La Rose J. , Le Chypre and Les Muses are all very different from their originals. Unfortunately I see many people buying these 1980's Faux Coty Eaux des Parfums. However since I am a true perfumer and have been for 23 years if that is what people like and that is what brings them to a happy place then I am all for it. Keep your eyes out there will be a Rose coming out soon. It cannot be called what Coty called it. It will give the wearer a true sense of what the original smelled like. peace love and happy perfuming.
ReplyDeleteParfums de Nicoläi's Odalisque is a dead ringer for LRJ in my book.
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