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 a pattern complementing that of 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 clothing line. I’ve only smelled Joy once, a few years ago. It’s gorgeous. It’s the kind of thing that I would probably never think myself “fabulous” enough to wear. But I haven’t smelled it in a long time, so who knows, my assessment might be different if I were to smell it again now.

I have never gotten to be friends with No. 5. I suspect she looks down her nose at me. 😛 Aldehydes and I are not the best of buddies, but we get along occasionally. I’ve only smelled modern formulations, though, and I’ve never smelled the vintage.Of course, there are many more perfumes from the house of Jean Patou that are wonderful, and you can even take a look at our article Best In Show Jean Patou Fragrances. Let's not forget 1000 (1972), Sublime (1992), and Patou For Ever, created by Jean Kerleo. But Joy is, or should be, considered an indelible cultural heritage of perfume history and French culture. Born in Paris in 1887 into a family of tanners based in Picardy, Jean-Alexandre Patou, renamed Jean Patou, first joined the army before turning his eye to fashion. His father was a tanner of chamois for luxury leather goods and his mother, a housewife. He trained in fur before founding his first fashion house at the age of 23, then created his own brand in Paris in 1914. The First World War forced him to put his brand on hold. After returning from the front, where he discovered the beauty of the East and the Balkans, he re-opened his house as a family business, alongside his parents, his sister, Madeline, and her husband. Joy" was voted "Scent of the Century" by the public at the Fragrance Foundation FiFi Awards in 2000, beating its rival " Chanel No. 5". [7]

My mother wore No. 5, so I always *liked* it – it just didn’t feel like it could be mine. It took maybe forty years and trying it in vintage extrait for it to feel like it could be me. I fell hard for the glorious segment where the heart slides into the drydown. And sometimes nothing else will do. Joy I can’t manage – something about the jasmine in it, or maybe the jasmine-civet combo, is unbearably ladyparts on me. Just cannot do it. Far from commercial scents, Joy is an artisanal-fragrance intended to express the peak of years of refined sensory art by Jean Patou. It has been available in shops since 1930. This long-lasting parfum lasts throughout the day with just a few dabs since the percentage of essences is quite high. Most eaux de parfum have between 15-20%. Oriental-scents, such as this one, are indulgent and exotic, fusing aromas such as vanilla, musk and spices together and oftentimes featuring an amber accord. Add a Little Romance Old Spice is probably the only iconic product for men (in cologne or aftershave version) that was widely used. And it certainly does not have the glamour of a Joy, a N0.5, or a Shalimar. Jean Patou is a prestigious, historic luxury brand. "The costliest perfume in the world": Jean Patou himself already did the work for you! (ie. brand equity, market positioning). For the informed, Jean Patou stands up there with Chanel. Christian Dior was there too. Around when 'Christian Dior' rebranded to 'Dior', it adopted a mass marketing strategy. All good, but that left a gap in the LVMH prestige brand offerings. (Which seems to be partially filled by brand Exclusifs now.)The press release was ecstatic. “Grasse Rose, in both Essence and Absolute form, as well as heady Jasmine, blend with these delectable fruits [bergamot and mandarin] in a vibrant smile. Warm and creamy sandalwood embraces us in softness.” That Dior needs to hire a good copywriter is obvious, but even more so the fact that besides the name, Dior also took the main idea of Jean Patou’s Joy, rose and jasmine. What would be the result, I wondered?

I think Shalimar suffers from being too well known, like the Mona Lisa. You know what it looks like, so you don’t really see. At least, that’s how I used to approach the fragrance. “Shalimar, sure, it’s great,” I thought, but I didn’t feel the love. However, once I was able to experience Shalimar as a perfume rather than an icon, I craved its tangy lemon, sweet vanilla, and animalic wood. Now I regularly wear the Eau de Toilette and savor it, especially in the autumn. Christian Dior Miss Dior Like much art, some fragrances — especially the complex classics — take time to appreciate fully. At first, you might even find them off-putting. But as you spend time with each fragrance, you begin to appreciate its peculiar nature, its singular beauty. That describes how I’ve felt about the perfumes I’m calling the Big Five. Henri Alméras, a perfumer that had worked before for Paul Poiret, was the creator of all the Patou perfumes that I've mentioned, as well as Chaldée, a fragrance that came to the world firstly as a scented tanning oil, and knew great success, especially in coastal places like Deauville and Monte-Carlo. The perfume branch of the Patou company was growing and it had subsidiaries in New York, as well as fields of roses and jasmine in Grasse, for it's own use in perfumes. "This control of every stage of production is another example of the care Jean Patou put into everything. It also reflects his fierce desire for independence, the better to run his house as he saw fit," references Emmanuelle Polle. Joy: Early 2000’s EdT spray bottle. Joy is in my Mom’s Cadre of Fragrances because my Dad smelled it on a Sample card in Saks and was Deliriously in love with it. So he got it as a Mother’s Day present for my Mom. Joy comes off like a Magnificent, if not slightly Flamboyant Doyenne Benefactor of the Opera or the Museum! It’s Not exactly Old-Fashioned, but it is resolutely Classical! It’s Not Fusty, but it is, Plush, Dense, Operatic, More Maria Callas than Joan Sutherland. More Jessye Norman than Renee Fleming. Within that however, It relaxes as it matures on the skin and it begins to Smoulder, In a Wonderful Complex way. The woman that wears this isn’t trying to Command, She Simply Does. She’s Not Shy, She’s Not Decorous, She IS A Force, but in a Polite way, Not as like one would think Auntie Mame or Mama Rose, Somewhat more of the Ilk of Velma Kelly. Strangely, My mother isn’t all that impressed with the smell of Joy and doesn’t wear it often, which is comical because when she does, she probably gets more compliments than when she wears her Fave, No. 22! I think it smells RADIANT on her and is Bold enough that I have Spritzed it on myself once or twice and was Enraptured by the scent! What once was, no longer is. Unpopular opinion, as I’m thankful for being able to witness this fragrance, but it has no place on the fragrance shelves any longer.The result is that Dior Joy is Allure Lite. The rose and jasmine are folded into a sandalwood accord reminiscent of Chanel’s fragrance. From the top notes to the drydown, Joy follows the course of Allure, but in a softer, more transparent interpretation. The mandarin peel dusted with sugar, the rose blended with the lemony jasmine, a touch of apricot and orange blossom that melt into the sandalwood and custard-like vanilla. Even the same contrast between the sweet citrus and creamy woods is maintained. What I liked less was its whole concept, from a name pilfered from Jean Patou to the core idea. Selecting a star rating for Joy turned out to be challenge. It’s a solid 3 star perfume as far as technique, but as far as originality, it fails massively. Add to it Dior’s insistence on cannibalizing its classical brands, and I’m at loss on how to grade it to be fair to the perfume and to remain honest to myself. 2 stars was my compromise. Joy" was voted "Scent of the Century" by the public at the Fragrance Foundation FiFi Awards in 2000, beating its rival " Chanel No. 5". [10]

No5 might be one of my most complimented smells – especially if I happen to wear a rose body oil with it. I am always surprised as I would not expect it to be so well received still and yet it has an aura all of it’s own which I reach for whenever I need to feel just so for work or anything else. An ounce of Joy had a retail price of 40 dollars, the most expensive perfume at the time. As told by Emmanuelle Polle, "What the clients would soon learn was that this ounce of perfume was produced through the extraction of some 10,600 jasmine flowers and 28 dozen roses. It was a gargantuan perfume, requiring huge quantities of fresh flowers. The couturier-perfumer was not one for artifice, be it in the way silk was worked or the walk of a model on the runway, or the ingredients of a perfume. The same line of conduct prevailed in his perfumes and his fashions: the quest for naturalness and the very best raw materials."

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Strangely, Mitsouko now feels nostalgic, like something I’ve known forever, but I’m pretty sure I’d never smelled it till a few years ago. Some of the biggest names in fashion have carried the brand’s creative torch after Jean Patou's death in 1936. Something I was fearing has happened. The house of Jean Patou is now dead when it comes to fragrance production.... The acquisition of the brand by LVMH was the final sign that things were coming to an end, and when they released a perfume called Joy under the Dior umbrella, it was clear that nothing good was going to happen with the original Joy, launched by Jean Patou in 1930. It’s turned to have more sentimental value than any economic significance. LVMH bought the house for the fashion, not the fragrance. Like all houses that no longer have the original designer at the helm, they drop their first name, which is why it’s now only Patou.