The Joy of a woman striding through a man's world

What do the following women have in common: Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Julia Roberts, Anjelica Huston, Josephine Baker, Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich and Maven?

I believe that I had to ‘mature’ to really understand and finally appreciate Joy by Jean Patou - one of the most famous frangrances of all time.  It is certainly one of the most distinctive frangrances ever created, and unfortunately, one of the most expensive. But it’s rather like having one vintage Chanel handbag, or one beloved Hermes scarf - Joy exists on that level. You simply can’t mistake it for any other scent.

For the last couple of years, I’ve been trying to find that signature frangrance. So many of the newer scents seem fleeting … thin. I guess you could call it elusive, but that’s being kind. They might have pleasant top notes, but the dry down leaves virtually nothing. I always end up feeling a bit cheated, especially when I can’t smell them on myself after about 20 minutes. They don’t even linger on the sheets or my clothing.

Joy exists on so many levels, it’s almost hard to know where to begin … but it’s certainly not for the young, the inexperienced or faint of heart. Joy, I’m convinced, takes some ‘guts’ to wear. However, when you’re hooked, it’s all over but the intense longing. All the Patou perfurmes smell absolutely nothing like anything else today.

Like Chanel No. 5, which I’ve worn off and on for years, it’s an aldahydic scent. Aldehydes are benzenoid compounds, used to help make synthetic ingredients for perfume. These organic chemicals are a mixture of oxygen, carbon and hydrogen and are often combined with alcohol and natural plant materials and have a strong diffusive effect; that is, they enable the ingredients in a perfume to expand and inundate the formula and enhance their properties.

In addition, they can make a perfume “sparkle” and boost the top notes, or the scent immediately noticeable when the perfume is first applied. A perfume with aldehydes is notable for its rich, opulent properties. First used in Chanel no. 5, many modern perfumers such at Yves Saint Laurent and Givenchy take advantage of the sophisticated properties of aldehydes.

And they really do ‘boost’ the top notes that characterize the very womanly, confident and glamorous Joy, created by Henri Almeras for Jean Patou in 1930 - so it said, partly in response to the dark mood brought about by the stock market crash and ensuing Great Depression.

28 dozen roses and 10,600 jasmine flowers go into every ounce of extrait. That’s the heart or middle of Joy. The top notes are aldehydes, peach and leafy green. Think a new meadow in the spring. With the middle notes of roses, jasmine, ylang-ylang and tuberose, and the base notes of sensual civet, musk and sandalwood, Joy is so rich and yet so very balanced. It ‘evolves’  or ‘settles’ on the wearer and each level of dry down has something wonderful and unique to offer.

The scent’s spicy and animalic quality of the base notes after the dry down are what I like especially. It morphs from an explosion of flowers to something darker, more primitive. Perhaps that quality is what made it a favorite of Josephine Baker.

For me, it’s that kind of frangrance that I’d love to smell in a cigar lounge, surrounded by old leather, good whiskey and tobacco. It perfectly growls ‘woman striding through a man’s world’. Yes, I think you have to understand who you are, and where your are in life to wear this scent.

Wearer: Mature. Confident. All woman, but accustomed to working in male dominated jobs or workplaces. You like the smell of a tobacconists shop. You’ve been known to drink whiskey … neat.

When to wear: Anytime, but perhaps not to a job interview, unless it’s at that cigar lounge or a fashion house.

-maven