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Friday, July 30, 2010

Joy Parfum From Jean Patou Perfume by Henri Alméras: US$800 (1 oz)

Joy is a perfume created for Parisian couturier Jean Patou by perfumer Henri Alméras in 1929. It is considered to be one of the greatest fragrances created and is a landmark example of the floral genre in perfumery.

Joy was created as a reaction to the 1929 Wall Street Crash, which had diminished the fortunes of Jean Patou’s wealthy American clientele. Despite its elevated price and the depressed economic environment, Joy became an instant success and has remained Jean Patou’s most famous fragrance.

At the heart of Joy is a luxurious combination of jasmine and rose. 10,000 jasmine flowers and 28 dozen roses are required to create 30ml of the parfum, hence its very high selling price. Joy also contains other flowers such as ylang ylang and tuberose. Despite its many ingredients, Joy does not smell like a specific flower. According to Luca Turin, “the whole point of its formula was to achieve the platonic idea of a flower, not one particular earthly manifestation.” The bottle was created by French architect and artisan Louis Süe and was designed to have a simple, classical feel.


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