Jacques Helleu died at 69

Jacques Helleu, Chanel’s artistic director for more than four decades, died Friday at age 69 after a long illness.He was the driving force behind the image of the Chanel beauty business, whose No. 5 fragrance remains a perennial bestseller around the world.Under Helleu’s tutelage, Chanel has had a long history of cinematic and fantasy-themed advertising, counting Catherine Deneuve, Ali MacGraw, Candice Bergen, Kate Moss, Nicole Kidman and most recently Kiera Knightley among its celebrity pitchwomen. Filmmakers and photographers immortalizing Chanel fragrances in commercials include Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Jean-Paul Goude, Baz Luhrmann, Luc Besson and Ridley Scott.Throughout his career, Helleu maintained the continuous rejuvenation of a brand’s advertising is key to its longevity. He said vital to such an approach is “simplicity,” a keystone first laid down by Mademoiselle Chanel for the first Chanel No. 5 ad in 1921.Helleu was born in Boulogne-sur-Seine, France, on June 30, 1938.He is survived by his wife, five children, a sister and four grandchildren.A private funeral for Helleu will be held in Paris on Tuesday afternoon.

Source: WWD

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Rallet and Chanel Mademoiselle

The latest number from P&F arrived and with it the interesting article about the birth of No5 and all the fragrances that gravitated around. More interesting, it contained the "reconstituted" formulas of 3 fragrance, thanks to the sample provided by Victoria.
The perfumes and formulas are: Rallet No1 extrait, Rallet No1 eau de toilette, Mademoiselle No1.
I was happy to have all the ingredients listed and proceded to weight the 3 resuscitated fragrances. A review and opinion will follow the next days.
I smelled them quick and the result is impressive, but still it needs some maceration to do have a correct opinion. Still, there is one major difference compared to No5: there is no benzyl salycilate, nor eugenol/isoeugenol.

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A moment in time: Diorling

Diorling (1963) is a rare beauty and the achievement of the classical leather - chypre note. It's not an original fragrance beeing a derivation of both Bandit and Cabochard. Derivation seems negative and I would rather say that it's the last word of a magic accord. Where Bandit or Cabochard were too much or unbalanced to some tastes, in Diorling there is nothing too much. All the notes were calmed down, equilibrated with the very soft Dior atmosphere. The strong point of the fragrance is not its originality but the way it was constructed, like a pure example of classical shape and elegance.

Created by Paul Vacher it has an accord already classic: isobutylquinoleine (IBQ), oak moss, patchouli, iralia, vetiver and vetiveryl acetate + some cedar notes. The note is very dry, almost not floral. Though, there are some floral notes inside: a lot of light jasmin (jasmonal H), lilly of the valley (hidroxicitronellal, helional), rose. To understand the evolution it should be compared to Cabochard.

The top note is mainly bergamot, bitter orange, some aromatic notes, a touch of aldehydes.

Compared to Miss Dior or Diorama is rather a non contrasted fragrance, with a rather pure form.

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Jean Claude Ellena - Le Parfum

I've just finished to read the latest book of Ellena, published by PUF. Well I was in a way dissapointed. It's a general introduction to the perfumery industry and the book seems to be written by 2 persons. In fact I don't understand why Ellena has to speak about marketing&suppliers&rankings when anyother writer could have done the same. The part related to creation is interesting - he gives his own 200 raw materials list but the rest is rather thin. After reading all his interviews and articles published in the past 10 years, the book is not a revelation at all. I would have liked a deeper approach of his latest perfumes...of Hermessence and all that or even an explanation around a formula.
The whole argument around the blank page... it's so boring. Or am I wrong because I believe in method.
Anyway, the book is a very good introduction for someone who starts his journey in the perfumery world

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Chanel No5 - Tim Duquette

An unsual Chanel No5 movie found on youtube.

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Happy Birthday Miss Dior!

Tonight I was invited to a special conference held by The French Society of Perfumers (SFP) and Parfums Christian Dior - the anniversary of Miss Dior. François Demachy and the director of patrimoine parfums (and of Dior Museum in Granville) spoke about the history of the house fragrances. Asked about the "father" of Miss Dior, Demachy had an interesting approach explaining how delicate this subject is, and that Jean Carles, Paul Vacher and Edmond Roudnitska had all three something inside the fragrance. With his experience from Chanel, Demachy is maybe the best person to know that what is said to the public is not always the whole story a brand would tell. The conference was followed by a cocktail with vivid discutions among all the great perfumers invited at this the event.

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Fragrance & Branding: Colette

The marketing of 5 senses, and mainly the smell is a current topic in branding. While branding was usually connected with visual identity, some companies started to build a brand ID based on smell. A not so easy task but effective when well and clever done. Branding a smell is not about candles and finding a nice smell to spray around! It has to be an obsessive and addictive one. The best example I know is Colette. The trendy shop in Paris built a smell around the fig note whose roots can be traced to Premier Figuier (Artisan Parfumeur) or Un Jardin en Mediterrané (Hermès). The big octalactone inside the fragrance smells everywhere in the shop. It's not strong but all the other smells (even the bar downstairs) are put to respect. Even outside there is a fig "aura". I don't know who was the perfumer and who is responsible for the choice of that particular smell… but it was a brilliant move. The fragrance is…addictive and hypnotic, almost like a drug. Every time I open the bottle of octalactone gamma and delta… I see Colette. In Paris there are not a lot of examples of boutique smells - fingerprints. Though I enter very often in most of fashion/design/fragrance shops in the city most of them fail in interior fragrance branding. If you are not able to remember the smell of a boutique by its smell…it's a failure. Besides Colette there is a more sophisticated example: Chanel. They have the same smell inside since years and it's divine and subtle! Something like Coromandel from their Exclusive line.

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Robert Gonnon (1926-1989)

The latest number of Osmotheque News is devoted to this great perfumer. Working for Firmenich he is responsible of many chypre and leather fragrances in the 60's and 70's. The most famous and loved perfumed done by him for Lancôme is Sikkim, still available in Paris.
Other creations are: O de Lancôme, Empreinte (Courrèges), fragrances for Grès.

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Diorama (1949)

I discovered with a big surprise and great pleasure that, since recently, Diorama and Diorling are again available at Dior boutique both on Avenue Montaigne and Le Bon Marché. Because they are hidden to the view you have to ask for them if you want to discover these old jewels presented in their classical 125 ml bottle (the same for Miss Dior in the past). Diorama is a fruity chypre, well rounded with floral and animalic notes, the fruity version of the classical Chypre (Coty) and the light floral version of Mitsouko.
Done by Edmond Roudnitska, to better understand this fragrance and the path of its creator, it should be compared in the same time with Le Parfum de Thèrese and Diorella.
It's funny how Diorella, launched 25 years after, has its roots in Diorama. If you virtually make a cross between Diorama and Eau Sauvage…you will have Diorella.
Diorama has a classical chypre structure with an emphasis on the jasmin note, not the heavy absolute type like Chypre de Coty, but a lighter and more floral accord. The fruity aspect is peach and plum: undecalactone gamma (peach aldehyde) and Prunol (a base that represented the plum aspect of Femme de Rochas). A more interesting fruity note is raspberry/strawberry associated with the rosy accord and I suppose it was based on aldehyde C16 and some raspberry ketone. The floral heart of Diorama is a sequence of jasmin-rose-gardenia. While jasmin (no Hedione, but Jasmonal H and jasmone) is the main theme, the rose is light (and not acidic) and the gardenia is more on top. The green side of the gardenia (styralil acetate, a touch of galbanum) and the small dose of aldehydes on top (C11, C10) give a very light touch of Miss Dior. Everything is lightened by a lily of the valley accord with hidroxicitronellal, an aspect that will "explode" in Diorella with around 6% of Helional.
Another characteristic of the citrus top (bergamot, lemon) is the spicy aspect of cardamom and cumin that should be compared with Eau d'Hermès, another masterpiece of Roudnitska (and overdose of spices). By contrast, in Diorella the aromatic notes from Eau Sauvage (basil, tarragon, etc.) stands out.
The drydown of Diorama is: patchouli, oakmoss, vetiver (vetiveril acetate), violet (methyl ionone g), ambery (some labdanum) and quite animalic (castoreum, civet). All is softened by the peach note and is lighter compared to the drydown of Miss Dior.
Diorama is one of the best examples of Chypre fruity fragrances, ever created. And an example of harmony for all the new releases. Maybe it's not modern any more… but is well done, which is not the case with Midnight Poison. The latest release from Dior smells after one day only of musks (Tonalide) and raspberry (Frambinone) like a very cheap Mure et Musc (Artisan Parfumeur). Diorama still smell 2 days after like Diorama, unmistakable…a fragrance with a signature.

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The melon note of Roudnitska

Both in Diorella and Le Parfum de Therèse descriptions a melon note is mentioned. That unusual fruity note in a chypre context contributes to the freshness and watery aspect of the jasmin heart. The melon accord can be built very simple for those fragrances:
A lot of Helional, some undecalactone gamma (peach aldehyde) at 10%, a trace of vanilin at 10%, and methyl octine carbonate - MOC (violet) at 10% and maybe some nonadienol (violet-cucumber) at 1%. Add to this some benzyl acetate (banana-jasmin) and hexenol cis 3 (green leaves) and you will have a well rounded melon.
The melon idea, built with MOC and nonadienol and later with melonal was further used by Acqua di Gio, an extraordinary example of how an old idea can be modernised in a creative way.

Exercise: smell by contrast Eau Sauvage, Diorella and Acqua di Gio.

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Coco Mademoiselle event

The new Chanel campaign for Coco Mademoiselle, started with a virtual tour, can be explored now on the sites of the fashion bloggers who were invited to discover the private rooms of Coco Chanel.
You can view some nice reports and photos donne by the 15 chosen bloggers:

Betsy - Fashion is Spinach (Singapour)
Foo - The Clothes Project (Singapour)
Adrian - Fashion Verbatim (Canada)
Deedee (France)
Brian - Blographic (France)
Geraldine - CaféMode (France)
Mary - Stil in Berlin (Germany)
Julia - Eslux (Spain)
Susie - Style Bubble (UK)
Jamie - FabSugar (USA)
Ann -Blogdorf Goodman (USA)
Valeriya F.A.D. (USA)
Ami &t Seth - Cool Hunting (USA)
Jean - Notcot (USA).

I have no doubt that if a fragrance blogger was to be invited there would have been a lot of questions about their perfumes and an opportunity (maybe) to reveal some "secrets".
A lot of photos from their "baudruchage" are available on Geraldine's report - CaféMode.

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