Thanks to Denyse I was able to discover this almost unknown perfume from Balenciaga and enjoy this creation from Roure, credited to the greatest Germaine Cellier. Understanding old perfumes must be done with modern eyes (and revisit them) but also within their historical perspectives. The perfume, created for the American market (one of the big buyers of French couture) was launched in the early 60's, though a French version (La fuite des heures) was created earlier (I did not sample it to check the perfume). Though my first reaction smelling the Balenciaga sample was "it's a Chanel No5", I'd like to speak how authorship was perceived in those days. Today, not only in perfumes, but also in fashion (on specific blogs) we tend to speak very much about being original, authorship and many bloggers posted not only fragrances that are similar but also fashion models from runaways (from different designer) that were very close in their design. In the past (50-60's) that issue was totally different perceived. Intellectual property was an important subject to discuss only in cases of counterfeiting, otherwise taking inspiration was well seen as a form of flattery. Chanel, the most prized fashion designer in the early 60's, speaks about the copy/imitation in her interviews (youtube) as a form of style (compare this with interior design historical styles in France). Vogue Paris, not only praised the modern Chanel style but also encouraged the imitation of that style by other brands. I saw articles-editorial in Vogue/Elle that for a today reader would seem a blasphemy - what we see today as a shameless copy was encouraged and published by the most famous fashion magazine, as a form of true style and French chic. Coco Chanel, after her comeback in fashion in 1954 had first a bad review in French magazines but a big success in USA. In a short period of time she became the ultimate icon of style (modern, young, practical and elegant) for the American women and her perfume (Chanel No 5) was already a huge success in USA (there are a lot to speak how it became that famous). It was obvious that every new French perfume would have to face this success. Balenciaga, one of the greatest fashion designers, with an aristocratic style and clientele (including the dowager of American beauty industry, Helena Rubinstein) had also a perfume line, produced by Roure. It was a rather small company, compared to Chanel, but even to Dior, the emperor of fashion in the 50's. Chanel was in the American market since the 30's, Dior 50's and Balenciaga entered later. In this context it is not by surprise that Balenciaga choose a perfume inspired by Chanel No5 - the symbol of Parisian chic and style, or, as it was said in those days to aldehidic perfumes - French type No1 perfume.
Fleeting Moment is a floral aldehydic perfume (Chanel No5 like), modern and strong, with citrus, spicy, woody notes, combined with rose and jasmin absolutes. It's fresher and lighter compared to No5, like perfume intended not for ladies but for young women.
Top notes: citrus aldehidic with a slightly aromatic touch (tarragon like): bergamot, orange, aldehyde C10, aldehyde C11-enique, neroli.
Middle notes: floral bouquet (ylang-fresh rose-jasmin) with a very light lily of the valley base (more modern than No5) and floral powdery notes (orris absolute and methyl ionones).
Base notes: Soft woody with powdery and musky notes like vetiver (+the acetate), sandalwood, vanilla, sweet coumarine and musk (musk ketone and natural musk).
The main differences to the well known No5 are the rose and lily of the valley, they are fresher and with modern ingredients. I suppose there is a muguet-base like Mayciane (Caleche-Madame Rochas). There is also more jasmin (animalic) in No5 than in Fleeting moment and also a smal chypre note (patchouli + oak moss) that I was not able to detect in Balenciaga's perfume (wich has more vetiver as does Arpège). Compared again with No5, Fleeting moment has a modern touch in the straight line of Calèche, the new type of floral aldehydic, popular in 60's and 70's.
Fleeting moment is a perfume of its time. It should be compared with Calèche, No5, Elysée 64-83 (Balmain, a Germaine Cellier perfume, maybe an earlier version of this one) but also with some very popular Avon perfumes of the 50-60's.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
