Shocking de Schiaparelli

Perfume: Shocking

de Schiaparelli

Perfumer: Jean Carles

Years of release: 1937- current

Rarity: 6/10 (for pristine, sealed parfum/extrait)

(all images of Elsa Schiaparelli and her dresses in this post are from:

 bygonefashion)

Today I'm wearing Elsa Schiaparelli's 1937 masterpiece, Shocking! Schiaparelli is best known for her avant-guard clothing designs and hats, however she considered herself an artist. Salvador Dali was a close friend who collaborated with her. Below you see one of her more well-known concept pieces- the Lobster Dress. I have a personal, although admittedly tenuous, connection with the Lobster gown because it was worn by my great grandmother's second cousin, Wallis Simpson.

    (above: the Lobster Dress)                                (above: Wallis Simpson in the Lobster Dress)

Schiaparelli is credited with being the first to display her work on cat-walks and setting her shows to music- the mother of the modern fashion show, literally! She also created hats, accessories and a number of perfumes, the best known of which is Shocking.  Although it is technically still in production, I have the vintage pure perfume (extrait) version, which is extinct. It comes in the familiar dressmaker's figural bottle and has a frosted crystal stopper with a long slender frosted glass dauber. Shocking has been housed in any variations of the dress maker bottle over the years. The basic design has remained with slight differences in fabrication and manufacture. As I have collected and sampled the contents of a number of these bottles, I've found that the contents inside the bottles have also changed, despite being composed around the same notes. As the juice gets lighter in color, the scent changes more radically. I prefer the oldest formulation- probably anything from the 1940s-1950s would be good, as long as it is the extrait. You can see the juice is the color of cola or coffee- look for this same color if you're seeking to sample Shocking and want to try it at its best. I took the photo below from EBay this evening because it is identical to the version I am wearing and a better example of the bottle I own; mine is open, has a few less flowers and lacks the paper label.  

(image from Ebay seller jtpmtc)

Shocking has top notes of bargamot, aldehydes, and tarragon; middle notes of honey rose and narcissus and a base of clove, civet and chypre accord. It is gorgeous and I imagine it was shocking at the time it was released- even though the women and men of 1937 were accomstomed to smelling many wonderful vivacious scents by luminaries such as Chanel, Coty, F. Millot and many others. I especially appreciate the tarragon in the open of Shocking that gives the opening a sweet-piquant touch of herbal green, and is a nice counter point for the lush, heady blend of rose and narcissus (also named jonquil or daffodil, a full bodied, almost narcotic, almost buttery floral, that blends beautifully with all citrus and green notes).

(Schiaparelli's Shocking Pink Gown, bygonefashion)

All of these elements are rounded by the honey- and in this perfume extrait is my favorite version of a honey note ever rendered. It is heavy and sweet, identifiable as honey but with actual musky-oily scent of the bees working in the hive, their fat vibrating bodies caked and powdered with pollen. The anchor as the perfume dries down is a bewitching blend of my old favorite, a cool and powdery proper chypre accord of oakmoss, labdanum and patchouli set apart by a counter point of frankly (shockingly) carnal civet. Yet this touch of the risque is done with restraint, or perhaps with tongue firmly planted in cheek, for here the tiger has been couched with the lamb- the antiseptic, refining presence of clove, a regal spice that subdues any rough edge of the animal scent. The clove softens and smooths all of the elements, melding pleasingly with the chypre. The dry down is prolonged and produces strong sillage with a leathery powdery patchouli finish. In some way, it recalls Youth Dew in the extreme dry down.
In retrospect, Shocking is one of the great 20th century perfumes... a strongly individual perfume, with some elements of the great classic Chypre, and with oriental embellishments and is capable of being worn with great style even today.

(another of Elsa's timeless gowns in Shocking Pink and Black, circa 1930s)

The Vintage Perfume Vault, where the scent of yesterday's vogue lives.

True Chypre Perfume (Vrai Chypre)

Today I dove into a real find- Vrai Chypre from Frédéric Geille. I've been wishing lately for an old chypre, a new one to add to my collection. One of truest of grails and just the type of plunder to see one through even the roughest of patches in one's pursuit of scented nirvana.... especially the pursuit of a vintage scented nirvana. And Geille A Paris is perfect for me- a really obscure name, circa 1930-40s. There is another Geille perfume, Cœur Caucasien or Cuir Caucasien from 1943, also by Frédéric Geille, pictured on the Museu del perfum site.

Vrai's bottle strikes me as a release rfom an earlier date. The tightly wrapped cord of silk under tarnished metal- silver washed copper perhaps- had essentially rotted and clotted around the sealed bottle. After sawing through the cord, I found the stopper was stuck... and a single chip along the outer edge of the stopper, as if someone previously had attempted to prize it loose with a pliers sometime earlier. But my husband has gotten pretty good at popping stuck stoppers off. So yeah, it yielded without any further damage to the bottle or lid, which is always a nice thing.

I love the name of this perfume as well, it translates to something like "True Chypre". We're always looking for a real chypre, aren't we? Coty did not originate the Chypre but I like to think he codified Chypre into mythological status. A large, sealed bottle of late 1920s Coty Chypre is still the centerpiece of my entire vintage collection, hundreds of bottles later. Magically, it was the second original period Coty Chypre I've came across. my husband actually brought that first bottle home to me. I found it sitting unceremoniously on the coffee table one frosty autumn morning, surrounded by silver coins, pocket knives and fishing lures... glittering like a precious crown jewel . The bottle was open and I took to wearing it just long enough before letting it go on to another collector, to become thoroughly enslaved to that authentic, old school style of chypre. Crepe de chine, vintage Femme and several other "no name" chypres have followed, plus the more accessible classic 'modern' chypres (Ysatis, Paloma Picasso et al.) But there's nothing like the real thing, baby.

I don't want to bore you to tears but especially if you don't already know how older chypres smell, you might like hear about the notes. Vrai is a leathery floral chypre. Chypre is a formula built around earthy patchouli and loamy, smooth oakmoss plus labdanum. Labdanum is a richly fragrant lichen-like substance that was first combed from the hair of goats who picked it up grazing on the Mediterranean rock-rose shrub. The patchouli is refined and sublime without any of the spikey, sinus penetrating fumes. This base is rounded out by the classic harmony of citrus against a floral. The rose begins dusty pale; the bergamot was shy at first but it bloomed thanks to a muggy evening. The leather has a savory/creamy tang similar to goat's milk and under it all is a surprisingly familiar musky finish. I just wish I could share it with a wider audience.

The Vintage Perfume Vault, where the scent of yesterday's vogue lives.

Coty Imprevu

Today we have a daring vintage Coty- Imprevu. Notes are scarce to find but this is a beautiful Chypre scent that would be a smash among a certain set that prefer serious, stunningly made perfumes with decidedly adult and edgy ideas presented. This chypre feline has claws, more lithe cat woman in a skin-tight leather suit than little kitten with a collar. The whole affair



kicks off with an initial kiss of bergamot bitter orange and candied citron; in piquant contrast is a mildly tannic leather note that is delicious. This traditional cologne quickly deepens as coniferous resins, young cedar shoots and shady oakmoss come into play giving it a deep and foresty but also grassy and sappy feel. The florals are restrained, a sharpish soapy/creamy carnation and not much else I can detect provides a perfect back drop for the dramatic multi-tonal pallet of greens.



And beneath this sophisticated emerald array we are left with a sublimely adult dry down of extremely discreet clove and tobacco with a touch of musks. This could be an every day signature fragrance for the right woman- I picture a beautiful bohemian girl, like a young Sophia Loren. She wears no shoes and drinks wine from an old mason jar while exploring ancient gardens with her lover on the lost weekends she steals away from the world. The rest of the time she wears high heels diamonds and fur and rides in her benefactor's chaufered limosine. Her perfume is Imprevu.