Tag Archives: jean patou joy

Weird Science (1985)

Wyatt (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) and Gary (Anthony Michael Hall) are sampling perfumes at L. Magnin.

The refillable atomiser Gary is holding is Eau de Joy by Jean Patou, launched in the 1960s.

Wyatt is holding Cacharel Anais Anais, the romantic white floral scent created in 1978 by Roger Pellegrino, Robert Gonnon, Paul Leger and Raymond Chaillan.

The perfume counter displays other Patou perfumes – Eau de Joy in a splash bottle, 1000 in two sizes and a factice bottle of Joy in a black bottle with coral stopper. 1000, housed in a beautiful jade bottle, is a floral chypre perfume created by Jean Kerleo and launched in 1972. Joy, the “costliest perfume in the world”, was created by Henri Almeras and launched in 1930.

When the camera moves to the other side of the counter, other perfume bottles make their appearance. Right in front of the boys there are two Dior bottles.

The atomiser without stopper contains the eau de cologne version of Miss Dior, created by Paul Vacher and Jean Carles and launched in 1947.

The crystal bottle with brass stopper is kind of confusing: the front label looks white with dove grey details but it looks kind of pink, too. In any case, it’s the travel flacon containing the eau de parfum of Miss Dior (if we assume the front label is white) or Diorissimo (if we think it’s pink).

There’s also Pierre Balmain Ivoire de Balmain, another floral chypre fragrance, was created by Francis Camail and Michel Hy and launched in 1980. The white bottle was designed by Pierre Dinand.

Half hidden in one corner, there’s also Halston, housed in the Elsa Peretti-designed bottle. This creation by Bernard Chant was launched in 1975.

Thanks to Le Petit Civet who first wrote about perfumes in this scene.

Elsa Peretti’s House in Vogue US (1976)

In 1976 Vogue US featured Elsa Peretti’s New York apartment (the one she had taken over from Halston) on its pages. The photoshoot by Horst P. Horst portrayed the Italian artist in a minimalist space and focused on details too.

In her own words, the apartment had “bare bleached white floors, mirrored walls, lemon trees, banquettes covered in white Haitian cotton, white director’s chairs, and a work table,” which also functioned for dining and making up.

The aforementioned work table can be seen in the picture above: on it there are some pieces of jewellery, beauty items and a massive bottle that would be impossible not to notice.

It’s a factice of the famous teardrop bottle Elsa designed to house the first women’s fragrance by Halston [1]. Created by Bernard Chant and launched in 1975, the perfume would soon become a best seller.

The other two perfume bottles – both Joy by Jean Patou – tell us a lot about Elsa’s tastes. I had no idea she was a fan of “the world’s most expensive perfume”, the unique jasmine and rose fragrance launched in 1930. I can’t tell I’m surprised, though: Joy was perfect for her.

Another item I’ve identified is the Lancôme white tube. I think this contained hand cream, but it could also have been a face moisturizer.

The same table and the same objects are seen from a different point of view in the picture above. Elsa was wearing a wonderful vintage kimono she had bought in San Francisco.

Here she was doing her make-up which, according to the interview, consisted in foundation, Roger & Gallet face powder, blush, brown eye pencil and mascara. The dog posing in the picture was one of her two King Charles spaniels.

Another picture featured the beautiful gold and cobalt blue bottle of Guerlain Coque d’Or. It was created by Jacques Guerlain in 1937 and dedicated to Sergej Pavlovič Djagilev, the Russian impresario who founded the Ballets Russes. For its name Guerlain took inspiration from Le Coq d’or [2], the last opera by Nikolaj Andreevič Rimskij-Korsakov.

[1] The process of designing and making this bottle was accurately shown in the Ryan Murphy tv show Halston.

[2] In French “coque” means “shell”, while “coq” means “rooster”. The two terms are clearly related.

Le dîner de cons (1998)

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Pierre Brochant (Thierry Lhermitte) is a Parisian publisher who attends an “idiots’ dinner” every week with his posh friends: they usually invite an “idiot” and ridicule him during the dinner. The “idiot” he’s selected is François Pignon (Jacques Villeret), who works at the Finance Ministry. Pierre’s plan is disrupted by a sudden back pain which will keep him in bed; from there, comedy ensues.

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The perfumes on the bedside table in Pierre’s bedroom belong to his wife Christine. They are classy French perfumes, exactly what we would expect a chic bourgeois woman to wear.

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The black bottle with red stopper is Joy by Jean Patou, the white floral fragrance created by Henri Almeras in 1930.

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The tall bottle is a perfume by L’Artisan Parfumeur. This is one of the first bottle designs of the French brand: it’s not clear if it’s the very first (8-side bottle) or a more recent version (7-side bottle). We know it’s an old bottle also because the gold stopper is round and not geometric. The front label is pink and only one perfume with this packaging was released before the film: Drôle de Rose. Created by Olivia Giacobetti, it was launched in 1996.

Thanks to concepteaux for submitting this post.

Indiscreet (1958)

indiscreet1_bornunicornThere are several perfumes and toiletries on Anna Kalman’s dressing table.

vintagerevlonnailpolish_bornunicornFirst, two bottles of Revlon nail polish, in the signature bottle with super-long cap handle.

jeanpatou_joy_bornunicornNow let’s focus on the perfume bottles. At the centre of the table there’s Jean Patou Joy, “the world’s most expensive perfume” created in 1930 by Henri Alméras.

dioramphorabottle_bornunicornNext to it, a beautiful amphora bottle by Christian Dior. Hard to tell what perfume it contained here: designed in 1947 by Fernand Guéry-Colas and produced by Baccarat, it was first used for Miss Dior, but later used for all the other perfumes of the French house – Diorissimo, Diorling, Diorella and Diorama. If we consider the film was released in 1958, the amphora could contain Miss Dior, Diorama (launched in 1948) or Diorissimo (launched in 1956).

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guerlainflaconmontre_bornunicornLast but not least, there’s a Guerlain flacon montre. Again, it’s impossible to say what eau de cologne it contained, but we can make some assumptions. It could be Shalimar or Cachet Jaune (blood orange and yellow stickers, respectively; both launched in 1937), L’Heure Bleue (pale blue sticker; launched in 1945), Ode (purple sticker; the eau de cologne was launched in 1950s, but I don’t know the exact date), Fleur de Feu (hot pink sticker; the perfume was released in 1948, so probably the eau de cologne was on the market by the time Indiscreet was shot), Mitsouko (teal sticker; launched in 1937), Jicky (deep purple sticker; launched in 1945), Chypre 53 (light green sticker; the perfume was released in 1953, so it’s possible the cologne already existed in 1958) or Liu (black sticker; launched in 1956).

Picture source.

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961)

There’s a beautiful selection of perfumes on Karen Stone’s vanity. Among them (from left to right):

lubin_nuitdelongchamp_bornunicornA Lubin perfume: judging from the colour of the liquid in the bottle, it was probably Nuit de Longchamp (launched in 1934). Idole had the same bottle, but it was launched in 1962, one year after the release of the film.

magiedelancome_bornunicornLancôme Magie: created in 1949 by Georges Lepieux, it has one of the most beautiful perfume bottles ever designed – a torsade by Georges Delhomme. The same design was used in 2005 for Hypnose.

jeanpatou_joy_bornunicornJean Patou Joy: one of the most famous white florals, it was created by Henri Almeras in 1930. Not coincidentally, this was Vivien Leigh’s signature scent.

lucienlelong_tailspincologne_bornunicornLucien Lelong Tailspin: also known as Passionement, it was created by Jean Carles in 1940. I’m not really sure of this id, though: this tall bottle was used for many Lelong scents, only the caps were different. In this case, the colourful cap was replaced by a glass stopper, so giving a certain identity to the bottle is quite hard.

christiandiorbaccaratmissdior_bornunicorn.jpgThere’s also a stunning Baccarat amphore bottle of Christian Dior Miss Dior, created by Paul Vacher and launched in 1947. As described by Yakimour, this bottle is made of cased crystal white cut to clear and has gilt details.

The bottle next to Miss Dior could be a Penhaligon’s perfume (the grey ribbon screams Blenheim Bouquet, in my opinion), but it’s just a guess.

Screencap and id source.

Vivien Leigh’s Dressing Table (1960)

vivienleigh1960_bornunicorn.jpgThe Canadian actor Jack Merivale took this picture in 1960. He was performing as Armand in the play Duel of Angels by Christopher Fry, along with Vivien Leigh. They were at the Huntington Hartford Hotel in Pasadena during the American tour of the play. They had been partners since 1958: Merivale stayed by Vivien Leigh’s side until her death, in 1967, and supported her during the difficult last years of her life.

The picture above is very interesting. In 1960 Leigh and her second husband Lawrence Olivier divorced, but the actress still kept his pictures on her dressing table. Beauty-wise, there are three perfume bottles worth talking about.

guerlaingoutteflacon_bornunicornOn the left, right next to the Olivier picture in the silver photoframe, there’s a Guerlain flacon goutte. First introduced in 1923, it was used for over 30 different fragrances, so there’s no way to tell exactly which one was sitting on Leigh’s table.

dioramphorabottle_bornunicornBeside the flower vase there’s a Dior amphore, designed by Fernand Guéry-Colas in 1947 for Miss Dior. Later, it was used for other Dior scents, like Diorissimo, Diorling, Diorama and Diorella. Again, there’s no way to know which perfume was on Vivien’s table.

jeanpatoujoy_bornunicornLast but not least, the perfume we can identify without any doubt: Joy by Jean Patou, the actress’ signature scent [1], first given to her as a gift by Olivier.

[1] Elena Prokofieva wrote an interesting article about the perfumes Leigh used.

Picture source.

Mr Selfridge S04E01

mrselfridge_s04e01_bornunicorn (3)Kitty’s perfume counter is packed with Jean Patou fragrances. We can see several bottles of Joy and three smaller bottles.jeanpatou_joy_bornunicornOne of the most famous white floral perfumes, Joy was created by Henri Almeras and launched in 1930. jeanpatoucolony_bornunicornColony, launched in 1938, is another creation by Almeras. The bottle originally had a peculiar pineapple shape.

jeanpatoumomentsupreme_bornunicornThe miniature on the left is another Patou perfume, but it’s impossible to tell which. This bottle, with rounded shoulders and stopper, was used for several fragrances. The fourth season of the show is set in 1928, so we can make some assumptions: it could be Amour AmourQue sais je? or Adieu Sagesse (all launched in 1925) or even Chaldee (launched in 1927). The point is that these assumptions are not really correct: Joy is widely shown in this scene, which is historically inaccurate (the perfume was launched in 1930, two years after the events told in the season), so the miniature above could actually contain any Patou perfume, even one launched after 1928.

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Joy+Jean+Patou_vintagead_bornunicornLater in the episode, a poster for Joy can be seen. Le parfum roi had a simple bottle decorated with gold leaf and gold thread around the bottle.

Someone to Watch Over Me (1987)

someonetowatchoverme_bornunicorn-1Claire Gregory (Mimi Rogers) and Mike Keegan go shopping at a luxury department store. She’s an habitual customer, so she greets the sales assistant sitting at the perfume counter.

chanelno5_dabberbottle_bornunicornjeandesprez_balaversaillescologne_bornunicornAmong the several bottles on the counter, I’ve spotted a Chanel perfume in three sizes, a giant bottle of Jean Desprez Bal à Versailles eau de cologne and a giant Caron bottle. I can only assume the Chanel perfume is no.5, but the same bottle has been used for other fragrances.

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profumi_jean-patou_1000_46919649One bottle of Ungaro Diva makes its appearance, too. In the background, on the right, a giant bottle of a Jean Patou perfume can be seen. It’s unclear whether it’s Joy or 1000, because the two perfumes have the same bottle.

By the Sea (2015)

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There are two Jean Patou perfumes on Vanessa’s dressing table: one is Joy, the other one is Eau de JoyLaunched in 1929 as “the world’s most expensive perfume,” Joy was created by Henri Alméras with 10600 flowers of jasmine and 28 dozens of roses, plus notes of ylang-ylang, musk, tuberose and sandalwood. Eau de Joy was launched in the 1960s: it’s dominated by jasmine notes, along with civet, aldehydes, lily of the valley and rose.

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On the dressing table there are also a box of Summer Eye Cream by Germaine Monteil, still wrapped in plastic, and a bee-lid jar of Yardley face cream.

Thanks to vintageimagebox for the Yardley id.