The Many Lives of Joy by Patou: Vintage and Flankers

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by: Elena Vosnaki

 

Among classic perfumes, Joy by Jean Patou still stands on a pedestal. Glorious remnant of a more glamorous era when the  pioneer designer cleverly marketed his fragrance to dwindling audiences of the 1930s. Most perfume lovers recall the tagline "Costliest perfume in the world," reputedly devised by Elsa Maxwell, which helped catapult Patou's perfume into the realm of true luxury. It is perhaps astonishing, but certainly not unexpected, that the French tagline uses the word cher, "le parfum le plus cher du monde" which implies that it is the most beloved, instead of the most expensive.

 

 

Posh nevertheless it still is, this icon of classic perfumery. Patou went to great lengths to assure us that one ounce of Joy parfum demands 10,600 jasmine blooms and 28 dozen roses to be produced. This would be not as impressive, hadn’t those flowers been the venerable Jasminum grandiflorum of Grasse in the south of France and the two crown glories of rose varieties: Damascene rose (Rosa damascena) from Bulgaria and Rose de Mai (Rosa centifolia), the latter again from Grasse.

 

 

The in-house nose for Patou since 1997 Jean-Michel Duriez monitored the fields and crops to ascertain that the end result rendered out of those two rose varieties meets the quality control criteria demanded by the house of Patou. Now that the Jean Patou house has left P&G hands (a company which didn't particularly care for luxury, it seems, judging by the lack of promotion they did for it), Thomas Fontaine has been in charge of ensuring the quality of the perfume and the upkeep of the raw materials. 

 

At any rate, Joy unfolds majestic proportions of floral grandeur with a nobility and restraint of hand that points to a very skilled perfumer indeed: the original composer of the formula, Patou's sidekick, Henri Alméras. 

 

 

Keeping the noble nature of the two focal points of the suite intact and singing in a melody of thirds, he garlanded them with the merest touch of honeysuckle, ylang-ylang and tuberose, anchored by a very light sandalwood base which manages to smell opulent, yet beautifully balanced. A grand dame in a youthful setting, Joy smells translucent and at the same time durable and substantial. 

 

It is my impression that there is a difference of emphasis on the two different concentrations of eau de toilette and eau de parfum. Indeed this is because there is a difference of historical provenance. The vintage advertisements show Eau de Toilette and Parfum, stressing "there is only one Joy Perfume," "there is only one Joy eau de toilette." Eau de Joy (you might sometimes see this short-coded as EdJoy) is the eau de parfum concentration of the regular Joy. It also smells a bit different than the Eau de toilette and the pure parfum version but not wildly. Just the balance of rose vs. jasmine is given a twist.

The eau de toilette gives the baton to a jasmine intonation, like a solo aria in the midst of a lively Mozart opera, while the eau de parfum is a bit more powdery with accents of rosiness that permeate the whole with a softness that resembles a Schumman lullaby. In fact the Eau de Parfum is repackaged Eau de Joy which was a different perfume than Joy in parfum. The confusing thing is that both extrait de parfum and eau de parfum circulated in the black snuff bottles during the 1980s and early 1990s. This is a sure fact, as I recall cutting magazine clippings with editorials on perfumes featuring said bottle style. Later batches were repackaged adopting the rectangular bottle which we see continuing in the current edition of Joy eau de toilette. 

 

 

Given my proclivities for jasmine over rose, I opt for the eau de toilette myself, however both concentrations are quite worthwhile and equally well worn by men. 

 

The parfum is assuredly more animalic in the civet direction (a wonderful characteristic and thus the one which I always prefer over other concentrations) and stays close to the body, a sensuous hint of noble status. The vintage specimens that display the best quality are the ones in the black snuff bottles (prior to 1990), while the rectangular ones with the gold edges are newer (reflecting the older style original 1930s design, nevertheless!) It's also important to note that during older times around WWII,Joy circulated in a beautiful faceted bottle with a fluted cap for extrait de parfum, like a faceted diamond.

The latest reformulation of Joy happened in 2014, under perfumer Thomas Fontaine working for the new owner after the P&G sale. In a rare attempt to not confuse consumers and to distinguish the newer batch from the vintage edition, still on stock online and in boutiques selling old stock, the newer edition is called Joy Forever. 

 

Finally there is also En Joy, a a newer perfume in eau de parfum concentration, released in 2002 and composed by a different perfumer, Jean-Michel Duriez, than the classic Joy by Henri Alméras. They just both share the "joy" name in the presentation as well as the style of bottle, packaging and typeface (a no doubt annoying habit which is due to the necessity and difficulty of copyright on names and design).

 

 

The newer En Joy is a contemporary fruity-floral "chypre" rather than an outright traditional floral. It has intense "notes" of blackcurrant, rose, patchouli, banana and pear. It's ever so slightly pinkish tinted (the box is lilac and the bottle has a lilac label sticker) and is a completely different scent than the old straw-coloured Joy. 

 

Taking into account that Joy by Patou has been one of the most popular fragrances of the 20th century and is still in production, it is important to note that specimens can crop up anywhere: from estate sales to garage sales to Ebay auctions and bottle collector's private sales. For the vintage lover who is intent on securing a specific batch, or willing to explore the progress and evolution of maturing scent, the above info should be somewhat useful and direct away from sellers who sometimes conflate all the various editions due to sheer ignorance.