Chaldeé is the oriental relative to the English botanic sibling (Ostara). The former has plenty of development from medicinal to floral-faecal to floral indolic (narcissus and jasmin) to floral-vanilla to resinous-ambery warm. There is an ever so slight undertone of that sandalwood accord reminiscent of 'Opium' by YSL. For those who read last week’s Boot or Reboot on Patou pour Homme I can understand if you might be unsure about my confidence in perfumer Thomas Fontaine’s ability as the keeper of the Jean Patou flame in the 21 st Century. Patou pour Homme was a good opening statement if not entirely successful in recreating the original. My confidence really comes from M. Fontaine’s work on the 2013 version of Chaldee. However, the legacy of Jean Patou has not disappeared into oblivion. The fame of the house Jean Patou is kept alive by Designer Parfums SA (the new owner) and the new in-house perfumer, Thomas Fontaine (read the interview we published last summer). Three classic perfumes were relaunched in 2013: Chaldee, Eau de Patou and Patou Pour Homme. It was nice to get samples of these scents early in the 2014 New Year; there's an old saying which says that the way you celebrated the New Year is the way you'll live it!

The house of Jean Patou has recently launched the new fragrance for women Joy Forever and presented the well-known collection in new bottles repeating the form of Ma Collection. Joy Forever was created by perfumer of the house, Thomas Fontaine, who started his work at Jean Patou with various reformulations of the fragrance Sublime, 1000, Joy, Jean Patou pour homme, Eau de Patou and Chaldée. My beloved Guerlains spring from similar creative impulses and structural systems as cinematography and story-telling. L'Heure Bleu, Vol de Nuit and Shalimar are journeys, and I am not referring to evolution of the fragrance over it's wear. I mean Guerlain's greats tell stories, create mis-en-scenes, and inspire journey's in the wearer's imagination.Chypre perfumes tend to have a strong presence and it’s easy to characterize the eras of the chypre. The ur-chypre by Coty and the seminal chypre by Guerlain, Mitsouko. The animalic chypres of the ’40s (eg. Miss Dior). The moonlit floral chypres of the ’50s (Jolie Madame.) The aldehydic and green chypres of the ’60s (Calèche and YSL Y ), the liberated chypres of the ’70s (Aromatics Elixir and Diorella) and the roaring rose chypres of the ’80s (La Nuit and Parfum de Peau). It's such a pity that Sublime no longer graces our shelves anymore. I managed to grab a lotion on sale a few months ago, but since then, Sublime and its body products are nowhere to be found.

Jean Patou remained a family-owned business until September 2001 when it was bought by P&G Prestige Beaute a division of Procter & Gamble, which also market perfumes for Jean Kerléo and Karl Lagerfeld. Definitely a chypre, but warmer than most, with a golden aura. The ylang is dominating together with gentle aldheides and a spicy carnation; indeed spices are there with sweet note that resembles apricot (or osmanthus).

You feel elevated, clean, posh but very comfortable at the same time. Sublime, in word! (pun intended). All these, with the exception of Le Sien, were re-released during the 1980s (under the name Ma Collection), and were available until recently, all in a 50ml Eau de Toilette Spray, 75ml Eau de Toilette bottle, and 30ml pure perfume bottle, each with a unique art deco box. A Jean Patou silk scarf, printed in a pattern complementing that of the box was included with the pure perfume. Joy remains the world's second best-selling scent (the first is Chanel No. 5), Joy was created by Henri Alméras for Patou at the height of the Great Depression (1935) for Patou's former clients who could no longer afford his haute couture clothing line. A sunshine to light the darkest day, Sublime EDT opens with a juicy, golden citrus radiance underlined with buttery luscious ylang ylang and jasmine. I've been under the weather and feeling a bit out of sorts, and something like Sublime can lift me out of the doldrums and ignite a sense of wonder once more. sublime - the sublime that i have, from years ago - is one of the happiest, throw-open-the-windows-and-sing-edelweiss, dig into the eton mess kind of scents that are few and far between. exactly as it was named - it is sublime. so that i will take care always to ask whether a scent i like or wish to test has been rejigged. rejigging usually means less-for-more, substitution of leaner, more miserly molecules for the more expensive ones of old, but with a price hike. i already pay a lot for my scents, so i want the real thing, the original formula. the one that made me fall in love at first sniff. The first fragrance called Chaldée was a scented oil, a fragrant companion to spend time on the beach with: Huile de Chaldée (1926). Chaldée was named after the Chaldean region of ancient Babylon where, as legend has it, incredibly beautiful women lived. Beautiful women with golden or bronze skin tones ... I have to mention that Jean Patou was one of those people who made Mediterranean beach holidays and the Côte d'Azur fashionable and famous. He designed the first swimsuitm, and he created a fragrant oil for the beach. Because Huile de Chaldée was oil-based, its scent would remain on the skin, even after swimming. Chaldée was neither a tanning product, nor did it offer protection from the sun. It just had a seductive and exotic scent and an oily texture. In 1927, Chaldée (Huile de Chaldée) was supplemented by an eponymous perfume; Jean Patou suggested that ladies would love to be reminded of the beautiful summer days throughout the year. Henri Almeras combined a floriental ambery fragrance with narcissus, orange blossom, vanilla and opoponax resin.

I'm not kidding! But I must say this: I have heard much of JOY and 1,000 and that Patou released masterpiece perfumes...but had NO idea! This is a very classic scent, without the usual vintage bombast of aldehydes and oakmoss so prevalent in its contemporaries. Anyone who wants to smell paradise should try this... I love powdery perfumes, but then again, I can get a similar dry drown from other fragrances that won't abuse me this much with their top and heart notes. Shalimar comes to mind. Hell, even Chantilly by Dana treats me better. Vintages and classics are a corner of the perfume world I'm not particularly drawn to. It's not that I dislike them, but apart from the practical difficulties, they're often the kind of scents I appreciate on others more than I want to wear them myself: however different their note lists, their vibe is often similar - feminine, mature, sophisticated, elegant. All qualities I appreciate, but can't say I possess myself. It's the same with this Sublime, which I got as an extra somewhere quite by chance, and which I think smells like it's been around longer than its 26 years: I like it, I appreciate its quality, and I enjoyed feeling like someone else for a while, but in the end it's just not really my thing and so I don't think I'll reach for my decant very often in the future.Eureka! This smells exactly like my aunt's old Beatle albums! Her cat peed on them at some point and she had sprayed perfume on top to mask it. Molecules intermingling organically, a bit of aging, a bit of creeping mold, et voila. It makes me think crazy cat lady - not that there's anything wrong with that (I intend to become one myself). This fragrance is just not my cup of chai. Oh, eeui, took forever to wash it off! Designer Parfums appoints its first in-house perfumer". cosmeticsbusiness.com. 21 November 2011. Archived from the original on 10 May 2012 . Retrieved 14 September 2012. I just acquired a bottle of Chaldée Heritage Collection and so have the good fortune to be able to compare vintage and current Chaldées side by side.