dimanche 18 septembre 2011

Mon Parfum Chéri par Camille (Annick Goutal): Purple Chypre


An earth-mama chypre who’s not afraid to get dirt under her manicured nails and rip her 1930s maroon velvet dress as she wanders into the forest at dusk, mouldy autumn leaves speared by her heels, trailing uprooted clumps of violets in her hem…

Like Songes, Mon Parfum Chéri is Camille Goutal’s baby – Isabelle Doyen gave her input, but Camille wrote the formula. And though it is entirely different from Songes, both compositions have a fleshed-out, carnal heft to them that conjures classic perfumery in a way very few contemporary perfumes achieve.
Being a chypre, of course, it is darker and more mysterious than the solar Songes, and Camille did nothing to rein in this dark bent, one that is inscribed in the genre’s DNA: in fact, if anything, she’s surrendered to it heart and soul.

One could say Mon Parfum Chéri is a heels-over-head chypre, except it’s got no head, no classic citrus top notes (though the pink pepper does give off faint citrusy facets), starting dark and thick with a camphoraceous blast of un-sanitized patchouli before yielding violets, plums and the unmistakable fatty, rooty, faintly metallic notes of orris butter, softening into a predominantly plum-violet drydown rounded out by the milkiness of peach lactone.

The fragrance is also an essay on the various hues of purple. From the wine-dreg darkness of patchouli to violet, plum, dark rose, and the soft mauves of iris and heliotropin, Mon Parfum Chéri explores the nuances of the colour Baudelaire associated with “love restrained, mysterious and veiled”.

Purple and violet are mystical colours, the former an imperial and ecclesiastic attribute but also the colour of wine and of dark blood, while the latter was once worn for half-mourning. It is therefore a palette suited to a fragrance conceived by Camille as a tribute to her late mother Annick Goutal and to the perfumes she wore when Camille was a child – perfumes whose passing we might also mourn… It is, along with the moving memory of the beautiful Annick, the soul of Femme that possesses Mon Parfum Chéri: like Edmond Roudnitska's masterpiece, the fragrance is built around Prunol, the mythical De Laire base (composed of, among other things, beta ionone, methyl-ionone, “peach” lactone, “coconut” lactone, musk ketone, cardamom, cumin and patchouli).

But though it is dark, Mon Parfum Chéri is neither nostalgic nor retro: Camille has given her own, modern reading of the mythical fruity chypre. It is as though she’d ripped out the lining of a vintage gown, chopped off the frills and turned it inside out, with all the irreverence and rawness the gesture implies. Despite its sentimental-sounding name, and the emotional memories it springs from – or perhaps because of them – Mon Parfum Chéri is as tough as it is chic, with a loose, bold, broad-stroked construction that upends the classic chypre structure.

In fact, this tribute to Femme could also be read as a contemporary reading of what it’s like to be a woman – rather than a smoothed-out, photoshopped image of one. Its rose-violet accord conjures the sophisticated cosmetics of the boudoir; its curvy lactonic plushness, female flesh; its earthy, rooty, woody notes, the mystery that links that flesh to nature – isn’t the artifice of blending the smells of flowers, woods and spices with our skins our way of embracing the continuum between our bodies and the world?
Mon Parfum Chéri shies away neither from its overt artifice nor from its earthy roots. It is an intensely moving, gloriously dusky olfactory portrait of a woman ready to be kissed…

The fragrance is available in eau de toilette and eau de parfum: the formulas are identical though they may develop slightly differently. The edp packs quite a punch – one spritz will gobble up whatever else you may be wearing – so may be better indicated for evening wear, but both have appreciable sillage and good tenacity.

Illustration by Anne Mealhie (1982)

22 commentaires:

  1. This sounds heavenly. I'm a huge fan of vintage Femme, and AG has a big presence in Florida, so I will seek this out in autumn. Thanks for the eloquent heads-up.

    I've noticed "prune" is a note that's showing up frequently now. What does that note mean in terms of aromachemicals? I don't know of any natural prune eos or C02s, or absolutes. And wasn't Prunol discontinued decades ago? Also, do you think this AG has real oakmoss? I love Verymoss, but it doesn't smell anything like oakmoss to me.
    -Marla

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  2. Marla, Prunol is still made by Symrise, who bought up De Laire. "Plum" can be, at least in part, aldehyde C18 -- as I'm sure you know, the French "prune" means the fresh fruit, whereas "pruneau" is the English "prune", the dried or preserved fruit. I believe when "pruneau" is mentioned it must be a base. Its more frequent appearance in compositions is probably linked to the recent trend for chypres.

    In Mon Parfum Chéri there is definitely Prunol, but no oakmoss is mentioned on the box. It is very much patchouli-oriented.

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  3. Well, now I have to order a little C-18. I love C-14, the peach aldehyde. C-18 is often referred to as "coconutty", but "fruity in dilution". Hmmm... in the US, "prunes", long associated with elder ladies' digestive problems, are now called, "dried plums", ha!
    Patch is the new oakmoss, ah well, I love them both. I'm planning on planting patch and vetiver in my backyard next spring.
    -M

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  4. Marla, I don't know where my head was at when I answered you, of course C18 is more coconutty... Sorry for being misleading!

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  5. No worries, they should have more evocative titles than their "Nerd Names"! ;-)
    -M

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  6. This sounds fantastic, Denyse. I can't wait to try it. I love the idea of the dress with the lining ripped out and turned inside out, and the plum-violet conjunction is something I love in Femme and, of course, Féminité du Bois and its progeny.

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  7. Marla, I have the worse time with anything that's got numbers in it -- to that I was once good a math! I think it's the idea of a figure that's a name that crosses my wires. Why is why I cannot for the life of me keep the Mon Numéro straight.

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  8. Jarvis, to continue on the metaphor, the thick pack could be some barbaric fur wrap... You've seen mine when you were in Paris, haven't you? And I've got that exact maroon velvet 1930s dress...
    It's beautiful-- I mean MPC.

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  9. Denise--Which formula, EdP or EdT, do you recommend and like better? I would be wearing the fragrance during the day, into the evening on the weekends. I typically enjoy an EdP more, but based on your comments, both sound fairly similar.

    Thank you!

    Hugs!

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  10. Violetnoir, I actually had that discussion with Camille Goutal. She said the edp was too strong to apply in the morning, and she preferred to top it up in the evening with the edp. The sample I've got is edt, but if I were to buy a full bottle I might go for the edp and apply very sparingly in the morning.

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  11. Hello Denyse, long time no write.
    Last week I was on the verge of buying a bottle of Mon parfum Chéri edp version but the edp only seems to be available in 100ml (no figure wires crossed ;)
    I simply can't justify such an amount as my collection is allready getting way to big. It is a lovely modern nostalgic scent and very un-goutal-ish.
    Please post a picture of your thirthies frock whenever a perfume review fits the mood. I'm a complete sucker for that era and the clothes worn then,
    Illdone

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  12. Forgot to mention I got the chance to pre-smell the upcoming Chanel exclusive "Jersey".
    Jersey opens with a fat or buttery lavender note ; very Caron-ish, I loved it!
    Would appreciate a trained nose to tell me more and can't wait for the beautifull parralels you always seem to draw
    With the risk of hurting artistic feelings and freedom : a review on demand?

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  13. Illdone, the 30s dress is one of those bias-cut numbers that look like nothing laid flat, and is coming apart at the seams after a couple of parties, so now it lives on a top shelf in my closet...
    Pity about the 100 ml, I guess a bottle split would be called for! You say it's not Goutal-ish: I think it's great that Camille and Isabelle are exploring different avenues (something I felt in the Orientalistes).

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  14. Illdone, I haven't had the opportunity to seek out Jersey and since Bleu, am so dismayed by the Chanel output I wasn't inclined to. If a drop should fall my way I'll review it!

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  15. This stands out from the crowd of recent releases as being so defiantly retro, at least in part. No cotton candy all but smothering the patchouli, even the fruit is tart, not sweet at all. I loved it at first sniff, it reminding me of beloved vintage Femme and also Boxeuses, but it does demand attention. It is a statement. I'm looking forward to trying the EDP, I bet that buttery orris is divine.... Lovely review. Nicola

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  16. Nicola, I'm not surprised you love it... I find the scent softens quite a lot after that huge blast in the top notes. But, yes, it's not a comfy little thing for sure, but, like most real chypre, something that demands some attention and attitude!

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  17. Thanks very much for this great review, and - as happened with the Prada - I'm so pleased that our opinions have converged. My only slight niggle is around the question of MPC's modernity: I'm not sure I was as convinced as you were that C Goutal has lifted her 'source material' out of the context of the 20th century.

    Still, I thoroughly enjoyed MPC and I hope it turns out to be a success for the house.

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  18. Persolaise, the notes themselves come from an earlier era, as does the genre, but the bold, slapdash, crashing-chord treatment of the material seems very modern to me. Not to mention that roots-over-blossom structure.

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  19. I just got a bottle of Mon Parfum Cheri at Bergdorf Goodman today thanks goodness it wasn't on my Valentine's gift list this year because they told me I got the last bottle, 100ml edt. They don't carry smaller size bottles and they don't have the edp.

    I expected MPC to be an old-fashioned patch-monstruosity but to me it reads upscale and modern niche. It's fruitchouli that doesn't scream Angel, it's patchouli that doesn't reek hippyish or irks you the way Aromatics Elixir does to a lot people.
    MPC is what Lutens Chypre Rouge should have been. Spicy and oriental but not too much (iris keeps in check the patchouli and fruity notes all the way), original but not too weird. Evidently you're not going to smell this one on Jersey girls at the Borgata in AC in a million years but like you said, it's the perfume of woman. I love it!!



    Emma

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  20. Emma, I'm glad you found a lot to love. It's clearly a love/hate product from what I've seen on some discussion boards, which shows it's a gutsy option for Annick Goutal.

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  21. After reading the polarizing comments on various blogs and boards I really expected something more challenging than it is and I think this has to do more with it being a Goutal, it might have been received differently if it had been a Lutens, Amouage or even Frederic Malle. To me it's a beautiful creation, definitely not mainstream but not that hard to pull off either.



    Emma

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  22. Emma, you're right, it's more polarizing from Goutal though when you look at some of the masculine line-up you'll find lots of very gutsy options; Les Orientales were also a departure.

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