Showing posts with label le de givenchy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label le de givenchy. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Le De by Givenchy: Vintage and Modern Les Mythiques Re-issue Comparison~ fragrance review & history

What possessed Givenchy to create two fragrances in 1957, the well known L'Interdit and the less known Le De, both inspired from and originally intended for Audrey Hepburn? In retrospect, though both elegant, delicate enough florals of immense clarity to reflect the tameness of the 1950s in terms of perfume expectations and societal mores and therefore suited to the "nice girl" elegance of Hepburn herself, the commercial supremacy of one over the other has left Le De in the twilight. It's perhaps telling that Bette Davis, no spring chicken when Le De became available in 1958 ~the actress was hitting 50, well into maturity by the standards of the time~ chose to wear the ill-fated one. Le De remains today a snapshot of how women used to smell, ladylike and in pearls, and even in the re-orchestrated re-issue that the company launched in 2007, seems a captive of time in one way or another.
via savemybrain.net
The history of Le De 

The oddly named Le De is a reference to the particle of nobility in Hubert de Givenchy's name. In 1952, at the age of 24, Givenchy opened his own design house on 8, rue Alfred de Vigny in Paris introducing it with the "Bettina Graziani" collection, named after Paris's top model at the time. He had a tight budget and only three staff working in a room loaned to him by friend and mentor couturier Cristobal Balenciaga.

The landmark of Givenchy's style, and the contrast to his more conservative contemporary Christian Dior, was innovativeness: The revolutionary use of cheaper fabrics employed in designs that intrigued with their aesthetic viewpoint, instead of their bourgeois luxury (influenced no doubt by Balenciaga), and his "separates", instead of the more standard option of dresses. Audrey Hepburn, later the most prominent champion of Givenchy's fashion (and to many the fashion plate whose image both benefited from and inspired him in equal measure), met the French designer in 1953 during the shoot of Sabrina. He had mistakenly thought he was going to meet and dress Katherine Hepburn...An immediate friendship was forged over this misunderstanding and Hubert went on to design almost all the wardrobes she wore in her movies, prompting him to later say that "Audrey's image is associated with my name".  She never failed to note that "Hubert gave me self-confidence. In one of his suits with the beautiful buttons I can forget my shyness and talk in front of 800 people". Their friendship lasted till her untimely death.

Le De came about when Hubert chose decided to gift his friend with a perfume; actually he commissioned two, the other being L'interdit (created in 1957 and commercialized in 1964) and they were hers alone for a whole year. In 1958 the idea of launching perfume under the aegis of his house saw Le De being introduced to the market while L'Interdit was immortalised in another classic Audrey Hepburn film, Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Comparing vintage and modern Le De Givenchy

The vintage edition of Le De comes across as a strange floral etude in the lineage of Le Dix de Balenciaga, with the violet note treated in a non sweet manner, contrary to all confectionary and makeup references that violets usually translate to perfumery. Instead the astringency of the violets gains soapy and powdery nuances (thanks to orris and rose) presenting the suds and puffs of a beauty ritual through the sheer panel of a light filter. There is no natural reference, just abstraction. The narcissus essence is laced with the impression of a horse's sweat, segueing into a musky feminine aura that is lived-in contrasting nicely with the general "groomed" effect. It is subtle enough that you won't catch it unless you're looking for it.

In 2007 a re-issue of Le De Givenchy was launched under the auspice Les Mythiques, a homage collection to the classics in the Givenchy line. The modern Le De is a play on humid floralcy. A dewy floral would theoretically appeal to modern sensibilities, even though this style had commercially expired by the time that the company thought about launching it. The violet is subdued and a "clean" orange blossom and lily of the valley are making it approachable and familiar. The structure recalls a woody musky floral and sillage and projection remain low-key, though perfectly calibrated to function as a constant halo. As of time of writing, the modern Le De is still available from Harrods.

How to Differentiate Different Editions



The original Le De Givenchy was introduced in 1957. The vintage bottle has rounded shoulders and is following the classic mould common for L'Interdit as well. It was available in eau de toilette and extrait de parfum. The 2007 re-issue of Le De Givenchy in Les Mythiques line is encased in a lilac box with the logo of Givenchy repeated in the design motif of the packaging. The bottle in frosted glass, tall, with sparse lines and sharp shoulders.
EDIT: My reader Lily notes that there is an update on the Les Mythiques 2007 edition, introduced in 2011, with slight differences in the packaging, although I haven't come across it in person. If anyone can describe the differences and whether there's a change in scent I'd be happy to include the info.

Notes for the vintage Le De Givenchy:
Top notes are coriander, mandarin orange, tarragon, bergamot and brazilian rosewood
middle notes: carnation, lilac, orris root, jasmine, ylang-ylang, lily-of-the-valley and rose
base notes: sandalwood, amber, musk, oakmoss and guaiac wood.
Notes for the 2007 Les Mythiques Le De Givenchy:
Top notes: coriander and lily-of-the-valley
middle notes: jasmine, ylang-ylang and bulgarian rose
base notes: sandalwood, vetiver and incense.


Les Feuilles Mortes: music by Joseph Kosma and lyrics by poet Jacques Prévert. Yves Montand sung it in 1946 in the film "Les Portes de la Nuit".

Monday, October 23, 2006

Givenchy: time for classics again?

audreygivenchyaudrey1


According to industry rumours, Parfums Givenchy are scheduling the relaunch of many of their classic fragrances in limited editions to celebrate the house's 50th anniversary in 2007. Ultra elegant Hubert de Givenchy is no longer head of the house to rejoice, but I bet this would be good news all the same. In the last decade due to dubious launches, especially since the company was acquired by the LVMH Group, parfums Givenchy were seen as a poor relation to Christian Dior, Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent. The latest offering Ange ou Démon did not help in this regard, I'm afraid, although the reviews for Amarige Mariage are leaving some leeway of hope.


In this day and age the most prevalent products on Givenchy perfume counters and their best known perfumes for women are Ysatis, Amarige, Organza and Very Irrésistible. Recent attempts to spin a special yarn of quality resulting in the Harvest series of 2005 (issued however in 2006) for the above perfumes, highlighting the one pivotal flower in each of the compositions with an exceptional harvest of blooms for it -namely mimosa for Amarige, jasmine for Organza, and rose for Very Irrésistible- have met with some lovely results; my favourite out of those has been the Organza Jasmine Harvest, a trully deep floriental that is redolent of the jasmine bush. Ysatis Iris had preceeded them in 2004, but the marketing behind it did not focus on the wine-harvest connection, an aspect they have wisened up to.


In an effort to satisfy news-thristy department stores audiences the house has become tired and full of "flankers"; industry name for perfumes that follow in the wake of a previous successful release capitalising on the name and exposure of the original in order to generate more interest in the brand. Such a case it proved to be for Insensé Ultramarine (1994) Xeryus rouge (1995), Extravagance d'Amarige (1998), Amarige d'Amour (2002) , Hot Couture white collection (2001), My Couture (2002), Pi Fraîche (2001), Insensé Ultramarine Ocean spirits series for men (2002), Insensé for her (2004), Insensé ultramarine beach in Boy and Girl versions(2006) and countless others. All in all a staggering 61 perfumes in as much as 49 years, of which only 9 were issued in the first 30 years of the house's history!! That means 52 launches in the last 15 years!! (if we consider the fact that Amarige was the 10th, launched in 1991). Think about it. It's preposterous.


Many of those did not even register, not making one tiny bleep on the radar, which is quite natural when one is faced with such a wide selection of fumes to choose from. The mind boggles and the nose stops to function properly at some point. Not to mention that a perfume counter can accomodate only so many bottles before it looks like a bad case of a discount warehouse.


The most interesting and unique offerings yet have been discontinued or are very hard to find: Givenchy Gentleman, a sturdy leather/patchouli woody of 1974, and Organza Indecence of 1999, a deep cinnamon vanillic composition that proved very popular in the US, and of course the citrusy classic Monsieur de Givenchy of 1959, the one which was kept into production because it was mr.Hubert's personal scent, are all such cases. However such chic classics as the originalAudrey Hepburn favourite L'interdit (=the forbidden), a violet laced aldehydic floral from 1957 for a most elegant lady, Givenchy III a chypre of the most noble character coming out in 1970, and the even more elusive clean, aldehydic hesperidic Le De Givenchy (issued in 1957 -same year as L'interdit; something unheard of the time- and also linked to Audrey) are set to be among the new relaunches. Supposedly keeping the original formulae and issued as limited editions for fans and collectors, this is both an admirable task as well as a difficult one, what with the scarcity of certain ingredients and the lack of the bases of yesteryear. Hope springs eternal however and I can't find it in my heart to bypass such an effort. Let's see what happens.


The first to see the light of day is the original L'interdit, following its reformulation a couple of years ago which left its fans in rapt disillusionement (and yes, the oxymoron is intentional). It will be available next August. Hurray for Givenchy fans and hopefully a new begining for a house that seemed disoriented for quite some time.


Pic depicting Audrey Heburn and Hubert de Givenchy comes from Audrey1.com


Next post will be about a thorny subject in perfume making.

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