discontinued: 56 posts

What fragrance would combine the crispness  of winter air and the sweetness of hay warmed up by the sun? For the past few days I have been wondering about it because of a letter from my reader Dianna. Dianna wanted to help her mother find a new perfume to replace her beloved Jacques Fath Ellipse.  She used to wear it exclusively, and now that Ellipse is impossible to find, Dianna’s mother misses it very much. “She often seeks a perfume that would smell as if she just stepped into a field with dry hay laying everywhere,” said Dianna, explaining that her mother loved whimsical, unusual fragrances. I had a vague memory of Ellipse, but since most of us here love a bit of whimsy in our perfumes, I thought that we might come up with some ideas.

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“A fragrance created today is the one that’s going to disappear tomorrow,” says the director of the Osmothèque perfume conservatory Patricia de Nicolaï. Perfumes disappear for many reasons—reformulations, bad marketing strategies, poor timing. I’m not sure why Yohji Yamamoto was discontinued, but when Debbie emailed me to add Yohji Yamamoto to the long lost favorite perfume discussions, I was glad to talk about it. Debbie mentioned that she wasn’t sure if she really liked Yohji at the time, but as she noted, “when I go back and re-smell (I have about a quarter of a bottle left) I am struck by how interesting it is, especially at the time it was launched.”

When I first tried Yohji Yamamoto for Her, I also wasn’t sure if I liked it either. It was created in 1996 by the esteemed Jean Kerléo. Kerléo was an in-house Jean Patou perfumer, and he’s responsible for the gilded Jean Patou Sublime and the glamorous 1000. Yohji Yamamoto is a departure from the gold and silk elegance of Patou; it’s a gourmand composition that is unexpectedly crisp and bright.

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For Dionne, Anne Klein II (1986) was an integral part of her journey into perfume and also of growing into her skin. As we shared emails about the fragrance and as I read her moving story, I learned that Dionne loved incense and woods. She said, “I discovered that even though many florals go sour on my skin, incense and iris and woodsy notes smelled wonderful.” It was then clear why Anne Klein II with its sumptuous blend of patchouli, sandalwood and dark smoky notes would fit Dionne’s perfume personality. Although it was a bit intimidating to find anything approximating such a special and meaningful fragrance, I decided to plunge right into it.

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I have to thank my reader Jill for helping me discover the vintage perfume gem that is Nicky Verfaillie Grain de Sable. Jill contacted me to add a couple of fragrances to the Long Lost Favorite Perfume series I started to run on Fridays, and Grain de Sable was one of them.  “I had never smelled anything like it then, and I still pine for it,” explained Jill.  As it turns out, she keeps company with Luca Turin in her love for Grain de Sable. Luca called it an “obscure masterpiece” in his NZZ Folio article, and it was to him that I turned for help.

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If you would like to discuss your favorite discontinued perfume, please email me at editor at boisdejasmin dot com. 

My “Long Lost Favorite” series has received a couple of requests for Giorgio Armani Mania. I am glad it is one of the fragrances you are curious to replace, because it has been among my favorite perfumes.  Armani has several Manias on the market today–Armani Mania Pour Elle, Armani Mania Pour Homme as well as a numerous summer flankers, but none have the sultry character of the 1999 original Mania. Created by Jacques Cavallier, it included notes of bergamot, orange blossom, green notes, clove, nutmeg, saffron, amber, white musk, incense, and vanilla. After the shimmering citrus and cinnamon notes, Mania revealed a velvety heart of incense and amber. Unlike most fragrances that rely on rich woods and amber, Mania was radiant and easy to wear. It felt like a silk wrap, rather than a fur coat. Why on earth did Armani discontinue it?

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