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The best known of Patou's perfumes is "Joy," a floral scent; another is "Sublime," which combines floral and musky tones. The world's second best-selling scent (the first is Chanel No. 5), Joy was created by Henri Almras for Patou at the height of the Depression (1935) for Patou's former clients who could no longer afford his Parisian haute couture clothes. Upon its introduction, Joy was called "the world's most expensive perfume" by American socialite Elsa Maxwell, and remain two to three times the cost of most department store scents. Joy's high cost comes from its use of rare florals; each ounce is purported to contain the essence of ten thousand flowers including Bulgarian roses and Grasse jasmine, as well as Michelia champaca alba.
Patou died in 1936, his sister and her husband, the Barbas continued the House of Patou. Other designers to have been associated with this house are Jean Kerlo and Karl Lagerfeld. Kerlo was chief perfumer for over 30 years and is now director of the Perfume Museum of Versailles.
The Patou perfume license is now owned
by Proctor & Gamble Prestige Beaut, which
remains faithful to the Jean Patou tradition
of extravagant fragrances made with extravagant
ingredients, so much so that Joy remains
one of the most costly perfumes (per ounce)
in the world.
| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/jean_patou the free encyclopedia 2/2/06 |
If you are interested in learning about another designer that has the first name Jean, you can read about Jean-Paul Gaultier (which happens to be another French fashion designer)