Review of Jean-Louis Scherrer Eau de Toilette by aad de gids

another great Chypre in my collection ! launched 1979, I remember the perfume well because it was the favorite of my Sister in Law. it fitted her beautifully, she was kind of a Rita Hayward with Hip Gracing Flaming Red Hair and a finely chiseled face. this perfume, which I bought a couple of weeks ago, together with 'Scherrer 2', did instill in me beforehand THAT it was such Chypre as No19, Y, Azurée, Estée, Ivoire, Knowing, Aliage, Cristalle etcetera. yet thát it brought SUCH a green wall that I had to be accustomed to was quite a surprise. perhaps from the famous Chypres (also Cabochard, Bandit, several 'early Carvens') it may be, arguably, one of the perfumes that throws truckloads of Greenery at you. yet I am grooming myself towards the Classics evermore. it is as with a sip of Good Tea: Lapsang Souchong, Earl Grey, Assam, Oolong. there is an adstringency (and the spelling is what I already thought: "Astringency is a sensory experience described as a drying, puckering, or tightening sensation in the mouth, often accompanied by a feeling of roughness or a lack of lubrication.") and this astringency is caused by the freeflowing snow corposcules of terpenes, teines (as in tea), perhaps eugenols and tannines. it is botanical research as part of the fragrance sensation. in fact it is so green that this perfume could be (if only by me perhaps) one of the early experimentalist perfumes. you must also imagine I have seen what this veritable Couturier did in Vogue Paris. then (early 1980s) you still had Hubert de Givenchy, Jean-Louis Scherrer, Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, (if necessary for Chloe), for his 'own Brand' Lagerfeld Studio or Atelier Lagerfeld, and for Fendi for 50 years. then still Yves Saint Laurent, Emanuel Ungaro, Christian Lacroix, Hanae Mori, Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garçons, Valentino, the Versaces etcetera. I stood for the Windows of their Boutiques (Dior by first Marc Bohan, then Gianfranco Ferré, then John Galliano) and if you then bought perfume back in the Netherlands again they got far more 'Narrative'. I even bought a Gardénia perfume at 31, Rue Cambon at Chanel. for 350 guilders I stood next to size 34 Japonnaises, which bought their Deux-Pièces @ $ 10,000 for one confection and they didn't bought one.... but back to Scherrer's Chypre. he was a Couturier with Colours, Frills, Flamboyance and Icy Sexiness. kind of inbetween Yves and Karl. it was such joy to flutter through those pages of Vogue Paris and Vogue USA. when you saw Jean-Louis Scherrer he had piercing eyes, was a handsome man, a heterosexual for a change (I am gay myself so have no prejudices against whatever) so the austerity and strictness of this perfume in hindsight doesn't really surprised me (plus that I remembered it). yesterday the Green Wall was almost a Deterrant, but in an hour it fluidly morphed into this delicate and lovely floral sweetness and powderiness (a Regal Orris). the Aldehydes keep dancing and now they throw the Rose, Carnation, Hyacinth, Jasmin, Tuberose, Violet, Gardenia and Orris through each other in a kind of washing machine. but then it is time for the Central Players: Civet and Oakmoss. they introduce a very agreeable, forestrial drydown with White Musk, Amber, Vanilla, Woods. so after all I had a kind of 'holistic' view of this very Mature Perfume, very High and I would almost say: 'Très, Très Dior' were it not that this is the perfume of Jean-Louis Scherrer still alive and kicking.