Review of Y by aad de gids

Y. the very flacon of 100mL Edp which I bought in the late 1980s, still 'sits' in my Collection. I can vividly remember (and I do not have such good 'memory-skills') when and where I bought it and what was the incling I just had to buy it. inspired as I was by Opium my thought then was to have an equally good perfume from YSL where, if they had produced such good perfume they had certainly come up with another... while this thought now may have seemed misplaced in hindsight it occurs to me that in that time I started to learn some things about perfumery, the specific 'Groups' and 'Maisons de parfum' under which they could be categorized. I still have that same bottle which is turned not from light green as that is the Edt, rather from a lightening yellow into a warm, more satiated and macerated golden hue. where I had (a time ago) reviewed Balmain's Ivoire (1980) and then now had expected a confusion into delving into this superbe perfume (from 1964) whereas there are certain similarities yet there was not so much similarity as in the fact they are both Dramatic Chypre perfumes. but the comparison ends there. from the beginning (and remembering the evening I walked between the isles of the cosmetics department of the Chic Warehouse in Rotterdam) I was met by an austere, feminine, quite dark and dangerous perfume where I immediately felt its presence and perseverance. I then didn't know much about Chypres, Aldehydes, Florals or Orientals but I knew YSL had made another great perfume with Y and had to have it. this was in the very 1980s decade where my perfumes of privilege were all the Hefty, Heady Hookerperfumes and this then somehow formed a distinctly other perfume. but like Chanel No19 & No5, if there were differences, then not in Impact. as I also love Miss Dior and Estée Lauders Estée and Private Collection I would soon learn about the distinct category that were the Chypres. so I never hesitated and bought the Y Eau de parfum and spritzing it on again this morning I am amazed by its smoothness and invitative nature. it doesn't show the 'Pastoral Side' Ivoire de Balmain has. instead we are immediately placed inside the Les Salons de Haute Couture de Paris as you then had Chanel (by Karl Lagerfeld), YSL, Christian Dior (by Marc Bohan), Balmain (by Eric Mortensen), Scherrer, Ungaro, de Givenchy. which offered all, fabulous fashions and about which I was monthly informed by Fashion magazines as Vogue Paris (which costed 24 guilders !), Vogue US, Harpers Bazaar US, Vogue UK & Italia and 'W'. Y then, was an early perfume in fact the first Women's perfume from YSL. it was in a league all of it's own (well, it wasn't ...) . what strikes me now is the strong character of the perfume, the supple transition from the bitter aldehydic opening unto the realm of the Les Fleurs de Luxe. with Plum and Peach, Fruits I do detect in perfumes, in come the Queens. Gardenia, Honeysuckle, Hyacinth, Rose, Tubereuse, Iris (Orris root), Jasmine and Ylang Ylang. the sturdy beginning of this perfume I had remembered being much harsher but now it bestows upon me a more soft, feminine and smooth way it seduces us with as the Temptress she is. in retrospect this is also with the perfume (a veritable perfume which I also acquired) I remember it having lured me in inbetween the said isles of Cosmetics on that infamous evening. I have a feeling the civet makes the perfume both softer and fuller. I know of some other Civet-Aldehydes perfume which certainly has reminesces with Y: Oriza L. Legrand's Marions Nous (1914- 2014). Y certainly is a Leo perfume, which Yves Saint Laurent himself were, as also Mlle Chanel as also Madonna is (and I am not while I do have my share of Leo's). Y has that regal radiation of Chic and Poise. that the Icy Cathérine Deneuve (a veritable Capricorn) frequented the Salons of Yves by then, shall have contributed much to the Irreverent Sophistication of this Very Perfume.