Places where I can score vintage perfume in Japan these days are rapidly dwindling. You never know if an old ‘recycle shop’ or antique shop will have closed down or even vanished into thin air. Last week we went in search of a place we had discovered a while back near Shibuya where I found a small bottle of the exquisite Dior Dior and other treasures and was up for more………; there was no longer anyone on the premises. The legendary Shinagawa Flea Market, where many of my early breathless and heartstopping bargains were documented regularly here on The Black Narcissus, permanently closed its doors during the coronavirus pandemic. Several of the places I would regularly frequent in Yokohama have also shuttered. Vintage emporia that once stocked sometimes hefty amounts of perfume – boxed extraits behind the glass of cabinets obstructed by leather bags and jewellery, wigs – the joy of carefully moving something out of the way to reveal a softly sleeping parfum that has been unwanted by anyone but me for many decades a very peculiar and particular thrill – now put their focus on other things; clothes, objets, knicknacks; fabrics.
Sometimes occasional places still do yield though. Last week on a sudden whim we went up to the Salvation Army store in Tokyo, a place we hadn’t been in years, and fortunately just in time: the website had said it was open until 1:30pm, but these were apparently pre-Covid times – the sprawling building, hidden in a residential district near Shinjuku famous for its Buddhist Shingon sect was actually closing at 12 and we had just got there at 11:42 (a good job we had foresworn showers in the morning and just jumped out of bed and gone up there, otherwise we would have missed it and had a totally wasted journey). Splitting up upon entry, D ransacked the clothes rails with hawk-eyed precision and picked a great range of very cool clothing within ten minutes : I myself of course went straight for the cosmetics and perfumes section- with its unbelievable finds in the past, if you want to see my old article on this lovely place I was brimming with expectation- even if on this particular occasion there was not much left there except a Mitsouko edp and a Bal A Versailles eau de cologne for thirty dollars – both in bottles I have never had before and thus had to buy. Even if for me these two are not at the holy grail levels of mouth-drying excitement (said the spoiled Little Lord Fauntleroy: pardonnez moi, mesdames), I was still very pleased to get them, and I do like how they look placed on top of my recently acquired rare 1974 vintage chypre, Lois Azzaro Couture parfum.
Speaking of classic chypres, which Mitsouko, along with the original Coty Chypre – which I don’t know well enough to comment on as I have never smelled the vintage creation, even if I know there is a beautiful bottle probably still waiting for me in Tokyo in an old British antique shop – just look at it! – is the prototypical example, the other day before work, in order just to give me a pep in my bloodstream, I cruised into my secret shop in the Shonan area to see if I could pick up a thing or two cheaply for a quick perfumista thrill. In there right now, stacked up neatly on the shelves, there are a lot of things that you or I would probably want, including old Guerlains – D got me the 30ml parfum of L’Heure Bleue for my birthday from there- it was expensive but it has always been a dream of mine to own it; not quite sure why I haven’t written about it yet but I will at some point, probably in spring – somehow it doesn’t feel right in the cold, and I want to use it in tandem with the vintage L’Heure Bleue soap I had bought from the same place in grand anticipation of properly wearing the regal plumage of the pure perfume itself.
Yes, there are certainly things on those shelves that I want, and may have to get soon (because I have a slight fear in my bones that it will just suddenly close down, that I will turn up one day and it will all be gone and I will have missed my chances; there are rarely many people in there and I don’t quite see how the shop can survive). There is a 28ml Nº19 extrait in the Chanel cabinet, for example, at the steal price of ¥5800 ($39, £31): a ton of Vol De Nuit and Mitsouko, as always, and some lovely Jardins De Bagatelle; a Parfum D’Hermès extrait I will need because I am totally obsessed with that one at the moment – I now prefer it to Chamade, with that dirty animalic powdered base packed with incense and balsams and the rose/hyacinth top – it has become my private night perfume – and there is a boxed vaporisateur haphazardly slung into a flotsam reduction bin for just $21.
What I came away with on Wednesday though were just perfumes from loose change; I didn’t feel like splurging. Sometimes there is something quite skinflint thrilling about the challenge of spending as little as possible but still walking away with a throbbing little bottle of perfume in your pocket : in the rummageable bargain bin beneath the shelves, I picked up a pristine boxed parfum of a scent I had never even heard of before, Envol by Ted Lapidus (1981), a much adored sporty green floral chypre from back in the day as I found out when looking it up on Fragrantica, and one that now goes for very high prices, from $500-$700 (the 15ml extrait from that shop was $8). Very much of its time, in some ways this perfume of a certain hushed young maturity puts me in mind of the first Armani Pour Femme, a ruched blouse heartflutterer from 1982 which is admittedly more ambery, and with a more herbally delicate rose – (Envol is more androgynous and could be her more athletic older sister). In any case, that was a real find. Anyone who knows Envol, please do let me know what you think of it.
Next, my crooked claws delved in and hoisted a familiar delight: the beautiful (to me, anyway), 40’s green and white stripes of Carven’s classic Ma Griffe, MY FIRST TIME EVER FINDING THE PARFUM! I have had a couple of mini miniatures in the past, the flacons so small it is sometimes difficult to even get the perfume out of the bottle mouth, as parts of those old red velvet indented Souvenirs From Paris boxed collections that sometimes turn up at fleamarkets, but never before a full bottle of actual extrait. There is an unparalleled freshness to Ma Griffe, as sunny and bright as a new head of lettuce in a happy vernal paradise garden; citric and zinging in a way I don’t think I have never discovered elsewhere (famously, the perfumer, Jean Carles, instructed by Madame Carven to create something outdoorsy and upbeat, ‘without all the heaviness’, was said to be virtually anosmic when creating this perfume, making it up with his memory smell brain and the help of his vowed-to-silence assistant, but not actually smelling it – perhaps this could account for the perfume’s bracingness – some might even say brashness. Ma Griffe certainly has its detractors – and after all the name does mean ‘My Claws’ (or ‘my signature’, whichever you prefer) but I personally love the rush of its careless vivacity.
To me, this is possibly the best chypre of all time (But let’s rage and debate if you hate this idea). The top notes – green, floral, citrus, an upward flight of hissingly crisp leafed aldehydes – are a delight of fresh air and optimism. The base is smooth and assuaging. The edt I have, though, a lot of it now used, is one of those perfumes that I unfortunately must optimize when alone – D doesn’t like it on me really: I think it is one wide brimmed polka-dotted-lady-hat day at the races too far for him ; the softer, warmer, delicious parfum, however, drying down on me more acceptably to the most classic, powdery Chypre with a capital C accord on my skin for many hours that is far more sensual. I will treasure this. And, a potent 15ml flacon in perfect nick, it only cost me £4.25.
CHYPRE, CHYPRE – BUT WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF A CHYPRE?
I distinctly remember, as a twelve or thirteen year old, waiting in line for Latin class to start – yes, I was one of the weirdos that chose Latin – and my tall, gangly and brainy friend Sally Derby coming up to me from down the corridor smelling amazing. But disturbing. I of course immediately asked what is was, perturbed by the bright, soft, but rather dark aura that enveloped her; one that wrapped her schoolgirl self up in a thick blanketed air of adult mystery. “It’s The Body Shop Chypre oil” she said (and being by far the best at French in the school, I know she definitely pronounced it right). That moment was such a memorable entry into the phenomenon of chypres that I think even now that particular scent – now prized by aficionados who wore it back in the day and much searched for on eBay for astronomical prices – is still the ur-chypre template in my mind. To me, the classic, classical chypre scent is always a powdery and silvery enigma with dark traces – the requisite oakmoss (real, please) and labdanum, with musks and patchouli/vetiver shot through with an upper field bergamot and floral brightness part of the inherent internal paradox. There is always an arch, arms-length aggression with a chypre, but then an interior, furred and textural softness. A yielding; an admission. In this regard, the most consecrated archetypes for me would probably be Mitsouko and Chanel Pour Monsieur, which I have always adored since I first started wearing it as a then-slender stripling of an adolescent – the vintage après rasage format still one of my all time favourites (the edt has slightly too much citronella and cardamom), but both of these, Mitsouko’s irascible spice and grouchful piercingness notwithstanding, dry down to the classical mossy base accord that always wears its bona fide chypre accreditations on its lapel with pride and panache.
I am not going to argue with perfumers and archivists such as Michael Edwards who put chypres in different families: green chypres, citrus chypres, floral chypres, leather chypres, ‘oriental’ chypres etc – at a certain point, virtually any perfume with a mossy, woody or leather/patchouli base that has contrasting floral/citrus top notes gets put in the chypre category: Miller Harris Citron Citron, CK One apparently make the grade with their chypric undertones, as does Dior Diorella, which I love, but didn’t quite make the list below even though I like it personally better than Miss Dior, which has always scared me a bit (and why it is so brilliant). Citruses form the main theme of such perfumes – my choice for really sharp citric chypre (or is it an aromatic? You tell me….probably Quiquopro de Grès), but what these perfumes do all have in common is that they then move onto darker, alluring final territories. Funnily, two of my holy grails, Vol De Nuit – vanillic, ultimately – and Nº19, elegantly strident, green and iris-ridden – I have never consciously considered chypres (I know, just strike me down if you will, I am no longer deserving), but they actually are, according to most people in the know – as is Calèche – which I would have probably called a floral aldehyde. But then Calèche is no Chanel Nº5, which is completely unfettered with chypric taint; like Rive Gauche, and my beloved Calandre, there is no ignoring the presence of all that moss underneath, and it is that mossiness, even in patchouli whip- wielding leather vixens like Paloma Picasso, that ultimately seals the deal.
MY TOP 20 CHYPRES *
- MA GRIFFE – CARVEN
- POUR MONSIEUR – CHANEL
- VOL DE NUIT – GUERLAIN
- Nº 19 – CHANEL
- CALANDRE – PACO RABANNE
- MAGIE NOIRE – LANCOME
- ANTILOPE – WEIL
- MON PARFUM – PALOMA PICASSO
- Ô DE LANCÔME – LANCÔME
- PARFUM D’HERMÈS – HERMÈS
- RIVE GAUCHE – YVES SAINT LAURENT
- CALÈCHE – HERMES
- CHANT D’ARÔMES – GUERLAIN
- YSATIS – GIVENCHY
- AROMATICS ELIXIR – CLINIQUE
- MITSOUKO – GUERLAIN
- CRISTALLE – CHANEL
- CABOCHARD – GRÈS
- CORIANDRE – COUTURIER
- MISS DIOR – CHRISTIAN DIOR
* today
Have you tried Magie Noire in the current formulation? I am considering buying it for cheap. There are no tester bottles available so it’s a blind buy. I have sampled the vintage EDT before and like it alot, but it turns muddy quickly off my skin like some vintages do.
I haven’t smelled the latest versions of Magie; I know the reformulation from a while back (ten years?) and although it was less husky and dusky than the vintage, the raspberry/patchouli distinctiveness was intact and I loved it. I only gave it away to D’s mum because it is her signature and she needed it more than me (even though she had gifted it me in the first place). If it were me I would wear it with a dash of natural patchouli oil and be quite happy. I miss it.
In fact, given that you say the original became ‘muddy’ on you, I think the slightly cleaned up but not ruined reworking might actually be ideal. I think it still has the ‘magic’, the quality that perfume always was imbued with (I think it is pure genius).
I saw you post the Ma Griffe on Instagram, what a lovely and strange little lozenge-esque bottle design.
Blown away by the realization that there is a legitimate Salvation Army store in Tokyo? Ostensibly populated by actual donations from Japanese people? When I visited in 2016 I stayed in Kōenji and was so dismayed to discover that all the “vintage/thrift stores” were actually peddling imported clothes from the U.S… stuff to me that was super boring, familiar, and easy to come by.
Oh yes, there are tons of ultra tedious (and very expensive) vintage thrift stores, I agree. This Salvation Army place is run by ex-alcoholics for people with alcohol issues in the surrounding area – it has a great atmosphere.
Next time!
Thanks for this great article on chypres! Your description „silvery enigma with dark traces“ is brilliant; and „enigma“ the whole categorization of chypres remains for me. To my simple nose: If I clearly smell oakmoss it is a chypre, if not it aint.
What I really wanted to say is how beautiful the silver and green brocade is on which your Ma griffe rests! Quintessentially Japanese, constrained silver pattern and free-flowing emerald bamboo. Très chic!
Grazie. D took that picture: we are forever picking up old kimono obis that are turned into cushions and whatnot. I really like that material as well – it is gorgeous, and cost about three pounds despite its extreme luxuriance!
An exciting post! I didn’t know No 19 was a chypre, I always think of it as THE Queen of classic green florals. I’d never be without the EDT. I do love the pure perfume but it’s leaner and meaner. I suppose Cristalle is a quiet chypre, also one of my favourite Chanels. I loved Coco in the 80s, they have completely destroyed it now, the new formulation is unrecognisable with cheap neutered ingredients
My experience of vintage chypres is through my mum, whose perfume collection featured a few, including Ma Griffe, Femme and Miss Dior. I agree, Miss Dior Is scary! Is Femme by Rocha’s considered a fruity chypre? It would be high on my list of loved chypres, though I’d never wear it, I think it requires warmer, maybe oily skin.
Ma Griffe I love, it has a warm citrussyness that almost makes me think of orange peel. Coriandre is still lovely.
The chypre I’m not keen on is Miss Balmain, or I haven’t found a decent one in vintage. I used to get it for my mum on her birthday, as she adores it, then I discovered Cabochard for her, which is pretty decent for such a cheap price. Have you tried it?
Oh and I can’t believe I forgot to mention Maggie You’re, my first ‘grown up’ perfume at 18. I still love it, but other people don’t really like it!
Spell check haha, Magie Noire
MAGGIE NOIRE.
Such a fantastic stage name. But you now have the patent.
I love all these discussions. Bring more on. As I said in the rambling post, to me 19 ISN’T a chypre. I was just going with what the majority say. Vol De Nuit isn’t either. And Parfum D’Hermes, like Ysatis, isn’t either. I consider those two more as floral ambers. And Miss Balmain to me is a floral leather – I could never consider it a chypre, though when I think about the parfum drydown, which I know very well, I suppose it is (and Femme definitely is – how could I have forgotten it?! – although as you say it is a ‘fruity chypre’ – like Champagne/Yvresse and Ricci Deci Dela, that whole other category that doesn’t fit in with my possibly overnarrow view of what a chypre is.
I would change my list and insert Yves Saint Laurent – an absolute bona fide Chypre, and possibly Sisley Eau Du Soir.
The category of ‘oriental’ is justifiably defunct, but I have never really been satisfied with a substitute. To me, all the spicy eighties perfumes like Diva and Coco etc could never remotely be considered chypres, but they probably are – depending on your stance. Never mind Trump/Biden, conservative and labour or liberal, the real question to be asked these days is what constitutes a chypre and what the hell are we going to do about it
It IS a fun discussion 🙂 and in my new persona of Maggie Noire I feel I can totally rock these ancient chypres! I only mentioned Coco as I was on the subject of Chanels, I too wouldn’t ever call it a chypre.
I saw it described as one !
Burning Bush wears perfumes I can’t get away with. Sometimes an alter ego presents new possibilities !
Cabochard is in a world class of its own.
I ‘reached for’ the edt last night actually, and as always, found it intriguing, even if it is not something I often feel like wearing – D doesn’t like it on me, so it is more of a very occasional solitary Sunday ‘out alone’ number where I feel very chic but also a bit out of it
https://theblacknarcissus.com/2015/02/17/adulterous-cabochard-by-gres-1959-3/
Astringent citric chypres are my perfume drug of choice. My gateway drug.
O de Lancôme
Cristalle EDT
Azuree
Vent Vert
Cabochard
Mitsouko
Ma Griffe
Aramis
Chanel Pour Monsieur
Eau Sauvage
Better stop now.
But not everything with oakmoss is a chypre
Oh I definitely agree. I don’t actually even LIKE oakmoss (I have never enjoyed it when encountering the natural substance in perfumery workshops and the like), I just like how it combines with things. But when it is too heavy I don’t really enjoy it (the most intense oakmoss sillage I have ever encountered is the original formulation of Chanel Egoiste Platinum which is just PACKED with it and used to leave the most incredibly large mousse de chene trail behind it in Japanese train stations that intrigued but also grared when it was at the height of its (significant) popularity here: oakmoss is surely a lynchpin in the dreaded masculine fougere as well, though like you I do have a big soft spot for Aramis and its sour leathery pissiness which is somehow bordering on transcendent (have you tried Quiproquo by the way? Might be a new habit. Cabochard but just with a VERY intense lemon leaf top note that is quite sublime: delighted you love O de Lancome as much as I do – rarely has there been a more regretted reformulation).
Ps. I have never smelled Azuree.
BERATE ME.
EDUCATE ME.
Azuree & Aramis are brother & sister. Thats how Bernard Chant designed them. To my nose they were almost indistinguishable. Maybe Aramis was a touch more hairy chested, less bergamot/lemon up top, a tiny bit of sour green aromatic in its place. I’ve never thought of Aramis as a fougere, probably because of the Azuree link.
Azuree is the perfect chypre, even now it has been neutered & Lauder has sorted out the chip fat drydown it is beauteous. Amalfi lemons, raw leather swimwear, sparkling turquoise sea, inky greens in the best. Of course, Azuree is a 12ft tall, perfectly proportioned 70’s tanned Amazonian!
I’m not familiar with Quiproquo at all. I have no recall of even hearing of it. I’ll be popping a search on eBay in case it ever crops up. Thank you for the tip & do tell me more
Adore your leather swim suit descriptions : I am sold !
https://theblacknarcissus.com/2018/05/13/quiproquo-by-gres-1975/
Lauder counters in big cities should carry modern Azuree.
Forgot to add Chic de Cardin. The meanest of the mean
What a lovely post. I think I’ve lost the ability to think clearly about the perfumes I love, but I’m pretty sure they are all chypres; at least, there are many on your list. Even the word feels green, rich, deep. Aromatics, Paloma, Eau du Soir, Soir de Lune, Magie Noir, Ma Griffe, Champagne (an old bottle still half full, before it became Yvresse), etc. What is Puredistance’s Warszawa? Rogue’s Vetiver that you said would be so good for me, and is? The adored Weil de Weil….I suppose they are floral or green chypres. Then, the Rose Chypree (Tauer), Folie de Rose, etc. I wish I could smell oakmoss on its own. I never feel better than when wearing these. Even my beloved narcissus and orange blossom perfumes can’t compete. Thank you for the post. I’m so sorry the old treasure shops are going away. I’ve yet to find a good one here.
I think Japan is quite special in that regard. But there are still quite a few for us to find I am sure.
Weil de Weil should definitely be on the list ( I thought that as I wrote Antilope); if I were including modern iterations Warszawa would make it. Gorgeous, cool warm and glowing – definitely worth a try
Glad to hear W de W and the other W are what you would consider chypres. I have Warszawa; for me, it’s a top 10 perfume, if not a top 5 – completely my bag. The problem is that I tend to save it, which is silly, as I have enough for a few decades at least.
But it has that precious runoutable quality- I get it
Hi, you haven’t looked on Basenotes?
https://basenotes.com/fragrances/envol-by-ted-lapidus.10213161
Thanks. I like your review.
How amazing to see you rate Ma Griffe as your top chypre! It was my first perfume love when I was haha only thirteen and I just finished writing a little story about how I came to wear it. Reading your review of Ma Griffe gave me some validation for my early love of it. If you want to see my story, it is here http://delusiastic.blogspot.com/2018/11/blah-blah-blah.html
Thanks for the link : a great read
( but why did Marlon Brando punch him in the face ?)
Ma Griffe has something extra : it is ALIVE
I’m so glad you liked my Ma Griffe story! (There are a few more perfume stories on the Delusiastic! blog on the Perfume Stories page, but it’s mostly other stuff.). As to why Brando punched my father: I was told that he was confusing my father with Maurice Zolotow, who made his living writing about Hollywood stars, and was concerned that Maurice was going to expose his secret affair with Rita Moreno or write about Brando’s personal life. I have no idea why their affair was supposed to be secret. But it would be equivalent to finding the paparazzi waiting for you inside your lover’s house.
!!!
P.S. Your list of chypres is so interesting. I’m writing something about Magie Noire now and should write something about Cabochard eventually–both were very important perfumes in my life.
I can’t get away with wearing Magie Noire myself; I am not witchy enough and it is my partner’s mother’s favourite which would create, er, confusion
But i think it is STUPEFYIINGLY good – so layered and emotive in varying ways
Haha I can’t wear it either anymore because it evokes difficult emotions and right now I’m trying to write about that.
I can imagine. She is a very complicated creature .
Looking forward to reading about it.
I used to wear Envol all the time. Absolutely fabulous. So sad when it stopped being available. My memory may be misleading me but I thought of it as bottled freesias.
Wow I must revisit it with that thought !