Tiffany. Back in the charts with I Think We’re Alone Now almost forty years after the fact because of Stranger Things. Tiffany Trump. Breakfast At. It could not possibly be more American.
And it was an American girl I first smelled this perfume on almost three decades ago, just another teacher passing through — but I remember that each time we met her she smelled sublime.
Blonde, not petite, this perfume beamed through her cotton and blue jean pores and was impossibly alluring. We would spend all night sniffing her: sniffing Tiffany, bees to a flame.
Yes, it was one of those orchestral white florals – orange blossom / tuberose / sandalwood / vanilla typical of the day, dripping with unctuous femininity – think Sung, Jardins De Bagatelle, Fleurs De Rocaille, Romeo Gigli, then Red Door and Tendre Poison, Ananya and Giò and, more than anything, the luscious Cartier Panthère (as it used to be, which smelled so incredible on a girl at university called Anoushka that I practically hallucinated) – but though some might find this full sensurround off the shoulder too performatively sexy, I am personally rather partial to a nectarous scent siren like this one every once in a while (just a dip in the toe of vulgarity without going the whole hog). This vintage edition of Tiffany – created by Patrick Demachy, he of a million Diors and classics like my beloved Ungaro Pour L’Homme, treads the sensuous line between trash and class rather brilliantly.
There is a smoothness to Tiffany that makes it non pareil. There are no rough edges – all emerges in one honeyed glimmer. Mandarin, orange flower, rose taif and American muguet, the freshness of blackcurrant honing down to a more anchored – but subtle – this is not Giorgio of Beverly Hills – vetiver and sandalwood, radiantly soft and skin kissing amber.
The original pre-reformulation version of Tiffany is now apparently legendary – you realize the ardor the perfume generates when you go on Fragrantica – and now goes for hundreds of dollars on eBay. I rescued this particular bottle from an old iron drawer at a junk yard on Saturday afternoon for five hundred yen, about 2 pounds fifty. Nostalgic for the Theresa memories – she lit up karaoke with this perfume, I knew I had to have it for old time’s sake; polished off its mottles and inserted it immediately into the collection.
Naturally it doesn’t suit me – though Burning Bush might consider it on a hot Tokyo night out in May. But no – this needs a particular person, a particular bombshell with the right natural luminosity to fully do it justice. And if such a person does come over to the house and it fits like a glass slipper, then I may fancifully bestow a decanted vial or two in their direction. Otherwise, this perfume is staying put. I like simply inhaling it from the cap – a fortifying glamour of 80’s Americana and an absolute classic of its genre.
Somehow I missed Tiffany.
Tragic, as it sounds like I’d love it.
Any chance you’ll be reviewing Dusita’s new Light of Bangkok? It sounds divine!
The second I smell it – I love lemongrass.
Re Tiffany, I would love your take : you would see through it to its essence, instantly, the lack of danger in it – and thus potentially be a tad bored – but in fact, ravished and ravishing. We have never met, but I think of you as being the ultimate clean but sensual white floral queen
Hm. I wonder if I’d like it? I did use to wear Sung and Fleurs de Rocaille…The flowers and vetiver and sandalwood sound good, though I’m unsure about the vanilla….
Fleurs de Rocaille has that Caron French thing though and Sung is much sharper and fresh – there is no prominent vanilla in Tiffany but it is very luscious and sultry in that particularly 80’s American way, Gorgeous, actually, though you might feel a bit like a drag queen or a doyenne of a Republican conference
Hm – big hair fine with me (desirable, in fact, as mine thins) but hopefully I’d be able to get the latter association out of my mind…Fleurs de Rocaille was sometimes too rich (or perhaps my vintage just started going off). Your description is so alluring. I think it has to go on the list.
It Fleurs de Rocaille is too rich, forget it !
Loved this read, Neil! Thank you.
Thought I would try and dust off the old cobwebs again and give it a go! How well do you know this one? It really does fall into that category of slightly eye-rollingly spot on – a typically gorgeously sexy perfume……but then how often are perfumes actually gorgeously sexy any more? I smelled it again from the nozzle this morning and found it simply stunning.
I think it’s a sign of an exceptional writer when they can intrigue you with something you know nothing about. I’ve never come across a bottle in my life!
Arigato v much – delighted this evokes.
Strange that Kate above had not come across this either ( I don’t think I had ever in England either..)
Maybe it is not as well known as I assumed. I have only ever smelled it on Theresa
I roughly remember this being at Kmart years ago. Yes, it has been that long ago.
It might have been close to the time that Debbie Gibson’s Electric Youth came out. Electric Youth was strong.
Im not sure if either was notable, but I had a soft spot for both of those women year ago. Especially Tiffany.