Vintage Via Lanvin 1971

Ida’s vintage Via Lanvin EDT©

Green: I never weary of green, or chypres, or the Lanvins. If they are aldehydic, that’s the proverbial cherry on top.

I’ve written about several of the vintage/discontinued Lanvins in the past (Rumeur, Crescendo, Spanish Geranium, Scandal) because I believe them to be brilliant examples of haute parfumerie – in much the same vein as the original Balmains (original is the operative word: the house had taken marvelous creative risks in earlier years), Guerlains, and Carons. I had become curious about Jacques Fraysse’s 1971 creation Via Lanvin awhile back and was able to locate a tiny, well-preserved échantillon-sized flacon of the parfum on eBay. It had been decades since I’d last smelt it – and I wasn’t disappointed: it was wonderful, and not expensive.

poster Vintage Via Lanvin common use

1971 emerged during the heyday decade of sparkling verdant aldehydic chypres, of which there was an abundance; it’s understandable if Via Lanvin escaped your notice. It was also an era of overhaul, of great change within the house of Lanvin perfumes. Lanvin had merged in 1964 with Charles of the Ritz – and in 1970, the house was acquired by the huge pharmaceutical corporation E.R. Squibb. Their decision to discontinue Rumeur, Spanish Geranium, and Scandal was made on the basis that these fragrances were not as marketable as Arpège and My Sin (which continued to sell very well). Executives were looking to reinvent the Lanvin image in a more contemporary vein, and Jacques Fraysse was commissioned to compose a sophisticated, youthful audience. A new leaf. Lanvin advertised Via Lanvin as “The Second Beginning”.

Via Lanvin, however well cared for, does suffer a bit from the wear and tear of time. Sadly, this is true for a vast number of vintage perfumes: top notes may (and do) alter considerably, and they often don’t linger upon the flesh as long as they once did when they were fresh and new. This (along with cost) is one of the reasons why many fragrance aficionados resist seeking them out: if they are plunking down a tidy sum for a fragrance, they expect considerable sillage and/or long wear in return for their investment. There’s no denying that the lion’s share of contemporary perfumes are designed with these goals in mind – which, by default, decreases an appetite for scents of days gone by, especially if they are expensive.

Enter Via Lanvin in a year which literally burst at the seams with olfactive originality and remarkable fragrances: Chanel No. 19, Clinique’s Aromatic Elixir, Nina Ricci’s glorious Bigarade, Jacomo’s elegant Chicane, bold Empreinte de Courrèges, Lancôme Sikkim, Vivre de Molyneux, and Weil de Weil. I own, or have owned each of them; at some future point, it would be lovely to expound upon the virtues of those we haven’t yet reviewed. It was a fabulous year for the chypre, which assumed the form of herbal, floral, spicy, woody – and a plethora of verdancy. In this given climate, Lanvin’s decision makes perfect sense.

Vintage ad via Parfumo.com

Vintage Via Lanvin smells quintessentially French – if that makes sense to you, as it does to me. It wafts a lasting trail of chypre-cum-amber components which harmonize unerringly, introduced by the clarion call of aldehydes, bergamot, green notes, and Amalfi lemon. You couldn’t want for a more soigné floral heart; it teems with the fullness of violet, muguet, narcissus, carnation, jasmine, and ylang-ylang. Orris is present as well; it serves as a bridge between the blossoms and a complex mossy, balsamic woody base splashed with amber and musk. It’s a base from which dreams are fashioned, hearkening back to an era when oakmoss was unconstrained, sandalwood arrived from the Mysore region of India, and musks ran rampant. The entire fragrance feels luxurious, cosmopolitan, chic – and effortless. Via Lanvin doesn’t trumpet its arrival, and perhaps that might have contributed to its short run; so many other fragrances that year blazed new paths, and this new Lanvin, as enchanting as it was – might have been easily overshadowed by the edgier (and at times, showier) scents which debuted in 1971. It possessed neither the quirky charm nor the overdose of green which others displayed; its calling card was quality, not novelty. In this regard Via Lanvin was a worthy successor to the previous perfumes of the house – but it didn’t branch into new enough territory to distinguish itself as a ‘new beginning’.

Ida’s Vintage Lanvin Via mini parfum©

Samples and small flacons of Via Lanvin are easily located online for the inquisitive connoisseur, and many are affordable. If you seek a classically radiant green floral chypre which is beautifully composed, you might want to smell this for yourself. I find the exploration of aromatic history enlightening: I learn so much every time I experience the vintages anew – and it helps me understand how a particular epoch shapes art, and vice versa. In the final analysis, being beautiful was not enough to keep this fragrance afloat in a rapidly expanding market.

Notes: aldehydes, green notes, bergamot, violet, Amalfi lemon, narcissus, carnation, ylang-ylang, orris, jasmine, muguet, oakmoss, vetiver, sandalwood, amber, Virginia cedar, musk

The fragrance described is from my personal collection; my nose is my own.

~ Ida Meister, Deputy and Natural Perfumery Editor

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