Still from The Red Shoes, 1948

“The Ballet of The Red Shoes" is from a fairy tale by Hans Andersen. It is the story of a young girl who is devoured with an ambition to attend a dance in a pair of Red Shoes. She gets the shoes and goes to the dance. For a time, all goes well and she is very happy. At the end of the evening she is tired and wants to go home, but the Red Shoes are not tired. In fact, the Red Shoes are never tired. They dance her out into the street, they dance her over the mountains and valleys, through fields and forests, through night and day. Time rushes by, love rushes by, life rushes by but the Red Shoes go on.” Boris Lermontov (played by Anton Walbrook) in The Red Shoes, 1948

Moira Shearer in The Red Shoes

Watching Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s film The Red Shoes is like seeing dreaming unfold. The story of a ballerina dancing to her inevitable death while playing a character with the same fate, The Red Shoes sets twilight imagery against vivid splashes of colour, and its heartbeat music underlines the narrative’s undercurrent of doom, The Red Shoes’ strange loveliness and extraordinary dance sequences make it perhaps the greatest ballet film of all time. But its story does not end there …

Bettina in the Red Shoes gown, photo by Irving Penn for Vogue, 1950

Two years after the film was made, Fath created a dress of the same name for his favourite model, Bettina; a red silk sheath cloaked with a dusk-blue wrap that epitomized early 50s’ elegance. And now, now, a half century later, The Red Shoes revive again, this time in a vivacious, sparkling fragrance by perfumer Cecile Zarokian for Jacques Fath Parfums.  

 

Perfumer Cecile Zarokian and  Creative Director Rania Naim courtesy of Cecile©

A brilliant, airy sparkle of aldehydes, grapefruit, blackcurrant and red berries burst from the bottle in a grand jete, the bright, piquant notes glittering in the air like invisible jewels. This opening is so bubbly it immediately puts a smile and my face, and I would be happy for Jacques Fath Essentials Red Shoes to stop right here. But, like its storied namesake, Jacques Fath Essentials Red Shoes has more than one act.

Indiana Woodward, New York City Ballet

Spices make their entrance next. The aromatic tickle of fresh ginger stem mingles with the sweet pungency of pink peppercorn, followed by geranium. And then red, red rose; full-bodied and velvety, right at the center. The rose has the effect of illuminating the other notes like a spotlight; the fruity notes stay aloft and the spices come forward rather than absorb into the flower’s thick scent. Jacques Fath Essentials Red Shoes lingers in this middle stage for some time. Eventually, patchouli begins to lend a slender dark chocolate aroma, deepening the ginger and pepper. As the composition dries down, clean musk blends with a blond wood note in the base.  The choice of lighter notes for the base gives the fruity notes of the top a much longer life than usual and allows the rose to remain perfectly poised, en arabesque, at the forefront.

Moira Shearer wears Jacques Fath evening dress in The Red Shoes

Under the creative direction of Raina Naim, Jacques Fath Essentials  has reinvigorated one of fashion and perfumery’s great houses with artistic, chic, lovely reimaginings of their predecessors (such as last year’s long-awaited  L’Iris de Fath) as new additions that glissade easily right alongside them. May they have many acts to come.

Notes: Blackcurrant, red berries, grapefruit, aldehydes, rose damascene absolute, geranium, ginger, pink pepper, patchouli, cashmere wood, musks.

Disclaimer: Sample of Jacques Fath Essentials Red Shoes graciously provided by Jacques Fath Essentials . My opinions are my own.

–  Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor

 

Jacques Fath Essentials Red Shoes

Thanks to the generosity of Jacques Fath Essentials we have a 50 ml bottle of Jacques Fath Essentials Red Shoes for a  registered reader in the U.S., Canada or Europe. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what appeals to you about Jacques Fath Essentials Red Shoes based on Lauryn’s review and where you live.  Do you have a favorite Jacques Fath Essentials from the revitalized collection launched in 2016? Draw closes 2/8/2019.

We announce the winners only on our site and on our Facebook page, so like Çafleurebon and use our  blog feed … or  your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.