1953 Rene Gruau poster for Balmain Jolie Madame
Ah, for the day when dames were dames. Balmain Jolie Madame days.
“We get packages from home,
We get movies, we get shows,
We get speeches from our skipper
And advice from Tokyo Rose,
We get letters doused with perfume
We get dizzy from the smell!
What don’t we get?
We know damn well!
Lots of things in life are beautiful, but brother,
There is one particular thing that is nothin’ whatsoever
In any way, shape or form like any other – There is nothin’ like a dame,
Nothin’ in the world,
There is nothin’ you can name
That is anything like a dame!” ~ from Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein‘s musical South Pacific, April 7, 1949. In 1950, their adaptation of James A. Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
South Pacific, 1958
It doesn’t take a crew of lovelorn sailors marooned in the tropics to convince me: present me with a perfume created for a real Dame, and I’m game. That said, it would suit any soul possessed of similar grit, wit, cojones and unflinching panache. Dames have character. They light up the screens of film noir with each appearance. A Dame is not a Broad. I have been thrilled to be a Dame all my life – and vintage Balmain Jolie Madame is My Sort of Dame.
Germaine Cellier via wikipedia
By all accounts, maverick (genius) perfumer Germaine Cellier was patently not an easy personality with whom to work – and her bold style of perfumery flew in the face of composition conventions of the day. While it is fact that she created several beautifully balanced fragrances with which few today might be familiar, it is her brazenly elegant ‘overdosage’ perfumes for which she is most frequently remembered: Fracas and Bandit for Robert Piguet; Miss Balmain and original Vent Vert for Balmain. Strictly speaking, Balmain Jolie Madame falls outside the overdose category as I perceive it: no overwhelming tuberose, no galbanum monster façade or whip-cracking beastly arid leather; no glorious floral ashtray sequestered in the folds of mother’s best purse. It is, instead – pure seduction underpinned with peril, potent floral dramatis personae initially tempered with herbal spice, only to reveal the sizzling, smoky cabaret-boîte underbelly lurking beneath. Cellier has strategized it so that there is equilibrium…but it is born of a dark, seething ambiguous sensuality. Despite its creation in 1953, post WW II, we have been transported to peri-war Berlin and Christopher Isherwood’s delicious Berlin Stories, dramatist Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill. Decadence is the order of the day.
Alan Cummings in Cabaret 1998, 1972 Joel Grey and Liza Minelli, Rene Gruau poster for Jolie Madame 1965, The Portrait of the Dancer Anita Berber Otto Dix, 1925 Collage
Balmain Jolie Madame ensnares you by razzle-dazzling you: bergamot and neroli sparkle energetically, then, whoosh! A flood of gardenia, jasmine and tuberose is unleashed with indolic fanfare. The gorgeous quirkiness of artemisia and coriander give these heavy-hitters a savvy nudge as an entourage of rose, orris and jonquil surround them. At this juncture, you’re feeling elated; it’s intoxicating and overtly flirtatious (not coquettish). These florals are dizzying. It’s feasible that a ladylike ‘50s woman (well-coiffed and dressed with gloves, matching handbag and heels) is trailing this marvelous fragrance in her wake – or so you’re led to believe. Just you wait: layer upon layer of scented subterfuge awaits in the wings, swathes of earthy patchouli and oakmoss, smoky vetiver and castoreum, civet, leathery tones. Not to neglect the glorious musks of yore which weaken the knees. It may be Paris, or Manhattan, or Kansas City, for that matter – but we’re in Berlin, and the magnificent creature wielding this insinuating perfume could be anyone at all. There’s anonymity in the crowded subterranean cabaret and it’s hard to tell who’s who amongst the smoke and dark jazz riffs. Be it Berlin today or Berlin years ago, it doesn’t matter. And if that creature is a Dame, it might well be me.
Notes: gardenia, artemisia, bergamot, coriander, neroli, jasmine, tuberose, rose, orris, jonquil, patchouli, oakmoss, vetiver, musk, castoreum, leather, civet
Vintage Jolie Madame from my personal collection. My nose is my own…
~ Ida Meister, Deputy Editor and Natural Perfumery Editor
photo of Ida’s collection of Jolie Madame
I firmly believe that classics are to be shared, both from an historical perspective and the opportunity to disseminate pleasure. In that spirit, I am offering a small decant of pure vintage Balmain Jolie Madame parfum (circa 1960) to one registered reader anywhere in the world. Please be sure to register. To be eligible please let us know what appeals to you about Ida’s review of Balmain Jolie Madame and where you live. Draw closes 5/20/2021
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To learn more about Germaine Cellier, please read our perfume signature article here and Sr. Contributor Marianne Butler’s ‘Herstory”- Three Millennia of Female Perfumers here
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