Saturday, April 16, 2011

Attrape Coeur EDP by Guerlain, Charleston and flapper style - PART II

Obs: Part I is awkwardly formatted and I can't somehow fix it! Tried one too many times...sorry...


ATTRAPE COEUR EDP


Attrape Coeur EDP by Guerlain has been launched by the brand 04 times (1999/2002/2005/2007). Each of them, with a different name: As a limited edition - Guet-Apens, as a part of a collection - Nº68 and finally as an unique star - Attrape-Coeur. Now said to be called Voil de Nuit Evasion.
Inspired by J.D. Salinger's book "The catcher in the rye", (translate to french L'Attrape Coeurs), it was called by Luca Turin "an essay on amber". 
Me? I think it is the very essence of Charleston and the flapper lifestyle.


Attrape Coeur EDP by Guerlain is compared to Bois Des Îles EDP by Chanel many times, by many reviewers, including Luca himself. I do agree with the fact that both have the same aura: Art Deco, 1920's, jazzy moods, etc...

Info on BDI:

Bois Des Îles is offered by Chanel as "an invitation to travel to the French city during the 20's"

"Paris, 1926. Art deco is all the rage, exoticism fascinates, and jazz stirs passions. People dream of faraway lands and precious woods. Once again, Coco Chanel shakes up the history of perfume by launching the first woody fragrance for women. An intoxicating, enveloping, warm, sensual, spiraling scent. It's all there: the precious woods, the opiate scents and magnificent, languid flowers. The fragrance is a mysterious, faraway continent in itself."



Guerlain's Attrape Coeur does have a Chanel aura. A woman who sent corsets to retirement and cut her hair short (The Chanel haircut). A woman who launched fragrances that did not smell like rich white flower bouquets, but woody notes for women; who launched synthetic scents while everyone was doing naturals. But this is as far as I go in the comparison. If I wished to write about Chanel's fragrances, I would be posting about Chanel. So let's focus on the fragrance in question. 

As I mentioned in PART I, Charleston flappers had a boyish look. You will find this aura in Attrape Coeur EDP, but somehow, just like the flappers, it is boyish, and seductive at the same time. Sensual, but not round. "A short hair like boys' haircuts but showing a lot of the neck" (a very sensual part of the body) kind of fragrance.



A woman from the late 20's would have enjoyed this fragrance because:
  • It is spiced with cinnamon, bringing the inspirations of the Far East and its misteriousness. 
  • It brings  the oriental vanillic-ambery touch, just like Shalimar, a fragrance from 1925, launched by the same brand, successfully sold till today. 
  • It contains a medicinal stroke, something very unusual in feminine fragrances.


The Art Deco movement brought an eclectic style to the 20's, by combining a variety of mixed styles from different sources, joining elegance and glamour, with modernity and functionality. Art Deco was purely decorative, geometrically constructed, and a response to the austerity of WWI.
In this aspect, Attrape Coeur is an ART DECO fragrance. Women does not need to smell flowery and powdery! They can be slightly medicinal, woody, mysterious. In the same way, they didn't have to be restrained and well behaved. They could smoke, dance, work and date freely! They could be modern and still be a woman! They could wear symmetrically cut short hairs, symmetrically cut dresses and symmetrically constructed fragrances!


In a few words, Attrape Coeur is the very essence of Art Deco, Flapper, 1920's style!
A time machine in one whiff!

Attrape Coeur EDP
Brand: Guerlain


Origin: France
Perfumers: Mathild Laurent?Maurice Roucel/Jean Paul Guerlain 
Launch: 1999/2002/2005/(last)2007
Gender: Feminine - but men can profit from its beauty too.
Range: EDP 
Olfactive family: floral - amber
Olfactive notes: peach, rose, jasmine, violets, orris, cinnamon, amber, vanilla, sandalwood, leather, wood notes.
Description by the brand: ?
Description by +Q Perfume Blog: FLAPPER, spicy, BEAUTIFUL, elegant, ART DECO, woody.
Silage: Great
Fixation: Great
When to wear: a night fragrance, but if you have an exuberant personality, you can also wear during the day!
Could Pair with: Bois Des Îles, Vol de Nuit Evasion.
Rating:★★★★★
Where:
★★★★★ - Great Gatsby, Empire State & Chrysler buildings. 
★★★★ - Lavishly beautiful.
★★★ - Could have been a success, during the 20's! 
★★ - Kicking back and forward to get rid of it!
★ - I flapped away from it!


A fun video with the essence of the decade:




Just as a curiosity - the fragrances very Art Deco by Guerlain are LIU and VEGA.

1 comment:

Dimi3 said...

Love the post, thank you!

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