My Sin(1925)

Created by Maria Zede for Lanvin, My Sin opens on bergamot, peach, and aldehydes, moves through a heart of jasmine, rose, orris, and ylang-ylang, and closes on a base of musk, civet, vetiver, and vanilla. Its provocative English-language name, unusual for a French house otherwise using French titles almost exclusively, was a deliberate choice aimed at Lanvin's growing American market in the mid-1920s. The aldehydic-peach opening situates it within the broader wave of fruity-aldehydic florals following Chanel No. 5's template, while its civet-heavy base gives it a warmer, more animalic sensuality than many contemporaries. My Sin became one of Lanvin's most commercially successful early fragrances, helping establish the house's fragrance division two years before the even more celebrated Arpege arrived.