Olfactionary
Created by Ernest Beaux for Bourjois, Soir de Paris, Evening in Paris, opens on aldehydes and bergamot, moves through a heart of rose, jasmine, lily of the valley, and ylang-ylang, and closes on sandalwood, musk, and vanilla. Beaux, fresh from creating Chanel No. 5 and No. 22, brought the same aldehydic-floral architecture to Bourjois, a more accessibly priced house, making Soir de Paris something like a democratized cousin of his Chanel work available to a far broader market. Sold in its distinctive deep-blue bottle and packaging, it became enormously commercially successful and one of the best-selling fragrances of the 20th century by volume, especially in the American market during and after the Second World War. Its combination of genuine aldehydic sophistication at a mass-market price point made it a significant fragrance for expanding perfume ownership beyond the wealthy clientele of the grand Paris houses.
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