Arpège, like an eternal myth rooted in the world of perfumery. The story of the Lanvin house is the story of an outstanding and incredibly talented woman. Jeanne Lanvin represents a century of elegance and expertise. Passionate about fashion and hats, this young Parisian opened her shop on rue du Faubourg St Honoré in Paris in 1889.
The success of the perfume Arpège by Lanvin. When Jeanne Lanvin had perfumes composed, she approached it as she did her haute couture creations: they had to be delicate but feminine, very feminine. So when she asked her house perfumer André Fraysse and the young but talented Paul Vacher to create a perfume for her daughter's birthday, it had to be symphonic, musically speaking absolute. Arpège was born in 1927 and has never ceased to exhale its powerful femininity through women and through the decades
Olfastory’s review
When Jeanne Lanvin gave her daughter a birthday gift, Paul Vacher and André Fraysse composed Arpège for her!
I speak neither of fashion nor of budget, I speak of perfection, said Madame Jeanne Lanvin in the 1920s about the composition of Arpège. To achieve this, she asked her favorite perfumer André Fraysse to team up with Paul Vacher to create together a composition for the thirtieth birthday of her cherished only daughter. The two perfumers excelled in this work, and Marguerite, Jeanne Lanvin's daughter and a renowned musician, fell so much in love with this perfume that she exclaimed, it is like an arpeggio. The name of this sublime perfume was thus found.
The two creators of Arpège drew inspiration from the aldehydic trends of the moment, launched by the highly popular N°5 by Chanel, to offer Mademoiselle Lanvin as well as all the women of the world a perfume that celebrates women in their many facets, in their most beautiful faces. From its release, Arpège was the great success of interwar perfumery, and its perfumed musical notes never ceased to be talked about, both by the most celebrated voices in literature and by the women who fought to preserve their femininity during the war that broke out shortly thereafter.
Thus, regarding Arpège, the novelist Louise de Vilmorin celebrates a musical perfume that whispers a happy song, a refined luxury, a miracle of elegance. As for Colette, Jeanne's friend then staying in Saint-Tropez, she judges it to be of impeccable modernity. Madame Le Figaro on Arpège by Lanvin.
Arpège, or the absolute femininity of aldehydes and elegant, opulent flowers
Beyond the admirable bouquet of flowers it offers at heart, Arpège offers exceptional quality raw materials as well as an incredible list of more than 60 different essences in its composition. Even more than a joyful perfume of absolute femininity, it showcases the expertise of French perfumery and its two creators. Let us not forget that Paul Vacher would later compose a second monument of French perfumery: Miss Dior!
Arpège opens with notes of bergamot paired with a sun-kissed neroli blossom that takes on the velvety, sweet freshness of a peach note. The aldehydes send us the full power of this opening with an incandescent light. Then at the heart, jasmine, rose, ylang-ylang, and lily of the valley play their most beautiful notes to better carry us away on a wind of delicate and so feminine flowers. Finally, sandalwood and vetiver close this Arpège with their woody power, blending with an intense and mysterious tuberose that melts into a few gourmand touches of vanilla.