Chant d'Arômes

His muse inspires him to use the most floral and tangy raw materials to create a beautiful floral-chypre for young women who are sparkling yet devilishly seductive!

Chant d’Arômes and perfumes for young girls in the 1960s-1970s

Classic fine perfumery produced many magnificent perfumes in the 20th century, which were nevertheless little appreciated by young women, as they were too distinctive or too refined. Creators and perfume houses, aware that their target audience needed to grow younger in order to diversify, offered a multitude of fresh, sparkling perfumes to young women almost simultaneously: Câline by Patou in 1964, Anaïs Anaïs in 1978, but also of course Chant d’Arômes in 1962, which was one of the first to open this path.

While Jean-Paul Guerlain addresses this new composition to a young audience, he also dares to offer them a song of love presented as a perfume with notes as subtle as they are evocative. The first, deliberately naive visuals for Chant d’Arômes feature a romantic young woman with a flower in her hair. Yet a few years later, Habit Rouge would be presented in advertising as the masculine alter ego of the feminine Chant d’Arômes, which opens up every possible interpretation...

It would later be revealed that Jean-Paul Guerlain created this perfume so that his companion, unfaithful to the house of Guerlain and a devotee of Ma Griffe by Carven, would wear a perfume from his own house. And it is known that Ma Griffe is far more sensual than floral. In short, the young woman of Chant d’Arômes is not as naive as one might think!

And what if the young lady of Chant d’Arômes were not as demure as she claims?

Chant d'Arômes is a charming spring bouquet, according to Guerlain. Indeed, the Chant d’Arômes bottle is presented like a Florentine vase, like an opulent bouquet offered to a young lady one wishes to seduce. In a striking contrast, the small bow at the neck of the bottle is, on the other hand, very demure, almost childlike. This visual impression creates a contrast between innocence and seduction, an alchemy of opposites that will be a key component of the notes of the lovely Chant d’Arômes.

First, the energetic and dynamic top notes of bergamot and lemon take flight with honeysuckle. Then the very floral heart opens to offer its rich, silky notes of gardenia, jasmine and ylang-ylang. Finally, the flower-like young woman reveals herself through a nascent sensuality thanks to the intoxicating depths of sandalwood and vanilla.

Chant d’Arômes is clearly a perfume that plays on its contradictions, capturing all the subtleties and facets of young girls in the 1960s. No longer a child but not yet a woman, young ladies want to be swept away in floral, romantic breezes while leaving behind them a sensual and mysterious sillage. Often associated with the awakening of love, Chant d’Arômes already reveals its creator’s taste for unsettling perfumes with multiple “faces”.