Joy was launched by Jean Patou in 1930, in the wake of the 1929 crash. Composed by Henri Alméras and presented to the world as the costliest perfume in the world, this floral of Grasse rose and jasmine, into which go 10,600 jasmine flowers and 28 dozen roses per ounce of extrait, went out in 2018 when LVMH took its name for Dior.
Angela (Now Smell This) held Joy in 2008 to be a superbly balanced, womanly classic, the equivalent of a 1950s Dior suit, whose extrait turns spicy and animalic; Elena Vosnaki (Perfume Shrine) sees in it the archetype of a beautiful jasmine.
Olfastory’s review
Angela, Now Smell This
In January 2008, Angela admits she first found Joy ho-hum, neither offensive nor exciting, before recognizing it for what it is: a classic, womanly and gorgeously balanced, the olfactory equivalent of a 1950s Dior dinner suit, flattering, adaptable, luxurious down to its hand-basted seams.
Despite its nearly eighty years, it does not strike her as retro; its depth complicates an otherwise straightforward beauty, and modern variations on this theme seem thin to her in comparison. She invites those who dismissed it long ago to smell it again.
Elena Vosnaki, Perfume Shrine
In July 2011, Elena Vosnaki makes Joy the archetypal example of a smooth, beautiful jasmine, which can be worn without evoking particularly dark tendencies and without being pointless for all that, an icon of luxury perfumery.