Mitsouko

Jacques Guerlain composed Mitsouko in 1919, just after the Great War. Guerlain now places it among Les Légendaires, a collection that brings together the house’s historic creations, and offers it as an eau de parfum, an eau de toilette and an extrait.

A heroine from a novel

Its name comes from the heroine of La Bataille, a novel by Claude Farrère. Wife of the young Marquis Yorisaka, Mitsouko secretly loves a British naval officer during the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, and silences her passion out of loyalty to her vow.

The house claims that the name means “mystery” in Japanese; Elena Vosnaki, of Perfume Shrine, disputes that translation. Ida Meister, of ÇaFleureBon, recalls that Farrère was a friend of Jacques Guerlain and had already mentioned Jicky, Aimé Guerlain’s fragrance, in an earlier book.

A chypre and a peach

Guerlain presents Mitsouko as the first fruity chypre, born of the idea of pairing a chypre with a peach note. Victoria Frolova, of Bois de Jasmin, sees it as a variation on François Coty’s Chypre, whose harshness Jacques Guerlain is said to have softened with a touch of peach skin.

The fragrance has crossed the century with its admirers. Elena Vosnaki and Ida Meister mention Serge de Diaghilev, who scented his curtains with it, Charlie Chaplin and Jean Harlow; Vosnaki also recalls the scene in Belle de jour in which Catherine Deneuve smashes a bottle of Mitsouko.

The reworkings

The formula has changed several times. According to Vosnaki and Meister, Édouard Fléchier revised it in the 2000s to comply with restrictions on oakmoss; in 2013, Thierry Wasser, the house perfumer, reworked it, and Persolaise welcomed a rejuvenated version.

The eau de parfum is sold in seventy-five milliliters, in the “inverted heart” bottle that the house dates to 1912, and Guerlain offers to engrave a name on it. The house publishes its ingredient list, which includes tree moss extract rather than oakmoss extract.