Jicky: A perfume created for a woman, worn by men and then by women!
The first modern perfume which paved the way for all the other creations which would no longer be inspired only by Nature but also by the imagination of its creator. Ambivalent and complex, contrasting and striking, like the muse of Guerlain, Jicky remains an olfactory legend in its own right.
Jicky or the perfume revolution by Aimé Guerlain
Aimé Guerlain, still a young perfumer at the end of the 19th century, decided to go discover new horizons and set off from Paris to England. In addition to his many discoveries, he discovered there love in a passionate and impetuous woman whom he wanted to bring back with him to Paris to pursue his career there and take over the perfumery left by his father. Unfortunately, faced with the refusal of the young lady’s parents, he had to go back to France alone.
Twenty-eight years later, in the era of the Eiffel Tower and the multiple industrial revolutions, Aimé Guerlain chose to pay tribute to his impossible youthful love by creating a totally original fragrance in his name: Jicky.
In addition to the olfactory revolution presented by Jicky by presenting synthetic facets against natural raw materials, Jicky tells us a story . Jicky dreams and imagines, then feels. Unimaginable at the time of Eaux de Cologne! Yet Jicky, fresh and sensual at the same time, will seduce an audience much more masculine than feminine because, the sublime fragrance in addition to being totally innovative, presents itself under a beautiful androgyne that will make people talk … Then who will seduce those who care approach.
Like all of its striking contrasts, the advertising proposed for Jicky will play on these different effects to better surprise… The birth of Jicky will mark a decisive turning point for the Guerlain house towards a now international and totally unbeatable reputation!
Jicky the very first fragrance of modern perfumery, an androgynous revolution
As we had already noticed, whether by name referring to Aimé Guerlain’s first love as to Jacques Guerlain (“Jicky” too), his nephew, Jicky is mysterious. Willingly ambivalent, Jicky will therefore strut about in a bottle with very masculine, very geometric lines, reminiscent of pharmacological vials.
As for the composition of Jicky, it is also very mixed, being able to be both worn by a man as worn by a woman, but also very innovative thanks to the use for the first time of summary notes such as vanillin or coumarin. Indeed the top notes seem at first glance rather masculine, marked by the freshness of the aromatic notes of lavender, bergamot and rosemary. Then, surprise, the heart is on the other hand very feminine thanks to the floral magic of the scents of rosewood, jasmine and rose. Finally, we are witnessing what specialists will call the “beginnings of the Guerlinade” thanks to the powerful and animal base notes of civet, tonka bean and coumarin punctuated by the delicacies of vanillin.
With Jicky, this is the very first time that a perfume built on abstract perfumery accords will be evoked, unlike its predecessors in figurative perfumery (inspired only by the scents of Nature). Playful and dynamic, sensual while being cheeky, Jicky quickly becomes the favorite perfume of men to end up being finally recognized by his ladies years later. “Annunciator of new modern olfactory works, he [Jicky] is the founding father of the mythical Shalimar. »According to the Guerlain house.
Pierre-François-Pascal Guerlain founded the Guerlain house in 1828 and it was in 1853 with his Eau de Cologne Impériale intended for Empress Eugenie that he became one of the greatest perfumers in Europe. Yet despite this dazzling success, it is especially thanks to Aimé Guerlain and Jicky that the house will gain its international aura by offering for the first time in the 19th century a mixed perfume, and above all an art perfume …
Jicky or the birth of a new perfumery, the perfumery of the heart
Before Jicky, perfume had to reproduce natural scents, scents of flowers , citrus scents but above all scents that exude the beauty of Nature. The perfumes, often Eaux de Cologne, were therefore fresh and relatively durable. But Aimé Guerlain and Jicky will upset this established order.
Indeed, for the first time in perfumery, Aimé Guerlain will want to go far beyond telling the flowers, he will tell us his disappointed love story with a young English lady. A young lady who although very feminine, had temperament and a personality as feminine as she was stormy. Jicky will be the olfactory testament of this story, of this fallen flight of a young and already so daring, so talented perfumer…
Thus Jicky will be made all in contrasts and racy accords, which is more thanks to the very first use of animal scents but also of synthetic scents. Aimé Guerlain will dare to use the best of science and technology to marry it with the beauty of the wildest, most abrupt chords, while making them marry delicate and subtle flowers. Jicky will be the first of the perfumes to have been conceived as a perfumed work of art where opposites oppose, attract and sometimes even devour each other to draw better than a flower, a woman…
“Revolutionary and daring, this olfactory ode is because it is the first not to imitate nature (first abstract perfume) It is also because of its ambivalence: it looks clear: it is deep, it has bright air: it is sensual. “& Nbsp; Sylvaine Delacourte, Esprit de Parfum, about Jicky de Guerlain.
The refinement of contrasts, the ode of opposites, Jicky d’Aimé Guerlain is the father of all Guerlain perfumes of the 20th century
Jicky’s magnificent contrasts as well as his multifaceted and racy personality will make him one of the very first perfumes considered modern. A modernity that will assert itself in many other perfumes thereafter including of course the famous Chanel N ° 5 or even the magnificent Shalimar which will be composed by his successor Jacques Guerlain.
Thus Jicky could present themselves in three faces that are at the same time different, opposed but ultimately very complementary. It opens first with fresh, powerful and almost even virile aromatic notes of lavender, rosemary and bergamot. Then in the heart, Jicky finally reveals the features of an all-feminine delicacy through accords of roses and jasmine. Finally, Jicky will lift the veil on his animal power, his impetuous character, which let themselves be carried away in the absolute and synthetic modernities of vanillin and coumarin (from the tonka bean) to better get drunk on a raw and wild civet. & nbsp;
“Jicky, the perfume laughs at the passing of time …” Guerlain’s original claim for Jicky.
Oriental