Chicane

Oh, I had this when I was a teenager!!! Such an exquisite fragrance, very unique (for that time, mid-70es). I loved wearing it and I remember very well how it smelled. I wish they would bring it back even though I am aware it would smell totally different now. It was a complex scent, it was gifted to me by an aunt who used to give me a scent every Christmas and Chicane arrived when I was 14. Aldheydes, yes, flowers, yes, but also woods and balsams melting with the skin in a dramatic way. Aldheydes were a must at that time, here they gave an almost radiant opening, soon changing into something gloomy and then returning radiant again. It was very long lasting and the flowers did not give a "young girl" impression (given my young age it was more than natural that I wanted to smell sophisticated and then - but no longer now - I despised Violetta di Parma and Cologne 4711 because I wanted to smell like a woman and not like a baby). It was a merry scent, it was contradictory, complex, very grown-up in my opinion. Beautiful, I am sure it would be lovely even today. These are my impressions after many years, they have remained vivid in my mind (and heart), and they are the impressions of a joyous young girl wanting to conquer the world, so looking for more than flowers in a scent. I have always wondered why Chicane soon disappeared, maybe to make room to a more polite Silences?

The dramatic aldehydic tenor greets my nose in Chicane's first act. I immediately can tell it is baroque, in stark contrast to the ultra-modern cube that holds it, like entering an imposing and intriguing brutalist-style performance hall to watch Monteverdi's L'Orfeo. The timbre is woodwind-reeds and plangent strings. It's all bright lights, satin petals, and peach lactone; a trickery ("chicanery") that tames wild animals and stills beating hearts. The jasmine path is damp and fertile, and the blazing sun is evaporating the dew. The shift is gradual, nary a seem to be detected, until we find Chicane in the darker shadows and a less-manicured patch is brought into relief. The undergrowth is the underworld, and a smoky vetiver douses the light and green turns from tint to shade. The metallic lustre and chilly-early-spring bite softens into a moss that knows its no mere babe in the woods. This resolve is as if Orpheus succeeded in taking Eurydice back to earth, and as the last traces fade, I look back at the Chicane cube and look forward to another performance.

Very lovely, high-quality, classic aldehydic floral, with deep mossy undertones. The "fruity notes" refered to above are preumably the hints of citrus in the opening - there's no fruit salad here. The name, bottle and packaging led me to expect something quite different, however. The black and silver, the cube-shaped bottle and the name suggest an edgy modern fragrance, surely? Perhaps that's why this was not a huge hit? By 1972, aldehydic florals were pretty dated, I guess. Now we can ignore those last-century fashion trends and simply revel in a glorious perfume.

Received my boxed, like-new flacon of vintage CHICANE EDT in the mail today. I had ordered it blind based upon a sample of the vintage pure parfum. I think this is one of those perfumes in which the EDT is nowhere near as rich, nuanced and complex as the parfum...such that they could almost be different scents altogether. It starts with a huge cloud of oldschool aldehydes... Soon a floral heart emerges of jasmin and rose... all very powdery and soapy and traditionally feminine. I'm not getting even a wisp of carnation or ylang (?) The scent smells very much like a toned-down version of Lanvin MY SIN, but augmented slightly by an unusual citrus fruit hint. It has the musk/ambergris base of MY SIN. All ingredients are blended seamlessly, such that it's hard to identify any of the above-suggested notes. CHICANE smells very good, make no mistake, but for 1971-- and with its groovy black-and-shiny-chrome "Space Age" emballage and flacon-- it is very retro-looking in fragrance style, smelling much more like a classic aldehydic floral from the 1920's or 30's. I have a hard time picturing any fashionable 1971 gal-- Cybill Shepherd? Marisa Berenson? Candace Bergen? Mia Farrow?-- ever wearing something as prim and powdery as this. If Jane Fonda's "Bree Daniels" wore this, she'd never pick up any tricks, because CHICANE is rather glacial, "mumsy" and unapproachable, methinks. Final drydown is a symphony of oldschool soapy-powderiness. Pleasant enough, but not as unique and compelling as, say, Chanel NO.5, MY SIN, LIÙ, L'AIMANT or L'INTERDIT.

The opening smells like olive soap. It reminds me of the bathroom of a clean, dated hotel and feels very nostalgic. When dried down, I get creamy vanilla toffee, which somehow blends with the soapy smell while also going its own way. My vintage miniature has probably turned a little, or I've been ripped off. The smell is interesting, not unpleasant, but I wouldn't want to smell like this.

My review is for parfum version... Lovely vintage fragrance with modern looking cube shaped bottle. I have to say for a blind buy It is quite pleasing to my nose. I particularly love its woody and mossy drydown. Very sophisticated, long-lasting simply beautiful.

Does this smell like Jacomo Eau Cendree? Is it still in production? If so, I must have it!