Arpège (1927)
by Lanvin

Curious as to how a 1927 fragrance survived to this day, I got hold of ARPEGE. My curiosity quickly turned to surprise and then disappointment. Perhaps the sample had gone 'bad' but the scent felt rather masculine and reminded me of the ubiquitous prayer attar used by Muslim men. While the drydown is pleasant enough it can't seem to shake off the dowdy character. Nonetheless I would take this review with a healthy pinch of salt as earlier reviewers have highlighted the poorer notes coming from the smaller samples. As it stands this classic deserves a neutral at best. At least until I get hold of a larger sample.

The aldehydes make this very reminiscent of Chanel No. 5, yet the dry-down is slightly fruitier, spicier, and complex. Overall, it is a lovely, classy, soft, dry floral wood that would be perfect for any nice occasion. I like No. 5 very much but it is a little too well-known, I'd like to smell a little different. This is the warmer alternative. And -- OH! -- the comment about the mini is absolutely true. My mini had a sickly smell I didn't like but it is not present in the EDP (I got the gorgeous black boule bottle), which is far crisper and dryer.

The kind of scent you can imagine wearing on a romantic evening. It would encourage someone to ask you to tango .... rich, complex, changing as it dries .... intriguing.

I managed to snag a vintage set of 1/8 oz Extrait and a 2 oz bottle of EdT. One has to mourn these classic creations dying a slow death, its discount store dollar value insults the perfume's true worth in terms of artistry.

Arpege begins smelling reminiscent of Chanel No. 5, of aldehydes, powdery rose, iris, and indolic flowers of jasmine, lily of the valley, and tuberose. The aldehydes are not as pervasive as No. 5, and Arpege is less sweet.

After this heady floral aldehyde opening, a chypre tone appears with a clear note of coriander at its underbelly accompanied by green stemmy notes.

Woody and sensual notes come up pretty quickly as the coriander seems to be the only middle note left. It starts to smell much like leather. The base reminds me a lot of Joy (another sad swan song) without the uber-animalic notes of civet and musk. However, styrax seems to be the note that sensually rounds out the base until it exhales a woody trail of sandalwood and patchouli.

Interesting how Chanel No. 5 can stay alive all these years compared to Arpege. Honestly I don't think No. 5 is as interesting as Arpege, though given that No. 5 is definitely "prettier". No. 5 IMO seems to have nooks and crannies that need filling in to help a better transition. I think Lanvin would've stayed in focus if they had the boldness to market itself as the "quintessential" scent of femininity and a sex goddess to go along with it.

The extrait is full and rather bold with coriander, however the EdT is much easier to gravitate to. After the floral aldehyde opening, Arpege makes a great masculine scent.

True lovers of perfume can embrace vintage bottles of this for a steal and be happy that it could be had without killing themselves in a pool of their own buyer's remorse.

Poor Arpège. As a dark, weighty, floral chypre, it belongs to a fragrance genre now so out of fashion as to be positively gauche. It lands on the skin potent and massive, arriving quickly at its central structure of a thick, rose-dominated floral accord and deep spices (the pyramid lists coriander, I smell cinnamon and nutmeg,) over an intense, earthy chypre. To contemporary sensibilities this sort of composition is liable to smell ponderous, “perfumey,” and hopelessly dated, but it’s really a better scent than that, and deserves to be judged on its own terms.

Even when met with an open mind, Arpège does have a conspicuously awkward episode in its early development. Not long after application the floral accord mounts an enormous crescendo, during which an unfortunate combination of waxy aldehydes and an artificial edge on the rose note makes for an embarrassingly crass, dowdy impression, the olfactory equivalent of Edna Turnblad answering the door in her housecoat. (I’m talking the Divine version here, not the scrubbed and sanitized John Travolta.) Then, somewhere between a half an hour and an hour’s air time, a sweet, smooth amber settles in to bind the ingredients and tilt the composition into balance. What remains is an appealingly spicy and somewhat sweet oriental-tinged chypre, that while still bulky and opaque, nevertheless manages a staid brand of poise and grace in motion.

The remainder of Arpège’s stay is very pleasant, especially once the ambery, mossy drydown sets in. In fact, the drydown exudes such elegance and understatement that the earlier clumsiness is forgiven, if not entirely forgotten. For those tolerant of its anachronistic style and patient enough to experience Arpège in its entirety, this grand old survivor offers some tempting pleasures.

To me, the quintessential "perfume" scent. The little dab on my wrist smells EXACTLY like Chanel no 5. And why shouldn't it when they share many of the same top notes? (Neroli, aldehydes and Ylang ylang) The bergamot scent is light... I only catch wiffs of it hanging onto the edge of the Neroli.

From there the scent deepens and softens the rose opens up a dark deep rose. My overall impression is a blend of chanel no 5 and the "rose" in the new tresor. This is a very beautiful perfume.