Y (1964)
by Yves Saint Laurent

My favorite scent of all time! I've been wearing this since 1970 and recently found the parfum on ebay. Unbelievable! A dry chypre that gets more compliments than anything else I've ever worn.

If Rochas Femme is the Mae West of chypres, then Y is the Audrey Hepburn, worldly but still refined.

Y is a well-balanced light green / floral / fruity / mossy chypre. To me it seems to be musky with a sensual animal component among the green, fruit, florals, and moss. The lightness and refinement of the mixture are quite remarkable and Y comes off to me as a lighter version of the classic chypres… intelligent and beautiful but with a plucky sensuality. For top notes I get mainly green (galbanum?) with a touch of peach; of the florals of the middle I can identify rose and gardenia with some softer more delicate florals along with them. The base gives me primarily the moss and animal notes with a nice touch of amber along with it. I know that when this fragrance was made, these were considered feminine accords. The way it responds on my skin, I could very well see Y as unisex. Except for the first few seconds, there is not much in it that I find very feminine. It does seem, however, to be the kind of fragrance whose intricacy and soft sensuality would allow it to respond in many different ways to different skin types. 183

If Yvresse reminded me of bubbly whispers of Chant d’Aromes, Y immediately shouts the chant out loud. The similarity here is not in the base notes but rather in peachy top notes and the floral bouquet – the innocent yet intoxicatingly sweet honeysuckle and gardenia. There is also a slap of green aldehydes which give it a dominant, bold entrance which is distinct and at the same time similar to other big-time green aldehydic chypres – there is a reference to Miss Dior and Ma Griffe yet without the intensely animalic base; the brisk sharpness that can be found in Private Collection and it also reminds me somehow of AnaisAnais and Laura Ashley’s No. 1.

Although it starts off very floral Y turns to be a lot drier than expected as it develops on the skin. The big statements of gardenia and honeysuckle are replaced by a more sophisticated dry and sober disposition. The heart notes reveal a more green and dry aspect of the rose and the hyacinth, anchored by the dry and green notes of vetiver glimpsing from its base. The phase is not as mossy and Chypric as might be expected. There is very little presence if at all of oakmoss not to mention the other notes listed. It is more woody and dry than anything else - almost to the point of becoming leathery. Vetiver and patchouli are in charge for quite sometime, before the dryout arrives with the re-emergence of warmth by way of oakmoss, civet and benzoin.

I loved Y on my very first testing and cannot believe that I am only just now smelling it for the first time. I have seen it in the stores for ages and am not sure why I always passed it by. Definitely my loss!

Y starts off as a beautiful light chypre fragrance and dries down into a lovely light white floral scent with decent sillage. Lovers of 31 rue Cambon, Ma Griffe, Ivoire, Diorella and/or Caleche would be well pleased with this. Y is sexy in an elegant way and very classy. I would be pleased to own a bottle of it one day.

I love Y. It is walking on a woodland path and finding a section lined in honeysuckle. There is a freshness in the air, a stickyness in the humidity, and a heat that brings up the tanginess of the earth and woods. Brilliant.