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Guerlain's Mouchoir de Monsieur
by Doctor Basenotes, 01 February 2003
"I received a bottle of 'Mouchoir de Monsieur' as a gift, and would like to know more about it. I tried the Guerlain website, but was unable to post this question. I do like the fragrance, it is unusual and I get a lot of compliments whenever I wear it. However, I would like to know its history and its composition"
John Pacada
Doctor Basenotes Says: Well, you have certainly come to the right place, and you are right - it truly is a fine scent. In fact, Lionel and I were discussing Mouchoir only last week. He also mentioned how he is always complimented when he wears it - apparently, his Julie goes wild over it! Such a strange man, but he has good taste in scents, mind.
Mouchoir de Monsieur means 'Gentlemen's handkerchief'. This was back when the young ladies of the day would swoon over any dapper gent wafting a finely scented handkerchief by their sweet little noses. Oh! Simple times! - It is certainly more expensive to woo a young lady these days - the amount Lionel spends on air fares is sky-high, especially since he joined this mail-order-brides company. I don't know what he does with them all.
Created by Jacques Guerlain in 1904, Mouchoir was designed to be a masculine twist on Jicky, created 15 years earlier by Aime Guerlain. Mouchoir's notes include (top) bergamot, lavender (heart) rose, jasmin, neroli (base) oakmoss, vanilla and iris.
Sadly the scent was discontinued for sometime, and was only in production for the French actor, Jean-Claude Briarly. Happily, in the mid eighties, Guerlain saw sense and relaunched it to select stores, though no longer in the US.
Hope some of this helps, and enjoy the scent!
About the author
Doctor Basenotes is our resident fragrance expert. After qualifying as a fragrance doctor he spent the next thirty years in the industry as a perfume-muse: perfumer's would be inspired just by the sight of him! What he doesn't know about fragrance is probably not worth knowing. Send him all of your cologne queries at doctor@basenotes.com
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