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Guerlain

Jicky

1889FougèreEDTFrance

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Editorial notes

  1. 01

    The oldest perfume in continuous production sits in a corseted flacon that has barely changed since Sarah Bernhardt was on stage.

  2. 02

    Its formula was the first in commercial perfumery to integrate synthetic molecules: coumarin pinched from tonka, vanillin from the chemist's bench. Abstract scent was invented here.

  3. 03

    Chandler Burr included Jicky in his Museum of Arts and Design exhibition The Art of Scent 1889-2012 as the genre-defining first abstract composition.

  4. 04

    Composed by Aimé Guerlain in 1889, named for the pet nickname of his English girlfriend during his studies abroad. It opens on lavender, lands in tonka, refuses to age.

Dossier

Edition · 000

Status · Active. In continuous production since 1889.

A lavender-coumarin animalic.

Composed by
Aimé Guerlain
Founder
Pierre-François-Pascal Guerlain
Country
France

The pyramid

Top
bergamotrosemarylemonmandarin
Heart
lavenderjasminetonka beanorrisbasil
Base
opoponaxcivetcoumarinvanillin

The brief

Aimé Guerlain composed Jicky as a deliberate break from the single-flower scents of his era, building the first 'abstract' fragrance around the new synthetic molecules coumarin and vanillin.

NameReportedly the pet name of Aimé Guerlain's English girlfriend, and later the nickname of his nephew Jacques Guerlain.

Why it mattered

  • The oldest perfume in continuous production. Widely cited as the first modern abstract fragrance, combining naturals with the then-novel synthetic coumarin and vanillin.

Footnotes

  • Jicky was featured in Chandler Burr's Museum of Arts and Design 'The Art of Scent 1889-2012' exhibition in New York as the genre-defining first synthetic-augmented fragrance.

The Curator's Note

Older than the cinema, and still on the counter.

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