Yves Saint Laurent’s latest, Parisienne, is aimed at a woman too old for Elle but too young for the harder-hitting, from-another-era classics Opium and Paris. A woman in her 30s, in other words. What else do we know about this woman? Well, she’s free, in body and spirit. She’s not from Paris, but Paris has adopted her because she knows how to love and how to live. She’s out at the break of day in last night’s evening clothes, but that’s not scandalous, it’s free (or so says she).¹ If you’re wondering what she looks like, well, she looks like Kate Moss, in black leather, writhing about in the back of a car whilst having flashbacks about writhing about on a bed.

Elle was, I thought, nice enough if rather predictable, encompassing as it did elements from all the then-prevailing trends in mainstream perfumes for young ladies. It was hard to know what to expect from Parisienne. The name and the bottle design are obviously derived from the original Yves Saint Laurent Paris fragrance, which launched in 1983, and the scent is credited to perfumer Sophia Grojsman, who created Paris (for Parisienne, she was working in conjunction with Sophie Labbé). The notes — vinyl accord, cranberry, blackberry, damask rose, violet, peony, patchouli, vetiver, sandalwood and musk — sounded like they might indicate a modern variation on Paris, and some sources called it “an edgier, younger scent than the brand’s iconic Paris fragrance”.² But mentions of Paris are conspicuously absent from the Yves Saint Laurent website and from the press release for Parisienne…

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