Guerlain, Parure, 'Ensemble', 30 ml. or 1 oz. Flacon, Parfum Extrait, 1979, Paris, France ..

The House of Guerlain is one of the oldest perfume houses in the world. It was founded in 1828 when Pierre-Francois Pascal Guerlain opened up his first perfume store on 42, Rue de Rivoli in Paris.

Pierre-Francois composed and manufactured custom perfumes with the help of his two sons, Aime & Gabriel. His unique approach was to personalize perfume for a specific person, place or event. Honore de Balzac commisioned his own eau de toilette during the writing of Cesar Birotteau, and the periodical La Sylphide, le Journal des Elegances, scented each issue with a different fragrance by Guerlain.

Guerlain catered to the high society of Paris, and obtained a very loyal following. The perfume house was so successful that Guerlain decided to open a flagship store at 15, Rue de la Paix in Paris in 1840. The house was at its peak in 1853 with it's fragrance Eau de Cologne Imperiale. This perfume gained Guerlain the prestigious title of His Majesty's Official Perfumer of France. This in turn led him to create perfumes for other royals such as Queen Victoria of England, the Empress Sissi of Austria, the Queen of Belgium and Queen Isabella of Spain as well as other crowned heads of royalty.

Pierre-Francois passed away in 1854 and his sons inherited the perfume house. Aime became the master perfumer, a tradition that would be upheld for the next master perfumer in lineage. Gabriel managed and further expanded the house.

"Parure has been called a Mitsouko on plum instead of peach, and it's not wide off the mark. Jean-Paul Guerlain had for years dreamt of devising a new chypre of his grandfather's towering dimensions, and he strived to accomplish this in 1975 with Parure. He clearly borrowed elements from both Mitsouko, a fruity chypre, and Vol de Nuit, a green balsamic chypre, but discharged any of the melancholy orris powder, and what he got could be called a shining floral chypre. While Chamade signalled playful sensuality, Parure was all self-determined adult luxury, and its name indeed means "adornment", "finery" or "jewellery", or anything that makes a woman well-dressed and elegant. The idea for the perfume came from the glorious 1922 discovery of the riches of Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb, its abundance of gold, precious stones and perfume vases, and the captivating mysticism of the site.

Indeed, Parure is also a bit of a jewel. No other perfume resembles it, simultaneously feminine and pungent, freshly spring-like and antiquated, fruity and bitter, tangy and leathery. To call it a bestseller would be an exaggeration. It didn't have Mitsouko's simple harmony, and maybe it smelled too tangled to many people. Still, it was inscrutably Guerlain, aristocratic and stately. Like Chamade, it opens with a brilliant blast of floral citrus. But after that, it grows profoundly different, mixing pure and rich notes of lilac, jasmine and rose, somewhat peppery, with peach and plum, a glowing scent of leather-like dried fruit. The base of resin, leather and oakmoss, the latter in large amounts, gave the whole scent a serious and noble, almost arrogant feel. There was something at once very dark and very profuse about Parure, like lofty oak-panelled rooms, or the air of a great forest. Or, the inside of an ancient Egyptian king's tomb. Jean-Paul Guerlain later revealed he made it for his mother, who loved jewellery, referencing childhood fantasies of her elegance. Parure had all the striking qualities of a leather chypre, which could work on a man too.” Monsieur Guerlain

Parure was created by Jean-Paul Guerlain in 1975. It is a sensual and elegant floral fruity chypre. The top notes are dark, even a bit fusty, but very soon there comes a gentle rose wave to mitigate the first 'antiquary' impression. The dark plum sounds elegant in the heart of the composition, which, by the way, is not gourmand at all.

Top notes are Plum, Bergamot, Green Notes, Lily of the Valley
Heart notes are Rose, Iris, Lilac, Jasmine, and Narcissus
Base notes are Oak Moss, Spices, Amber, Patchouli, Leather, Pepper and Sandalwood

The Parure bottle, sculpted by Robert Granai after a flaming sea view sunset, was among the most adventurous and complex of the Guerlain presentations, "with a slightly outrageous stopper," as Jean-Paul Guerlain put it, a three-dimensional, wavy volume almost dwarfing the bottle by its size. It was only produced during a six-year period after which the standard quadrilobe bottle took over.

Offered here is one of the early releases of this exquisite fragrance with the crystal wave bouchon, in the one ounce size. The flacon is no longer sealed and has been very gently used. Both bottle and perfume are in perfect condition. It comes in its original presentation box ..

Rare and beautiful ..