Jean Patou, L'Heure Attendue, 'The Awaited Hour' 40 ml. or 1.4 oz. Flacon, Parfum Extrait, Ltd. Ed., Baccarat, No. 164, 1946, Paris, France

When couturier Jean Patou arrived on the Paris scene, in the 1920s, the world was changing .. especially for women. No longer corseted, bound by convention or whalebone ‘stays’, there was a spirit of freedom in the air .. and Jean Patou captured it.

He was born in 1887, in Normandy, where Jean Patou‘s father was a renowned leather tanner, known for his bookbinding skills. And it was his father who taught Jean Patou all about color.

After going to work for an uncle in the fur trade, Jean Patou launched his own venture as a dressmaker and furrier, moving into tailoring. And in 1914, just before the war broke out, he established his own couture house. Sadly, his first collection had to be mothballed: Jean Patou left Paris to serve as a captain in the French Zouave regiment, fighting as far afield as Anatolia. But in 1919, Patou returned to Paris, and did indeed launch a collection, including long-waisted shepherdess dresses. He became famous for ‘sportif chic’ .. clothes designed to move, to flutter, to flirt gorgeously .. and to show off brazenly bare legs, in short hemlines.

In 1922 .. a slight career sidetrack, perhaps .. Jean Patou opened a nightclub, with fellow designer Edward Molyneux. It was named Le Jardin de Ma Soeur (My Sister's Garden). The highly social writer Anita Loos called it ‘the most elegant place in which to greet the Paris dawn'.

From 1925, Jean Patou was also creating the most desirable of perfumes. His debut perfumes were designed to complement women with a particular hair colour: Que Sais-Je? was for brunettes, Amour Amour was for blondes, and Adieu Sagesse was for redheads. In 1927, Jean Patou also delighted women with the introduction of Huile de Chaldée, the world’s first suntan oil.

L`Heure Attendue by Jean Patou is a Chypre Floral fragrance for women. L`Heure Attendue was launched in 1946. The nose behind this fragrance is Henri Almeras. Released in 1946 to celebrate the liberation of Paris from Nazi occupation, L'Heure Attendue is a wearable, surprisingly modern spicy-woodsy oriental composition. "L'Heure Attendue is a fairly sober fragrance. It opens with some creamy florals and then smoothly develops into a spicy-woodsy drydown that is as wearable today as it would have been 60 years ago."

"The much-awaited hour of Jean Patou's 1946 L'Heure Attendue was the end of World War II. It's a post war perfume, born from the longing, dreams and hopes of those who knew loss and pain. The fragrance is pretty but careful .. Jean Patou's L'Heure Attendue is not euphoric, but rather cautiously optimistic, perhaps, tinged with the melancholy of its soft lilac note. L'Heure Attendue was composed by Henri Alméras a decade after Jean Patou himself passed away, yet it has the very French charm of the design house as it used to be. It is beautiful, soft but with an unmistakable bone structure. L'Heure Attendue offers a bouquet of spring flowers, light and pale. But they still carry the last breath of a very chilly winter. Maybe that's what strikes me most about this perfume: despite a soft and lightly sweetened dry-down, it is almost devoid of real warmth."

Top notes are Aldehydes, Mandarine, and Neroli
Heart notes are Jasmine, Peach, Rose, and Ylang Ylang
Base notes are Amber, Patchouli, and Sandalwood

Offered here is an extremely rare and absolutely pristine Limited Edition of this gorgeous fragrance in a 40 ml. size.. The box and outer box are in perfect condition. This is a once in a lifetime collector's piece.