Why Jicky is no fetish
on abstraction and tools.
Have you ever wondered how it is possible to build houses that seem to be all and only glass, without walls, hundreds of meters high? Modern architecture is possible because they got rid of walls. A new design principle made it possible, with central sturdy core structures, holding floors that seem to float in the air, all covered with glass. This principle was revolutionary and relied on new materials, concrete and steel, allowing an abstraction in architecture that is breathtaking.
In her introducing article on masterpieces, Elena used the term fetish "worshipping an art piece (...) transforms it into a fetish: we do not derive pleasure from it in real time but from the pleasure it had induced in the past!". For me, Jicky is no fetish, although its launch dates back more than 100 years.
Jicky is modern and alive and hence it induces pleasure hic et nunc. Why is this?
My guess: It speaks in a language that I understand.
Have you ever wondered how it is possible to build perfumes that seem to be all translucent and clear, without omitting a solid base that holds the perfume together and fixes the notes? Modern perfumery is possible because of new materials, allowing an abstraction that is (sometimes) breathtaking.
Jicky is impossible to create only with natural vanilla pods extracts in the base. But it may nevertheless need some of the natural extract. The perfume of fermented vanilla pods is a complex, rich balsamic, woody-creamy and lasting mixture. You may know it from the kitchen. Vanilla absolute smells similar to high quality pods. The vanillin is concentrated to different levels in various grades, yet: Vanilla absolute shares this rich balsamic woody animalic tones with its natural source.
Vanillin does not. It is a simple molecule. Boring in comparison to the real stuff. But it allows to play tricks. As a perfumer you can overdose it without introducing too much other tonality into your perfume. You can add powder and sweetness without adding a dirty animalic tonality. You can gain another level of abstraction and change the context. You can bring together lavender, green herbs and a hint of dry woods with a rich and almost dominant powdery, gourmand vanilla without making a woody balsamic oriental fragrance. This is the trick you can do with Vanillin. Jicky is exactly this abstraction and a new concept for fresh, green herbs with lots of citrus peel essential oils. This abstraction fits with us, we still understand it as we encounter this kind of abstraction and context daily. In architecture, movies, pictures and perfumes that we get served today.
Jicky, by Aimé Guerlain, is a masterpiece where rich, luxurious, natural "floors" seem to float in the air, all held in place by a sturdy central base built on vanillin.
Author: Andy
My doubt is, if vanillin can give so many tricks, melting so well with another materials and giving so many different tonalities to the fragrances, according with the art conception of the frargance and the insight of the perfumista, why most of the vanilla fragrances, when they get on the vanilla part, always smell so similar? The vanilla smell seems to be very equal in most fragrances when they develop on skin. And it's possible to play with the dark, animalic, boozy, liqueurish side of the vanilla and the light, powder, greenish of it?
Good remark, thank you! My answer would be: Because they are not well done. If you have vanillin in the base and not much more that holds the base together, then that's what you get. Vanilla and not much more. An on a second line of thought (not mentioned in my brief review): Vanillin as synthetic can do magic, but of course you need more: for instance natural vanilla absolute, just a bit, like was the case in original Jicky. Vanillin by itself will always smell the same way, except you change the context of it by juxtapositioning it with dark, red, green vibrant, greenish....
great piece. i was surprised however that 'this principle was revolutionary and relied on new materials, concrete and steel, allowing an abstraction in architecture that is breathtaking.' since both materials are around since ancient times and were well exploited by the romans.