Givenchy will celebrate their 50th anniversary as a fragrance house with the launch of Les Mythiques, a set of 10 fragrances from the line's back catalog. Six of the scents are for women, four for men; five of the 10 were no longer on the market. The fragrances are:
Le De ~ originally launched in 1957. "Spring-like high notes of lily of the valley and fresh coriander give way to the luxurious indulgence of Arabian jasmine, Bulgarian rose and ylang-ylang. The lasting scent is a sumptuous and persistent blend of warm sandalwood and lingering incense." (quote refers to the new version, and is via Harrods)
L’Interdit ~ Created for Audrey Hepburn and launched in 1957 at the same time as Le De. The spicy floral fragrance, originally developed by perfumer Francis Fabron, was last updated and relaunched in 2002. Notes include aldehydes, peach, violet, rose, jasmine, amber, vetiver.
Monsieur de Givenchy ~ A citrus-woody scent, Monsieur de Givenchy was the line's first fragrance for men, originally introduced in 1959.
Vetyver ~ another men's fragrance from 1959. "Vetyver was composed in 1959 as Hubert Givenchy's personal fragrance. Evoking a thick, deep forest, the essential oil from the vetyver root qualifies this regal scent as the most masculine of all the luxury fragrances. First impressions are created by top notes of woody vetyver and fresh, tart bergamot, and are later affirmed with subtle spice of coriander. The lasting effect of the vetyver fragrance is warmed with sensual notes of rich sandalwood." (quote refers to the new version, and is via Harrods)
Givenchy III ~ a green chypre from 1970.
Eau de Givenchy ~ From 1980, described by Givenchy as "...a basket of fruits and flowers", and one of my own long-time favorites.
Xeryus ~ a "floral, woody, semi-Oriental fragrance" for men originally launched in 1986; the original included notes of grapefruit, geranium, basil, thyme, rose, jasmine, violet, cyprus, sandalwood, Chinese cypriol, bay, clove, artemisia, musk and amber. (via Women's Wear Daily)
Insensé ~ An "amber woodsy floral" for men from 1993. The original version was developed by perfumer Daniel Moliere, and had notes of black currant, mandarin orange, basil, magnolia, lily of the valley, geranium, musk, balsam fir and sandalwood. (quote and notes via Women's Wear Daily)
Extravagance d’Amarige ~ From 1998, a "classic woody floral". The original perfume was developed by perfumer Michel Girard, and had notes of green mandarin, rose, pepper, sandalwood, cedarwood, ambrox and black iris. (quote and notes via Women's Wear Daily)
Organza Indécence ~ a woody-spicy fragrance from 1999, with notes of jacaranda wood, cinnamon, amber and patchouli. The perfumers for the original were Jean Claude Delville and Norbert Bijaoui.
The Givenchy Les Mythiques fragrances are packaged in newly designed 100 ml bottles, with prices ranging from $75 to $109. Look for them in October. (via cosmetiquemag.fr, osmoz, madame.lefigaro.fr, Women's Wear Daily).
Well If someone was wondering how you could spend a thousand bucks in perfume in one fell swoop, here´s the answer.
It would be interesting that they would release this in their original formulations (Iterdit,vetyver) or that they would offer a limited run.
As for extravagance d'amarige… I have a friend that would shurely stock up like crazy as it is her favourite fragrance in the whole world and was discontinued without any explanation whatsoever. (I have found some hidden stocks of that around here in Buenos Aires as per her request… I feel like the Sherlock Holmes of discontinued frags! hehehehe)
Too bad I don´t have that kind of cash.
Makes me happy for those who do and also appreciate perfume!
🙂
I am very interested in the Vetyver, but certainly won't need all 10. When Dior brings back Diorling, Dior Dior, Diorama etc, my wallet will be in big trouble though!
Have you ever tried the Vetyver, R? I figured you might have hunted up a vintage sample after Luca proclaimed it the best vetiver. (Closely followed by a tie between Guerlain and Carven.)
Vetyver Givenchy is a nice men's scent. Very earthy as the descripton says. I do like vetiver. But I have a love/hate relationship with it. I had a bottle I got off Ebay of the vintage formula, full w/box. I ended selling it away to a fellow POL board member. Now I wish I didn't. It is better than Guerlain's Vetiver though. I don't know Carven's Vetyver to say if it's infinitely better than theirs. It sort of reminds me of Lorenzo Villoresi's Vetiver. But I didn't care for LV's Vetiver for the longest time due to it's absolutely syrupy-iness of that scent from my experience of it. I actually prefer the essential oil of vetiver alone more. I would love to get this Givenchy re-launch along with Le De and L'Interdit as well. Just these three only. I used to love Xeryus years ago and got tired of it. Didn't know it was discountinued till they started making news on this on all the boards. I kind of liked Insensé. But a friend of long time ago, whom I don't see or speak to anymore, reminds me of this scent so I prefer to not get into this one again. It was nice for it's time though when I first smelled it. It was on the wave of all the other oceanic/ozonic men's scents of the time that were wildly popular. But Insensé was better.
I do hope L'Interdit is close to the original as possible. I smelled it once and it was very very aldehydic. The relaunch was NOTHING like the original and that's a shame to take a great name and put on a completely new animal like they did. Very misleading and poor decision making on their part. Le De I have never smelled and have the greatest curiousity to smell it and own it since supposedly it was a favorite of Bette Davis so I heard.
When brings back? You think they will? 🙁 I want Dior-Dior back!
Extravagance D'Amarige was discontinued? I saw two or three bottles of it in the local hypermarket just this afternoon, and it was full price, so I assumed it was still in production. It's very pleasant, even though it has nothing to do with the original Amarige.
I've given up even trying to follow Givenchy's many, many releases. There are at least a dozen versions of Insensé alone (the original, the Ultramarine, the two sets of three Ultramarine Ocean scents, the women's versions…), and then the various Couture, Very Irresistible, and Amarige scents. Who could keep up? At least they still keep making good fragrances from time to time.
Robin, I'm with you on the re-release of the Dior's. Wouldn't that be lovely!
I wish Givenchy offered smaller bottles than the 100 ml. I never had a chance to smell the original L'Interdit, only the 2002 version. The Le De sounds very interesting, too. R, is the Eau de Givenchy a nice light and summery fragrance?
Yes pyramus, it was discontinued, you must live where they still have it in stock..
And yes… they charge full price! The Bastards! 😉
Regards.
p.s.: I bought an insense Hawaian for my dad last time I went on vacation… The thing is the original was too adust-smelling, and they released the original ultramarine and then released several aquatic-themed versions. I love them all! but the Original insense is a tightrope act I still can not pull…perhaps layering it with some citrus… 😉
p.s. I will check out your blog now.
Nope, never have! And Luca is a genius I'm sure, but I don't always like what he likes, in fact, most of the scents I've tracked down because he said they were fabulous really didn't suit me at all. But I'll hold out hope for the Vetyver all the same! I've been looking also for Carlo Corinto Vetiver, which someone on basenotes who wrote a whole treatise on vetiver says is great stuff.
If I had to guess, I'd guess L'Interdit will be more like the newer versions, but I guess we'll see. Glad the Vetyver is earthy, that is how I like it. Love Guerlain, like you, haven't quite adjusted to LV's.
Yes, that is how I'd describe EdG. It is crisp & sheer and not at all overly fruity. Don't know if they've messed with it in the meantime though!
Vetyver sounds excellent. Organza Indecence is the only Givenchy I've been able to use; I stocked up a couple of years ago.
Ah, such a nice way to rehash, reformulate and resell at a higher price value. I don't expect them to be better scents after the transformation. The first thing they do is always cut the concentration.
Sadly Givenchy Gentleman and Pi were castrated when they were reformulated a few years ago.
I am so behind — I haven't even tried OI yet. Have a sample & will have to get on the ball before these are released.
I wouldn't expect them to be better either, but it beats having them gone altogether. Actually surprised Pi is not included in this group.
The only perfume by Givenchy I loved so far was Organza.
But now I also think very highly of this new version of L'Interdit.
Though it's a very sad fragrance – old Autumn leaves mixed with cold orange-pink colours of sunset – it's very comforting.
Some peolpe find in it notes of pickles (marinated cucumbers and watermelons). And sometimes I also feel those notes. But they dissapeare in several minutes – and real pleasure begins!
I did not love Organza — it just isn't me — but I love Organza Indecence.
organza is so old lady and indecence is such the sh**
one time on the elevator ride up to the star light lounge @ the top of the Sir Fracis Drake in SF a guy straight smelled every woman and ended up @ a smiling me cuz i knew it was the INDECENCE man and wen your guy wears Pie waaaay hot!!! INDECENCE IS FOR THE YOUNGER GENERATION!!! they juz marketed it wrong. DONT TAKE INDECENCE AWAY GIVENCHY!!!
Pretty sure Indecence *was* marketed to the younger generation. Anyway, it's still in production.
I really love the new formulation of L'Interdit (although I'm sure I would have liked the old one more), but find that the lasting power just isn't enough… about 6 hours tops. Not good, Givenchy. Do you know if these are going to be released in EDP form?
Gosh, I think 6 hours is pretty good for an EdT! Really don't know if they'll do other concentrations.
Haha, maybe I have unrealistic expectations of L'Interdit. I did really like it- it would make a lovely day scent, especially for winter.
If you love it, might be worth looking for some vintage parfum on ebay?
I looked on a few sites, but unfortunately, there is none to be had for a reasonable price right now. 🙁 But I will persevere!
Drat. Well, good luck, hope some will turn up eventually…
Givenchy Les Parfums Organza Indecence, did the new version ever hit the market? I searced online to try to buy it could not find it anywhere. The love the original and I am on my last bottle. I can not afford the prices on ebay for the discontinued product. Please let me know if there is more info available.
I don't think they ever exported the entire Mythiques collection to the US. You can still order it in the original bottle from Dillards though.
Thank you! I am so glad I read through the comments to see yours. This is the only way I found out that Dillards has it, even after doing a long internet search for purchase. I love Givenchy
Indecence! Thank you so-o-o much!
Just lately Dillards seems to have it NOT in the original bottle, but in something that looks like a redone Mythiques bottle. At any rate, they do have it!
Just be forewarned that the Organza Indecence in the new Mythiques bottle is a weaker, sickly sweet re-do of the dry and spicy orginal scent. What a disappointment!
If your Dillard’s still has the 1.7 oz. bottle they were selling earlier this year, THAT is the original scent, although the bottle is slimmer at the bottom than the original bottle.