Autumn is the perfect time to wear a chypre perfume. Something in a chypre's mossy, musty base echoes leaf mold and feels right at home on days with cold mornings and sunny afternoons. Among chypres, fruity chypres are especially nice. The fruit adds sweetness and color — so nice on a rainy day — without going all pumpkin spice.
Here are five fruity chypres to sample:
Guerlain Mitsouko: I’ll kick off the list with the queen of fruity chypres. Mitsouko’s peach is barely ripe and colored by the light of a stained-glass window. It reminds me of an old church with umbrellas drying on its stone floor and a bowl of the last of the season’s fruit on the altar. It’s austere and moody and beautiful.
Rochas Femme (the post-1989 version): I read somewhere that perfumers tend to fall into two camps: those who prefer Mitsouko, and those who go for Femme. If this rule applies to perfume enthusiasts, count me as a Femme fan. Femme’s peach has more pulchritude than Mitsouko’s, and the perfume’s all-around character is more come-hither. If Mitsouko is Lauren Bacall, Femme is Sophia Loren.
Pierre Bourdon La Fin d’un Eté: The name says it all. La Fin d’un Eté smells like late afternoon in the orchard with plums and watermelon rotting around you. (Rotting in the best way, of course.) Don’t worry, the fruit is more like a band of purple in a plaid wool skirt than like Jolly Rancher candies. I’m spritzing through my bottle double-time.
Parfum d’Empire Azemour les Orangers: Orange and orange blossom and heaps of moss — Azemour les Orangers is the perfect “fusty fresh” for when you want to be scented but not smell too much like perfume. It casts a clean, earthy-mossy halo.
Houbigant Aperçu: Aperçu is resolutely old-fashioned, but old-fashioned in the same way a coupe of Dom Perignon is. It’s a dry, light peach chypre with a musty floral heart that has too much character to try to be pretty. I’d wear it with a 1940s floral print dress to an autumn wedding — or at home reading a Diane Johnson comedy of manners with a pot of jasmine tea.
A few more: Frédéric Malle Le Parfum de Thérèse (earthy, fullsome melon), Bill Blass Nude (dry, elegant pear), MDCI Parfums La Belle Hélène (juicy elegant pear), Yves Saint Laurent Yvresse (juicy gamine nectarine).
Note: top image is Peach Preserves [cropped] by Kimberly Vardeman at flickr; some rights reserved.
Great list!
I have just recently fell in love with Mitsouko, thank you to the swap meet I got a small decant that I am adoring
Adding Tenue de Soirée to the list of Chypres for the fall..
I haven’t tried Tenue de Soirée yet, but I love the name!
It’s worth giving a sniff
Ah, Mitsouko–on a throne all her own!
True!
Jubilation 25 is my favorite fruity chypre, but I also love Yvresse. Both aldehyde laden, iirc.
I love love love Jubilation 25. You’ve reminded me to move it to the front of my perfume cabinet.
Oui, oui, oui! Cracked open the sample too quickly and it spilled onto the kitchen floor, waaah… I keep the cloth I mopped it up with in the car–teeny-weeny consolation.
And time to get another sample! Or decant.
Eeexcellent!
Fully agree with Azemour, although I have never worn it outside of summer season. Maybe it’s time to give it a try in late autumn.
Do try it!
I’m convinced, I must try Azemour…it sounds right up my alley. Is it weird that “fusty” is somehow very appealing?
My personal favourite fruity chypre is Shangri La. Mitsouko, as much as I’ve tried, just hasn’t managed to win me over.
I adore Shangri La, too. I used up my sample all too quickly. And as for fusty, I completely understand the appeal!
Nice list. My favorite fruity chypre is Azemour. I also like 2 MDCI’s: Chypre Palatin (although not really that fruity) and La Belle Helene.
I briefly considered including Chypre Palatin but decided–as you did–that it wasn’t quite fruity enough. But Azemour is terrific!
Thank you so much for this list! La Fin d’un Eté has been recommended to me so many times, and now I finally have the push to try it!
I love it! It’s not easy to get hold of, but it’s worth the effort.
I go for Femme over Mitsouko too, and not just because I find it easier to wear, more ‘human’. It’s also because Femme is gosh-darned cheaper and you don’t need to worry about re-formulations. That is, if you accept that the post-1989 version as valid, which I do.
Once you’ve leapt over the 1989 hurdle, you are cruising. Get the cheapest deal you can find at the discounters and you will have a masterpiece. Others may disagree but that’s how I see it. Femme always brings me a ‘why do I bother with niche’ moment every time I wear it.
I’m in Patou Sublime today. Is that fruity chypre? Or a fruity oriental? Or a chypre oriental? Too lazy to look it up. Whatever, it’s fun.
I agree! Femme is wonderful, either in perfume or EdP. And it is cheap! I haven’t smelled Sublime for a long time, but I remember liking it a lot on a society matron who adopted it as her signature scent since her mother wore Joy.
I was wearing Femme yesterday — totally agree this is a perfect time for it!
Another perfume I find a bit fruity — although fruit is not listed among the notes — is Donna Karan Black Cashmere. I guess it’s more woody-spicy than chypre, but it’s great for colder fall days.
Black Cashmere is one of those perfumes that really deserves its name. It’s so warm and spicy an enveloping.
Chypre Rouge is the one for me.
Yet another one that’s a perfect match by name alone!
I would also suggest my other favorite, Black Violet. Technocally it’s a chypre floral, but on my the fruit is very noticeable
Thank you!
Azemour is one of my two staples and I wear it mostly from June to end of October. I do think it’s a masterpiece, it’s just wonderful.
Thank you for this list!
Today I just received a sample of Chypre Palatin, so that’s what I’ll try next.
Chypre Palatin is wonderful–proper and elegant and so nice.