Vintage Weil de Weil 1971 Review

Vintage Weil de Weil 1971 Eau de toilette and parfum Ida’s collection

The storied House of Weil perfumes arose from a family of French furriers. Alfred Weil opened his fur salon – Les Fourrures Weil – in Paris in 1912 with his brothers Jacques and Marcel. Weil, along with Fourrures Révillon – was among the first designers of luxury fur goods to create “parfum de fourrure”: fragrances composed to scent precious pelts while masking their naturally fatty, intensely animalic odor. Perfume production began in 1927, and Weil’s inaugural fragrances were Zibeline, Chinchilla Royal, Hermine, and Secret de Venus. These were a stunning success – until the advent of WW II. France became occupied, and the Weils (a Jewish family) fled to the United States in 1940, only to return to Paris in 1946. They continued to create marvelous perfumes with the aid of Claude Fraysse, Jean-Pierre Weil, Jean-Pierre Mary, and Bertrand Duchaufour. The fascinating (and unfortunately discontinued) Weil de Weil, our object of scrutiny – was most likely composed by Jean-Pierre Weil himself, but there are no records during 1971 of Weil’s disclosure regarding a specific nose.

Verde que ti quiero verde.
(Green, how I want you green.) ~ Federíco Garcia Lorca, excerpt from Romance Sonámbulo

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It’s likely that you might not have had the opportunity to experience Weil de Weil – a green floral chypre worthy of the name. This glorious perfume, along with other truly singular fragrances which debuted in 1971 – is no longer in production. The only major fragrance releases which survived from that year are Henri Robert’s Chanel No.19 and Bernard Chant’s Clinique Aromatics Elixir. Woody/spicy scents, green florals and earthy ones, and chypres of every stripe arrived upon the scene – including Via Lanvin, Lancôme’s haunting Sikkim, iconically quirky Empreinte de Courrèges, elegant Chicane de Jacomo, Balenciaga’s luscious Ho Hang, sparkling Vivre de Molyneux, and the classic Geoffrey Beene. At some point in time, please remind me to review these for you!

“Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises.” ~ Pedro Calderón de la Barca

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Weil de Weil is a bitter beauty, and I mean that as a compliment: after all, it was master perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena who stated categorically in his talk with Chandler Burr at Pitti Fragranze, that “to smell bitter is to smell intelligent”– by which I believe he intended ‘sophisticated’. There are those who have referred to it as a galbanum bomb: descriptive perhaps, but not entirely accurate. On some level, Weil de Weil suggests (to me) a kinship with some of Germaine Cellier’s compositions – minus the surdosage  (overdose). The first element my nose detects is an unusual and somewhat edgy zest of tangerine. Galbanum is distinctly prominent, and we sense its presence throughout the fragrance; it’s accompanied by a host of delectable indolic blooms. These include a measured touch of neroli, the leathery animalic floralcy of narcissus, a wisp of the divine decay of hyacinth. Honeysuckle and sweet acacia possess a honeyed underbelly, but make no mistake: there are indoles in them as well. The richly banana-like tone of ylang-ylang is yet another animalic flower. All of these blooms depend upon the grace and good fellowship of rose de mai and muguet to round out this composition. The final delights which await us lie in its base, because in 1971 nitro musks were very much in use (today we are aware that nitro musks aren’t environmentally prudent, because they don’t break down easily and accumulate inside human and animal tissues), oakmoss was not restricted as it is today – and the sandalwood was usually sourced from Mysore, India. Natural civet was part of Weil de Weil’s formula, an olfactive material which we currently tend to eschew, for the most part.  Weil de Weil’s vetiver is a perfect adjuvant, imparting its smoky grassiness to a primarily chypric base. As I continue to smell this fragrance (I have both parfum de toilette and parfum in my collection), I’m aware of its overall charm and witty personality. It would be followed, in 1979, by the brilliant (now discontinued) Jean-Louis Scherrer: a bit haughtier and more mordant in spirit (I happen to love it). Weil de Weil, to my nose, falls somewhere in-between the verdant gentleness of Chanel No.19 and the provocatively exuberant, trenchant Bandit de Piguet and Jean-Louis Scherrer. It’s more balanced and relatively well-behaved. One can still come by it online for very reasonable prices.

Notes: tangerine, neroli, galbanum, hyacinth, narcissus, acacia farnesiana, honeysuckle, lily-of-the-valley, ylang-ylang, rose de mai, vetiver, civet, oakmoss, sandalwood, musk (nitro musks were still in use in 1971)

Ida’s Vintage Weil de Weil  

 Ida’s Postscript: It can be tempting to judge Weil de Weil based upon the fact that we have come to view, over time – many of its aromatic components as unethically sourced, unsafe, and subject to restrictions from the IFRA. Naturally, we know a great deal more about aromatic compounds now than we did in 1971 – and in general, we are more sensitive to the subject of animal cruelty. I firmly believe that it isn’t helpful to condemn the great perfumes of the past based upon the current day information available. If we succumb to this thinking we might as well denounce all the vintage perfumes which render us ecstatic. They would be removed from the shelves of the Osmothèque, museums, and the personal collections from which we glean inspiration and knowledge of historic materials. There is much to be learned from the classics; it doesn’t subtract from the marvels of the present.

Weil de Weil is from my personal collection. My nose is my own…

~ Ida Meister, Deputy and Natural Perfumery Editor

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