Scentzilla!

One of the vintage scents I’ve been most pleased with finding is a little curiosity named Debutante de Versailles, distributed by the Daggett & Ramsdell company. The picture is blurry, unfortunately, but it turned out difficult to get that shiny gold metallic spray canister to photograph at all.

The front bears the following text:

In the design, a little banner reading “DEBUTANTE” hangs over a crest that reads “NOBLESSE OBLIGE.”
Then it lists
“Debutante
de
Versailles
EAU DE TOILETTE
PERFUMIZER
JEAN DESPREZ“

The bottom has a wee little circle labeled with the company’s name, and the name of the scent, and the size of the cannister (one ounce.)

Daggett & Ramsdell first began operations in 1890, and seem to be a company that mostly focused on skin care products, especially their cold creams and powders. They began branding their Debutante products quite early in their operations, amongst them a perfumed face powder, and later a whole package of skin care items they called “The Debutante Kit” by 1930. Aditionally, they manufactured scented waters and colognes, including items such as Violette Rico, a headache cologne, Vivatone, Arabesque, and Ruffles.

They also distributed scents through, I swear to God, the Fuller Brush company, which came as a surprise to me. I knew that the Fuller Brush salesmen would offer all sorts of quirky items in addition to cleaners and brushes, but I wouldn’t have imagined perfume. Now that I think about it, that makes sense, given the era. Women at the time had a place, and that place was at home. The car would be gone with a husband at work, and they’d have had little ability to go anywhere, nor little of thier own money to spend. I bet it was a real treat for those ladies to order a bit of bottled luxury for themselves from the Fuller Brush man, rather than hoping and waiting on their husbands or fathers to give them a present of perfume. I’m guessing Debutante Magic Moment was at least one of the Daggett & Ramsdell made fragrances for Fuller Brush.

I don’t know anything about the how or why Jean Desprez came to lend his talents or name to Daggett & Ramsdell. I don’t even know what year this scent was created. It’s a mystery. Did it presage his Bal a Versailles? Did it follow up on it after Bal, with this company trying to cash in on his name? I don’t know. The package doesn’t offer too many hints, and the clues offered by the smell of the scent could be used to construct a case for either side of that point in time.

Debutante de Versailles’ liquid sprays out as a dark ambery brown color. I instantly notice it’s soft powdered rose. It’s reminiscent in a way of Habanita’s powdered rose (minus leather). Some days I seem to notice a bit of fruitiness in the scent, and then it smells almost like there’s Tresor as its top. But it’s a Rorschach fruit: It’s peachy; No wait, it’s berried; Oh, maybe it’s pear; Nope, never mind, it’s berries and peach; GAH, I don’t know, it’s just juicy; I’m not going to be graded on this test am I? Aldehydes of some sort likely were used, I just can’t define exactly what I think they smell like. At the base of Debutante de Versailles are elements also found in Bal a Versailles. Warm woods, a teensy weensy bit of amber, and musk. I find there’s even a light vanillic note softening the whole dry down. It truly is lovely, though nothing that I find as astonishing as Bal.

I’m pleased when I do wear it, but I catch myself being awfully precious about using it. I have this strange feeling like everytime I spray (slowly emptying the bottle) that little by little I’m unwriting some piece of history. And yet, it’s going to be a meaningless piece of art unless I interact with it and experience it. It’s a conundrum, but one I am glad to have.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 21st, 2005 at 2:15 pm and is filed under Perfume Reviews, Jean Desprez. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.