Antilope by Weil (1945)

You'd think that a perfume called Antilope would be a little more, well, gamey or animalic, but Antilope by Weil lives up more to the habitat of the antelope than to the animal the name evokes.

For a perfume with so much going on, it's quite a subtle, spicy, leathery, and woody affair. One gets the sense that the leaves, woods, and flowers that went into Antilope have dried into a haylike concentration, both strong and subdued, whose scent is stirred into recognition only by a hot sun or a brief summer wind.

My first questioning impression was: herbaceous leather? Chypre? Camphor? Cedar? Is there a sweet middle note that rounds out and warms up the sharper notes? Basenotes that deepen that warmth? (Labdanum/cistus? Opoponax?) Antilope is more classically masculine than Ma Griffe, say, but its blond spice and leather makes it a subdued and subtle rather than overpowering fragrance. It smells, as many have said,  like a savannah of dried grass/hay. It's been called a "floral woody aldehydic chypre."

I get an almost mint note that others describe as chamomile. And even though I don't see it in the listed notes, I do smell that faintly herby, hay-like scent. With Antilope (imagine a woman's fragrance being called that in this day and age — you might as well call something Hippopotomus!), I imagine a sleeping animal on a bed of herbs, dried grass with flowers in the distance. In sum, dry, sweet and woody. I love this. (Ad from H Prints.)

Top notes: Aldehydes, spice note, citrus oils
Heart notes: Jasmine, rose, orris, lily of the valley, violet
Base notes: Cedarwood, vetiver, leather, musk, amber

Perfume Intelligence: tangerine, neroli, galbanum, acacia, farnesiana, narcisssus, hyacinth, ylang ylang, may rose, lily of the valley, oakmoss, civet, sandalwood and musk.

Comments

[breathe31]

I have to share with you that I was just talking to a co-worker in her 50s who inherited almost full bottles of Antilope, Fleur de Rocailles and Joy when her grandmother passed away several years ago. She told me that she threw them out because they "smell bad". I could not sit in judgement for I did the same when another co-worker once gave me a full size bottle of 4711 Tosca after the death of her mother. It smelled "off" so I threw it out! Mind you all of these bottles were vintage, I am sure! Now after reading your blog on a regular basis I know better :)

[Perfumaniac]

Full (gulp) bottles of (double gulp) Antilope, Fleur de Rocailles, Joy and 4711...thrown out? breathe31, are you trying to kill me?!

On a less melodramatic note...maybe they WERE off? It does happen, but we should always check for a pulse before we bury them. :-)

[breathe31]

Indeed, I, too, was sick to my stomach when she told me that she discarded these bottles. But I am also perturbed at myself for I have had SO MANY perfumes that you list on your blog given to me by my mother (ALL VINTAGE!!!! she always got them the year that they would debut) and instead of saving at least a third of the bottle for posterity I used up every drop (usually within a year or two-I wear fragrance 24-7 and I tend to douse!!) Looking at your list I had originals of Bill Blass, Calandre,Calyx, Chanel no 5 (from the 50s),Charlie,Chloe,Cristalle, Nikki de Saint Phalle,Aromatics Elixir,Aliage,Lauren,Must de Cartier,Norell,Ombre Rose,Rive Gauche,Private Collection,White Linen,Azuree and many more you haven't even reviewed yet which I consider vintage. I could kick myself for always finishing every bottle for fear that if I saved it too long it would "go bad". WHAT WAS I THINKING?!!!!!!!

[julie]

I scored two different Antilopes on ebay. The EDT is in a bottle and box like your photo, and I detect the notes described in Perfume Intelligence, esp the lily-of-the-valley note that pops out hours into wearing. It has the "lotionay" quality I associate with My Sin in the Eau de Lanvun strength.

The other one is probably from the 70s, as it's the same bottle as 1978's Chunga, squared off with a distinct foot and chunky tortoise-shell colored cap. Dryer, more hay and civet.

Both are enjoyable, subtle, personal. Not a lot of sillage, but that could be age (the perfume, not the wearer!;)