Madame Rochas (1960)

I can’t think of a lot of perfumes these days that smell “ladylike.” Sexy, edgy, cute, clean, maybe; but lady-like isn’t really in fashion.

Madame Rochas is an aldehydic floral, a perfume category that pretty much defines ladylike. Unfortunately, to many, it also screams soapy, powdery, and “old lady.” (Other ladylike floral aldehydes: Chanel No. 5, Arpège, White Linen, Rive Gauche.)

My intial reaction to Madame Rochas was that it was light, feminine, and fresh. Olfactory Prozac, immediately uplifting. Thanks to the aldehydes, which “lift” other notes, there’s a paradoxical lightness and fattiness/heft to it that’s very satisfying.

I loved the leafy, coriander-like green and citrus of the opening; the sheer rose and lily-of-the-valley with a hint of sweetness from violet and ylang-ylang; and the sunny warmth of the drydown, which was spicy-salty-mossy. (Calandre, nine years later, definitely paid homage to Madame Rochas. It should practically be called Mademoiselle Rochas, as it is lighter and more metallic.)

Top notes: Aldehydes, bergamot, lemon, leafy green note

Heart notes: Rose de Mai, lily-of-the-valley, jasmine, orris, ylang-ylang, violet

Base notes: Sandalwood, amber, vetiver, musk, tonka, benzoin, moss (Perfumer: Guy Robert)

When I sniff Madame Rochas, I think of a woman who’s mastered Emily Post’s book on etiquette, matches her shoes to her purse pocketbook, and who is kind to everyone in equal measure. Elegant, light, crisp yet warm: Madame Rochas is a beauty.

What are your favorite floral aldehydes? Do you think they smell too dated? Does anyone even want to smell — or be — ladylike?

Comments

[Angela Cox]

I love it but I'm a slob , dress like an old "hippy" ( daughter's description) and can't match anything except knitting yarns !

[mals86]

Love floral aldehydes! Mme Rochas has been on my to-test list for some time, but I haven't actually gotten my hands on any yet.

I don't match my purse to my sho- wait, I lie. I have a black purse and a brown one (and a humongous faux-alligator red tote just for fun), and I have gone to owning only black and brown shoes. (Oh, all right, I admit I only own black and brown trousers for work, as well as jeans and lighter-colored pants for summer casual, which I don't match to my shoes.)

Favorite floral aldehydes: No. 5 parfum (of course) and Eau Premiere, L'Aimant, L'Ame Soeur, Vega (swoon!) Le Labo Aldehydes 44, Iris Poudre (swoon again!), Climat, vtg Arpege parfum, Sortilege, and Mariella Burani. Have yet to try Mme Rochas, as I mentioned, Amazone, Calandre, and a small bottle of Revillon Turbulences I bought on a whim and keep forgetting about...

[Perfumaniac]

Hi Mals!

Well, maybe if you acquire some Madame Rochas, your accessories will magically match themselves! Seriously, though, you'll love it. I wish I could pull my cute mini out and take a whiff, but alas...it exploded in my purse. This review was actually done while sniffing the lining. Ugh...Let this be a lesson to you guys (as if you didn't already know) those little bottles are fragile! Handle with care.

[Perfumaniac]

Awww, that's cute Angela, that you're a knitting hippie! I like hippies, as a matter of fact. I wish more of them here in Berkeley wore Madame Rochas, though. :-)

[Suzy Q]

My people!!! It's so good to see you all assembled here in one place. Aldehyde lovers: keep the faith.

As for Madame Rochas, I like to do the unexpected by wearing it with unladylike clothing. In contrast, when I dressing seductively I'll often wear my more "masculine" perfumes. I fell in love with Madame Rochas because it reminded me of Calandre parfum which I owned back in the day.

We call some things "vintage", as a compliment and other things "old fashioned" as a put down. Maybe today's fruity florals will smell dated one day but maybe some will be considered vintage. I don't know where one makes the distinction.

[Perfumaniac]

Suzy Q, I like your style! Butch perfumes while dressed femme, and femme perfumes while "unladylike." Well played! I was totally surprised by how much I liked this one. From the name ("Madame" Rochas) to the category, it's not really me. But if a perfume is beautiful, I'll like it, my preconceptions be damned...

Thanks for stopping by! Now I'm curious, what butch/masculine scents do you wear with girly clothes?

[Suzy Q]

Thanks! My butch collection is tiny compared to the femme. This winter I have been wearing Coromandel with girly clothes. During the summer I wore Sycomore. I've got a sample of Amouage Silver Men but...not sure yet. This is a new approach for me and it's fun, so I'm going to be sampling more masculine scents in the future, with an eye towards creating contradictions.

[Anne]

I have never tried Madame Rochas and I am cautious about it because where I live there seemed to be a period some years ago when it would appear among the discount bins at suspiciously cheap prices. Reformulated? Probably.

I did try Caleche a few days ago and that struck me as VERY ladylike, tho' perhaps more masculine than I imagine Madame Rochas to be. Being masculine is not ladylike is it?

[ScentScelf]

Wow. I like what you see when you smell Madame Rochas. I chuckled a bit, though, because MR is one of the few alde-scents I have learned to enjoy...yet I trend more toward Suzy Q's visuals when wearing it. I don't know if I could take the whole picture, were I to match it up with a dress and a pocketbook. But to shake up my jeans...love it. :)

Anne is on the money with her suspicions; I have a vintage Madame Rochas (with the shower head force atomizer cap on lace patterned glass) and one of the very bottles appearing at cheap prices in discount bins from a few years ago. The second is a reasonable facsimile of the first. But the most recent bottles I've found? Not so much. BTW, even spouse, who is not a fan of "perfumey" scents, did a take on the drydown of Madame Rochas. Anyone trying it for the first time, I'd suggest hanging on through a couple of hours. Things change.

Someday I am going to go all cocktail again, with an outfit matched just so. But I've a feeling I'll be in something green. Scent-wise, I mean. ;)

[Perfumaniac]

Anne - you should give vintage Madame Rochas a chance. Pre-bottle explosion, mine had a white cap. That ensures that it's vintage, but I think some vintages have the gold caps, particularly the minis. They don't make minis now for the cheap reformulations, do they? Anyone? (In any case, the vintage ad features a gold cap, so if you're buying, say on eBay, you just need to make sure the seller knows what they mean when they say it's vintage.)

Also, it's interesting that the perfume's abbreviation (MR.) answers your question: "Being masculine is not ladylike is it?" Well, considering that drag queens, to me, are more masculine as they're performing femininity...maybe being ladylike is really masculine! Or something...coffee isn't kicking in yet. :-)

[Perfumaniac]

ScentScelf - I'll just say it now unequivocally: I LIKE MADAME ROCHAS! Unambivalently.

I think you and Suzy Q are wearing vintage in the perfect way - updated for the present moment. That's how fashion folks incorporate vintage into clothing — unless they're Dita von Teese and just go whole hog. They use a vintage piece as an accent or they reinterpret it somehow. So it makes perfect sense to wear an uber-ladylike perfume, now, with something a little more androgynous. It's more creative, too...

[Olfacta]

I like Madame Rochas. I have a bottle of EDT that is only about two years old, probably a reformulation, but I like it better than the vintage EDP, which is very sharp on opening. The recent one is dry at first, but fades to a really nice musk -- probably a white musk, which I'd normally run from, but this one is appealing. It's a good summer scent for humid weather.

[Joan]

My favorite aldehydes: Eau Premiere, and definitely White Linen! I like muskier and/or fruitier scents though in general. I'm not really inclined towards florals. Heavier ones like Divine are great though....ever smelled Divine?

[Perfumaniac]

Hi Joan,

I'm not usually drawn to florals — or aldehydic florals —  but this one surprised me. It's lovely. I don't know Eau Premiere or Divine — who are the perfumers? Any other recs?

[Emma]

Mmmmm, I must go back and re-sniff my bottle of Madame Rochas! I think the "fattiness" that you mention was off-putting to me, but I really need to pay more attention to all those other notes in there, and let it settle on my skin.

My No.1 aldehyde love is Le Dix: I loooove the crispness of the aldehyde with the softness of the sandalwood. Another vintsge, ladylike aldehyde I managed to bag was L'Interdit, which I found amazingly fizzy-sherberty, but very, very (too?) light.

[Perfumaniac]

Emma, I wonder, though, if you didn't like Ivoire, if you'll like this one. But do try it again and let me know! I'm curious...

[Patricia Kelly]

I wear both Madame Rochas and Caleche (Hermes). Yes my handbag and shoes match, in color at least. Unfortunately it is hard to get the authentic articles in the USA, most are replicas and do not have the same olfactory delights as the originals. Which is why I usually purchase from Harrods. Scents from my youth (use of the word perfume was considered gauche "back in the day", and yes I am upwards of 65. Both these scents go along with manners, clean shoes and a spotless home.

[Perfumaniac]

Wow, Patricia. Thanks for the insight. Using the word "perfume" was considered gauche? Could you please say more? That is so interesting!

[Laurie]

Hello Out There! I grew up in the tropics, and Madame Rochas was the first perfume I fell in love with "on my own" - (as opposed to the christmas bottles of White Shoulders, Tabu, etc., etc that our mothers and aunts wore. (My mom wore Bellodgia by Caron - fabulous on her!) anyway, I just bought some MR yesterday - and what's with it??! There is almost nothing of the scent that I remember, and I wore it for probably 25 years! Haven't tried it in at least 25. Is it possible, even in France, to get an original formulation anymore? thanks!

[Sweet Tea]

A PLEA FOR HELP! But, first, a little background: Back in '95 after graduating from college, I gave up training for my professional job after suffering from a sickness, then losing my father suddenly. I wanted to work, but really couldn't handle anything all that taxing, so a friend got me a job working at a fragrance counter. I loved it! Plus, this particular store sold a lot of vintage fragrances that you couldn't find in other retailers. There were two that I'd never heard of that really struck a chord with me: one was feminine and soapy and uplifting; the other struck me as almost cold, somber, and a little intimidating. The first one I considered buying for myself, but I wasn't interested in purchasing the other because of the mindset I was in at the time. Well, a year later I had moved up the ladder and away from the fragrance counter and forgot about both of these fragrances.

Well, time moved on, and last year, for some reason, these two scents came back to me. I tried jogging my memory and the name 'Madame Rochas' came back to me. I knew it was one of the two, and based on the descriptions I've read it believe it would be the name of the first fragrance I've mentioned. However, I'm still stumped about the second. I would love to find out what it is, but have no idea of where to begin. If any of you who read this might know what it is I would be very grateful!!!!

I'll try to give you a description to the best of my memory, but remember, its been almost 20 years since smelling this fragrance. I can't give an accurate description of the ingrediants, but it seemed somewhat woody. It wasn't a sweet scent. It was in fact, very mature, and sophisticated. Cool, but not at all fruity. To me it was very mysterious and aloof. If Morticia Addams had a signature scent, this would be it!!!! Also, it may have been French, in a tall, dark box and or bottle.

Thank you all for any info you can give me.