Jean Patou Joy - The Anti-Depression

Launched in 1929, Jean Patou's fragrance Joy was conceived in defiance of the Great Depression. In the year where a lot of rich people got bankrupted due to the stock market crash, and the usually fashionable women can't even afford to buy new clothes, it would seem like a joke to sell a fragrance which, for a long time, was the costliest perfume in the world. Actually, Jean Patou introduced Joy in order to chase the Depression blues away. With it, Jean tried to uplift the spirit of the people with sophisticated humour and remind people to celebrate the JOY of living.

Designed as created carefully just like a luxurious jewelry, a single ounce of Joy perfume contains 10,600 jasmine flowers and 28 dozens of May roses. This and the fact that picking jasmine blossoms in Grasse is a labor-extensive activity, are the main reason for the high cost.

The Joy perfume extract bottle, with its very pure lines, was designed by an architect, Louis Süe, in 1930. Decorated with gold leaf, it also benefits from a traditional natural seal and from a ground glass stopper tightly encircled with a gold thread.