Joy is a
perfumePerfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils and/or aroma compounds, fixatives, and solvents used to give the human body, animals, objects, and living spaces "a pleasant scent"...
created for
ParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
ian
couturierHaute couture refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing. Haute couture is made to order for a specific customer, and it is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable seamstresses,...
Jean Patou- Early life :Patou was born in Normandy, France in 1880. Patou's family's business was tanning and furs. Patou worked with his uncle in Normandy, then moved to Paris in 1910, intent on becoming a couturier.-1910s - World War I and later:...
by
perfumerA perfumer is a term used for an expert on creating perfume compositions, sometimes referred to affectionately as a Nose due to their fine sense of smell and skill in producing olfactory compositions...
Henri AlmérasHenri Alméras 1892-1965 was a French perfumer. He was best known for creating many perfumes for Patou, including Amour Amour and Joy.-List of creations for Jean Patou:...
in 1929. It is considered to be one of the greatest fragrances created and is a landmark example of the floral genre in perfumery.
Joy was created as a reaction to the 1929 Wall Street Crash, which had diminished the fortunes of Jean Patou's wealthy American clientele. Despite its elevated price and the depressed economic environment, Joy became an instant success and has remained Jean Patou's most famous fragrance.
It is primarily a combination of jasmine and rose. 10,000 jasmine flowers and 28 dozen roses are required to create 30ml of the parfum, contributing to its high retail price.Joy also contains other flowers such as Ylang ylang,
MicheliaMichelia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the Magnolia family . The genus includes about 50 species of evergreen trees and shrubs, native to tropical and subtropical south and southeast Asia , including southern China.-Description:The Magnoliaceae are an ancient family; fossil plants...
and Tuberose. Due to its many ingredients, Joy does not smell like a specific flower. According to
Luca TurinLuca Turin is a biophysicist with a long-standing interest in the sense of smell, the art of perfume, and the fragrance industry.-Vibration theory of olfaction:...
, "the whole point of its formula was to achieve the platonic idea of a flower, not one particular earthly manifestation."
The bottle was created by French architect and artisan Louis Süe and was designed to have a simple, classical feel.
In 2002, the House of Jean Patou created Enjoy, a contemporary take on Joy meant for younger women.
Joys name was referenced in Joy, Scandal, Sin: a Cultural History of Fragrance from 1750 to the Present, a book by Richard Stamelman.