The Classics: Eau Sauvage by Christian Dior

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Well, I happen to be writing this on the day of the eclipse (because sometimes I don’t leave things until the last second.) A minor eclipse fever has gripped the nation, including in Southern California, where we are nowhere near in the Zone of Totality (or whatever it’s called.) All I know is that it will get dark, and it’s to be hoped that the rapture will not have happened, since I bought a full tank of gas yesterday and would hate to waste it just feeding eternal hellfire. But if you’re reading this I guess we survived..

So spring had sprung for about ten minutes here in LA, then went back in it’s hidey-hole. We have had particularly obnoxious weather here for the past few weeks- glorious Monday through Thursday then rainy over the weekend. The past one broke that streak- it was lovely both days. So I took advantage by going for a long walk on Saturday and doing errands on Sunday, including going to Costco (our large, member-only warehouse store that’s famous for having everything in bulk.) I picked up cleaning supplies: A drum of laundry soap, six-pack of cleaner, etc and the main reason I keep the membership- the giant two pack of smoked salmon. That, and gas.

I had mentioned that I was treating myself to a few sundry things since the new car was very much cheaper than the one I had saved up for. The bottle of MKK I wrote about last week was the most extravagant- the second most (and I am telling myself, final) is a bottle of Dior Eau Sauvage I got on sale at Macy’s.

Eau Sauvage has been in my life on and off for almost 50 years (which is interesting since I am only 39..) I think it may have even been the first cologne I purchased for myself- my dad didn’t use it (too perfumey for him) being more of the Old Spice type. I must have seen it at the local Mall (being a small town, we had only room for one: we had one open in the mid 70’s that was a nail in the coffin of downtown shopping, and a few years later a newer, flashier one open across the street that put the nail in the coffin of what was later referred to as the “Dead” mall, only to pretty much die itself with the resurgence of a revitalized downtown and the rise of interweb shopping. Poetic justice.) and either whined my way into or more likely scavenged my allowance to score a bottle.

Eau Sauvage was created in 1966 and I am assuming at the time was kind of revolutionary. I believe that many men’s fragrances of that era were of the Old Spice variety, leaning towards spices or heavy ambers, or like Dana’s wonderful 1935 Canoe, light, airy citruses. Eau Sauvage took the latter route, but dared to add the jasmine hit of hedione, and not in a shy quantity either. I remember even in the 70’s that amongst the starchy WASP set I grew up in it was a rather daring thing to wear: Boys were supposed to smell of soap and clean laundry. Boys who smelled of jasmine were rather suspiciously French (or worse.) I loved it and didn’t give a rat’s patootey what old Mrs. Stickupherbutt next door thought. I was wearing Eau Sauvage. And Calvin Klein Jeans. And Ralph Lauren polo shirts in screaming shades of fuchsia, purple, or turquoise. My parents were simply amused and thankful that unlike my classmate, Mrs. Stickupherbutt’s son, I wasn’t dead drunk at 4pm on a Sunday and peeing in the fountain in the park that separated our houses, in full view of her bridge club and my mom’s garden party. A son in loud clothes and French cologne was a doddle in comparison.

So what does it smell like today, after doubtless many reformulations and the advent of scents for men that smell of everything from Apple Pie to Zinnia*?

It smells very fresh, very clean, very French, and completely timeless. It starts off with a Calabrian bergamot that is according to Dior especially grown for them, with a touch of mandarin and grapefruit. almost immediately joined by the hedione with that flowery jasmine punch. Petitgrain and galbanum are in the middle with the base being green, stemmy vetiver. Dior came out with flankers (and I did veer into ES Extreme for a time in the 90’s) but none of them hold a candle to the original, not even the one hawked by Johnny Depp.

A friend posted an article on FacePlace about the suit Cary Grant wore in Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest” positing that it was the best and most influential suit in the history of cinema. That’s fairly accurate, but it also has to do with the wearer and that fact the thing was bespoke- an off-the-rack sack suit from Brooks Brothers would not have the same effect even on Cary Grant.