Le De Givenchy 1957 Eau de Toilette

A soft veil of well balanced almost powdery fresh floral harmony. This is the opening of elegant old school perfumery at its best but it retains a very individual herbal character that almost reminds one of violet leaves, even though they are not listed on the notes. Into a few moments of wearing, a small edge of the herbal side suddenly sits up as if alarmed, nearly too sharp and a little too harsh, but it doesn't last long. The perfume sits back down, and smooths down the ruffled flowers and woods, the crisis over, relaxing gently into a soft, woodsy, jasmine, floral with a spicy edge like a carnation just to prevent any over comfortable complacency. The herbs remain just enough to keep the florals sitting in polite check. It then dries down into a gentle, herby almost powdery, musky, woodsy, spicy, floral. No one note overpowering the rest. Gentle, peaceful and very sophisticated. A tiny hint of a very playful musky note that just smoulders beneath soft amber. The well behaved side keeps this perfume in order. The rest is just hinting at what could be underneath but of course polite girls just don't go there. It might be an older dame, who still has the beauty and the elegance. Her hair immaculately coiffured. Her suit worn and comfortable but still smart. A mere hint at her racy past betrayed in the laughter lines. As the light fades, she leaves, and there is just a hint of her presence and without her there, you now notice that her room is a little dusty with the daffodils fading in the vase.

This is an older bottle of edt I am testing.

Long before the days of Y, Givenchy III, and No19 there was Le De, a green muguet chypre with a sour aspect, hardened by rosewood, and paradoxically softened by powder.
There’s a rosy bouquet in the back – just to show it has a heart after all, but, like those others who followed her on, this is one tough cookie. Not exactly the haughty grande dame, more of a spinsterish librarian – shushing as you whisper to your colleague, and tut tutting if you rustle a bag of mints.
This was the late fifties, and long before the Swinging Sixties – so no letting your hair down; the style was -tight waist and conical skirt four foot wide- and stockings of course, blue ones probably. Basically Dior’s New Look, which was -new- ten years before this...
Vintage LeDe is a bit like vintage Ma Griffe - which was meant for teenagers - and who has now matured into a grown woman.
This is the total opposite of those sticky fruchouli’s you smell in the subway, and all power to it.

Givenchy was only known to me as a designer in the past. I only learned much later that he dedicated his first fragrance, L'Interdit, to Audrey Hepburn. In the meantime, I have managed to secure several bottles of this scent in vintage versions, including parfum, EdP, and EdT, because the new version cannot compare to Audrey Hepburn's L'Interdit.

It's similar with Le De. Recently, I received my vintage EdT of Le De and, of course, immediately put my nose into it. Le De is for me the little sister - or in today's language, the light version - of L'interdit. Le De is finer, more delicate, and nowhere near as intense as L'Interdit.

A beautiful, very fine, and absolutely everyday wearable fragrance, which primarily features white jasmine blossoms. Although not a true soliflore, jasmine is quite dominant here and reminds me a bit of Bvlgari's Voile de Jasmin, but it is by no means as sweet as that one; rather, it is more green.

The woody base is hardly noticeable as such. It is more of a darkening of the jasmine scent, unsweet and very soft and fine. Absolute elegance without any intrusion.

I will skip the new Le De version; I prefer to enjoy my vintage.

My dear husband doesn't like to stand with me at perfume counters for too long - but with a few select brands, he gladly takes a break.
Givenchy is one of them.
The Fleur d`Interdit had him genuinely excited back then!

So yesterday, he held a scent strip of Le De under my nose.
Oh - I caught a whiff of morning air - this could lead to a purchase.

However, Le De unfortunately does not announce any "morning air" for me.
The delicate spicy intro is still well captured - but the floral part seems oddly dark to me - creamy, almost oily.
Jasmine and lilac do not shine; instead, they seem just before wilting.
A sad mood.
The dark woods do not lift the spirits.
The scent has something "old" about it, but it doesn't remind me of the "good old days".

My husband perceives Le De as delicately floral but full-toned, and he is taken with it.
Unfortunately, we do not agree - and I couldn't bring myself to buy it with a clear heart.

So I must wait until he puts on his generous pants again.

Men might know about 10 colors... Women, on the other hand, know dozens more, like undertones such as salmon, Bordeaux, or indeed mint. And Le De starts off for me absolutely green and floral - or rather mint-colored. Unfortunately, it's too green and strange for my taste. I found the more well-known L'Interdit to be significantly better, more opulent, more important, and simply more beautiful. I wouldn't exactly label both as siblings - aside from the name Givenchy and the floral direction, they are separated by small continents. I tested the current version just like with the Audrey Hepburn fragrance, unfortunately not the unreformulated original version. This is said to have smelled significantly different from what is currently sold under the name Le De. But I can't provide any insight on that.

Le De feels like many Givenchy reissues: emotionless and cool. This can come off as stylish and could even be the new style & the perfume DNA of Givenchy - but it doesn't appeal to me here; it only works for jasmine lovers. Because after the minty start - green, fruity, juicy, almost like fig - the fragrance undergoes its first major, clearly defined turn. The main theme comes through more and more: a feminine, now only slightly green jasmine. The heart doesn't offer much more; it's simply too simple and not half as refined, noble, and complex as L'Interdit, the forbidden perfume. During the second turn towards bright woods, the fragrance fades increasingly until it finally disappears, making it even hard to define these summery woods more precisely.

Bottle: I have nothing against the new bottles... but I do have issues with inappropriate reformulations & remakes under the same name.
Sillage: even more delicate than L'Interdit, because it lacks a large part of the powdery-strong base.
Longevity: after the woods have shaken off the exhausting jasmine, the fragrance is no longer worth inhaling.

Short, concise name - short, concise conclusion: in the version I tested, absolutely no classic & at most worth a glance for absolute jasmine fans.