Blue Jeans by Versace

In 1994 the Versace fashion house launched the jeans perfume line to represent the Versace Jeans Couture Collection. The first two fragrances were Blue Jeans and Red Jeans, to be followed in 1995 by Baby Blue and Baby Rose. 1996 saw the releases of Green and Yellow Jeans and the fragrant family continued to expand in 1997 with the launch of Black and White Jeans. The prolific line saw its last descendants in 2001, with the release of Metal Jeans for Men and Metal Jeans for Women, a last attempt to capture the market, geared for men and women with fast-paced, on-the-go lives. Most of these fragrances have now been discontinued and the only ones still in production are the original Blue and Red along with Baby Blue and Baby Rose.

Blue Jeans is surely my favorite member of this colorful Jeans dynasty. The blue tin box the flacon is contained in sets the theme for this very playful men’s fragrance, reminiscent as it is of vintage tin toys won in funfairs past. The fragrance itself is a wondrous medley of spices and woods, held together harmoniously by fragrant flowers. Despite the citrusy top notes, Blue Jeans is never sharp, not even at the opening: it is immediately deep and slightly musty. Carnation, violet and jasmine blend seamlessly together with nutmeg, anise, sandalwood, vanilla and tonka to create a sweet, gourmand veil on the skin. Its sexiness is underscored and at the same time balanced, by the addition of soft musk and powder notes created by the blend of heliotrope, musk, lavender, amber and cedarwood. In this sense Blue Jeans becomes a perfect contradiction on a man’s skin: the flowers and spices make him sexy and playful, the gourmand notes render his skin compellingly, irresistibly edible... yet the powder and musk combine in a way that is so evocative of baby talcum-powder, that part of him is helplessly perceived as innocent and vulnerable.

There are not many fragrances I think of as pairs, but one cannot help but think this way with the Jeans fragrance line. Almost all of the perfumes were released simultaneously with a counterpart, a companion. And in the case of Blue Jeans it is implicative that Red Jeans is its pair. I never found the two to match the least bit though... In my mind the perfect marriage is that between Lolita Lempicka and Blue Jeans. They compliment each other perfectly, never overshadowing each other. If I had to choose a jus within the line itself, I’d pick White Jeans to go with Blue, but the union would never be as perfect as the one with Lolita.

Pictures courtesy of www.auntjudysattic.com and www.sarivillage.com respectively.