Jean Patou perfume was created by the designer Jean Patou. The Wars interfered with his Paris business under the name Maison Parry, but in 1919 he re-opened under the name Jean Patou.

Jean Patou Joy is the fragrance he is most known for creating, but there were a series of perfumes before the launch of Patou Joy in 1929, and many that came after.

Jean Patou Joy was created by Henri Almeras shortly after the U.S. Stock Market Crash that hailed the start of The Great Depression.  Patou specifically asked Almeras to create that luxurious perfume after the financial world as most people knew it was over, and would be widely marketed as "The Most Expensive Perfume in the World."  He wanted his fashion clients who could no longer afford his creations to have some luxury they could afford.

Despite it being The Depression, that very expensive perfume did really well.  There are anecdotal stories of women would save their tiny bits of change for months and years until they could buy this perfume, a little luxury that made them feel beautiful in a time when beauty seemed a lifetime away.

Jean Patou died in 1936, and eventually his company was sold to Proctor & Gamble, and was recently sold again to a company that is more in alignment with the Jean Patou luxury philosophy and with a desire to return the Jean Patou perfumes to their original formulations.

Jean Patou still has a perfume shop in Paris, and the upstairs is closed now to the public, but I did get to go up there with a friend once some years ago, and it is filled with some of the finest essences available and the Monclin glasses that are perfect for appreciating smells.

Try a Jean Patou Joy perfume sample to try one of the best perfumes created.