Jean Patou (Paris, 1880-1936) was a French fashion designer. City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Région ÃŽle-de-France Département Paris (75) Subdivisions 20 arrondissements Mayor Bertrand Delanoë  (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics Land... 1880 (MDCCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The designer, who was born in Normandy, France, opened his couture house in 1919 and became known for eradicating the flapper look by lengthening the skirt and returning to a natural waistline. Patou also is credited with introducing sportswear for women and is considered the inventor of the knitted swimwear and the tennis skirt. He also was the first designer to popularize the cardigan, moving fashion towards the natural and comfortable. Patou's clothes were marketed mostly to wealthy American women. When the stock market crashed, however, so did the market for luxury fashion. The House of Patou survived through its perfumes, which remain well known today. Fashions from Autumn of 1928. ... The New York Stock Exchange A stock market is a market for the trading of company stock, and derivatives of same; both of these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately. ...

The best known of Patou's perfumes is "Joy," a floral scent; another is "Sublime," which combines floral and musky tones. The world's second best-selling scent (the first is Chanel No. 5), Joy was created by Henri Alméras for Patou at the height of the Depression (1935) for Patou's former clients who could no longer afford his haute couture clothes. Upon its introduction, Joy was called "the costliest perfume in the world" by American socialite Elsa Maxwell, and it remains two to three times the cost of most department store scents. Joy's high cost comes from its use of rare florals; each ounce is purported to contain the essence of ten thousand flowers including Bulgarian roses and Grasse jasmine, as well as Michelia champaca alba. The Chanel No. ... The Great Depression an economic downturn which started in 1929 (although its effects were not fully felt until late 1930) and lasted through most of the 1930s. ... An evening gown, made of sheel pink satin with a black lace trim Haute couture (French for high sewing or high dressmaking; IPA: ) refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted fashions. ... Elsa Maxwell Elsa Maxwell (May 24, 1883 – November 1, 1963) was an American socialite, songwriter, radio host, and gossip columnist. ... Roses (Spanish: Rosas) is a municipality in the comarca of the Alt Empordà in Catalonia, Spain. ... Species See text Jasmine (Jasminum) is a genus of shrubs and vines in the Family Oleaceae, with about 200 species, native to tropical and warm temperate regions of the Old World. ...

Patou died in 1936. His sister and her husband, Madeleine and Raymond Barbas, continued the House of Patou, which remains a family-owned enterprise. Other designers to have been associated with this house are Jean Kerléo and Karl Lagerfeld. Kerléo was chief perfumer for over 30 years and is now director of the Perfume Museum of Versailles. 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Karl Lagerfeld portrayed on the cover of the Karl Lagerfeld Diet, the book about his weight loss. ...

The Patou perfume license is now owned by Procter & Gamble Prestige Beauté, which remains faithful to the Jean Patou tradition of extravagant fragrances made with extravagant ingredients, so much so that Joy remains one of the most costly perfumes (per ounce) in the world. Procter & Gamble Co. ...

External links

• Article on Bespoke Perfumes