Jean Patou

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Jean Patou (Paris, 1880-1936) was a French fashion designer.

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.

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.

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.

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.