As most of you know by now, Christian Dior is launching JOY BY DIOR, the new fragrance for women. The perfumery community is one hundred percent aligned in the fact that most of the marketing mix is wrong for an important Dior launch:
- The name JOY is a complete mascarade, buying Jean Patou’s name is a poor tribute to creativity. They could have done much better.
- The flacon is not at the level of a great feminine at Dior. By using the existing flacon from the exclusives, it is a rational cost-saving move to improve margins
- The outerpackaging with the Big Joy and the Dior logo within the O, looks more like O de Lancôme, no interest.
- One important missing point in this analysis is the scent, which should be the most important point.
When I tried the fragrance for the first time, I was stroke by one important point: It smells Allure de Chanel. It was shocking to see how close the fragrance is to the original Chanel one. Probably François Demachy as one of the former Chanel perfumer now at LVMH, got influenced by it.
JOY by DIOR, the first minutes…
When smelling JOY by DIOR in the first minutes, we get a sparkling duo Bergamot and Mandarin followed by a cheer powdery structure. And this combination is what reminds me of Allure de Chanel. There is also a fruity note that brings a less qualitative and more commercial entry to JOY by DIOR versus the Peach note in Allure de Chanel.
JOY by DIOR, getting into the heart of the fragrance
The heart of the new fragrance is a playful ground for a Jasmin and a Rose of May (same as Allure de Chanel). The flowers are more majestic on skin while a bit chemical on scent stripe. We can say that the floral accord is well executed, qualitative but a bit old and above all: seen many times as Allure de Chanel became a top benchmark for many L’Oreal and LVMH launches since 1996.
JOY by DIOR, The base notes
After five hours, we have an overwhelming creamy Sandalwood note that I like, although for some people I know it is a bit “tape-au-foie”. The modern musks and the sandalwood note generate a powdery modern aura, bringing the fragrance into a sheer-oriental olfactory structure.
In conclusion, JOY by DIOR is in my personal evaluation a pale copy of Allure de Chanel. This line from Bergamot/mandarin towards the floral bouquet heart and the sheer softness of Sandalwood provide this effect. I could not see what the new Dior fragrance would bring to this very crowded olfactory family. It is disappointing from François Demachy, who used to work for Chanel, that he did not try to reinvent the wheel of semi-orientals. In this sense JOY by Dior is very disappointing and with no interest at all.
Taking the name JOY from Jean-Patou and the scent from Chanel, is very disturbing and embarrassing. Seriously I am speechless. Probably a launch that will be forgotten in 18 month time.
Christian Dior could have done it better… but not Dior (if you see what I mean).
José Amorim
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