Ruffles by Oscar de la Renta c1983

Licensed by Parfums Stern. Created by Firmenich perfumers.

Business Week, 1984:

"It was a Saturday afternoon in Paris in early 1982. Fashion designer Oscar I de la Renta and a marketer named Milton Stern were strolling through the Marche aux Puces when Stern spotted an unusual antique bottle with a top shaped like a ruffle. "Oscar, that's it," Stern exclaimed. "Ruffles." And so was born a new perfume. That Ruffles began as a name, not a scent, is not unusual in the $2.4 billion fragrance business. 

 

Fragrance Composition:

So what does it smell like? It is classified as a fruity floral fragrance for women. It begins with a fresh, fruity flowery top with basil and neroli bigarade, citrus fruits - bergamot, Italian mandarin, grapefruit and orange, followed by an exotic floral heart of geranium, jonquil, gardenia, jasmine, marigold, resting on a sweet balsamic base of Mysore sandalwood and Java vetiver.

• Top notes: aldehydes, basil, Italian mandarin, neroli bigarade, green note, grapefruit, orange, and bergamot
• Middle notes: marigold, geranium, jonquil, orange blossom, gardenia, carnation, tuberose, orris, orchid, jasmine, ylang-ylang, lily-of-the-valley and rose
• Base notes: Java vetiver, honey, Mysore sandalwood, musk, civet, vanilla, caramel and cedar

Business Week, 1984:

"The inspiration for it came to the young perfume, Jean-Jacques Diener, while jogging on a rural road near Firmenich. Diener was familiar with what Stern wanted because he had pursued the fragrance for months before leaving Givaudan last year. As he jogged, Diener was mulling over the woody note of a traditional fragrance, Tabu. He had in mind mating it with floral "chords" for an overall semi-oriental scent. In a novel step, he also wanted to create two top notes - one spicy component using bay oil and nutmeg and one with floral chords of rose oil and such exotic ingredients as ylang ylang and neroli bigarade. A complex middle note would mix iris, tuberose, patchouli, and other components before amber and musk emerged last...."Even when I went home at night," he recalls, "I'd find fragrances waiting for me." Finally, in France, he selected one, pending final approval by de la Renta.  But when he returned to New York, he found Barry Young, vice president of Firmenich & Co. of Princeton, NJ, waiting practically on his doorstep. Young had in hand a scent created by a new employee, a 34 yr old Grasse trained perfumer who had left competitor Givaudan Corp. One sniff was all it took. "I liked it immediately - it was instant," says Stern. The fragrance, with slight modifications, became Ruffles."

Bottle:

The bottle was designed by sculptor Serge Mansau in 1981. The bottles were produced in France by Pochet et du Courval.

Ruffles was available in the following products:

• 1 oz Parfum (retailed for $130 an ounce in 1983)
• 1/4 oz Parfum
• 5 oz Eau de Toilette Splash
• 3.3 oz Eau de Toilette Spray
• 1.7 oz Eau de Toilette Spray
• 1/3 oz Eau de Toilette Crystal Hearts Pendant
• 1.5 oz Silken Whispers Body Wash
• 1.5 oz Silken Whispers Body Lotion

The body lotion and body wash, named the Silken Whispers Collection was actually formulated with spun sheer silk.

Fate of the Fragrance:

Discontinued, date unknown. It was still being sold in 1993.

RUFFLES BY OSCAR DE LA RENTA