Knowing by Estee Lauder c1988

Knowing by Estee Lauder: launched in 1988. Created by Jean Kerléo in collaboration with Elie Roger (Firmenich) and Estee Lauder's perfumer, Karyn Khoury..

The name of the fragrance is meant to suggest the attitude of a sophisticated woman who has developed into a self-assured, confident, uncompromising individual. “When a woman wears it, she feels like she knows it all,” said Estee Lauder who described Knowing as “a fragrance for the 21st century.”

The marketing campaign used for the fragrance was meant to change the entire Lauder image. The ads pictured gorgeous model Paulina Porizkova, who left Revlon in order to become the spokesperson for Estee Lauder. The ad below illustrates the exact image of a sexy, confident woman that Lauder wished to portray.

Knowing represented Lauder’s first chypre (non-alcoholic) fragrance and was developed, with Estee Lauder, by Firmenich. It is also one of the rare occasions that Lauder has used an essential oil house other than International Flavors & Fragrances, Inc, which has been a Lauder favorite since IFF supplied Youth Dew.

Woody and mossy, it contains mimosa, pittosporum, tuberose, rose, jasmine, lily, patchouli and orris, with a background of vetiver, sandalwood, oakmoss, amber and musk.

Knowing was launched late April 1988 at 168 doors in 15 cities and was available nationally and internationally in the fall.

Fragrance Composition:

So what does it smell like? It is classified as an aldehydic floral chypre fragrance for women.

 It begins with a sparkling aldehydic top with the warm, sweet note of pittosporum highlighted with fruity notes of ripe plum. Followed by an opulent floral heart comprised of four different varieties of jasmine including Grasse jasmine grandiflorum mingling with lily and heady tuberose. These notes are followed by a smattering of rich spices and aromatic richness, resting on a warm, luxurious woodsy base of amber, patchouli, sandalwood from Ceylon, oakmoss and grassy vetiver from Haiti.

• Top notes: green notes, coriander, orange, aldehydes, pittosporum, davana, plum and melon 
• Middle notes: rose, cedar, cardamom, jasmine, lily of the valley, pittosporum, tuberose, mimosa  and bay 
• Base notes: orris, patchouli, spices, oakmoss, amber, sandalwood, vetiver and musk

Leonard Lauder explained, "I've met people who say 'I don't like your fragrances. They're all too strong.' So we came up with Knowing, which is a far more subtle fragrance, and got new customers. It's the first fragrance we've launched that has not cannibalized our other business."

“I think our fragrances are very familial as a rule,” said Jean Leaman, senior vice president for creative marketing. Although each top note is different, “there is something about them that identifies them as a Lauder fragrance,” she added. “This one is not. This one is different.”

The inspiration according to Estee Lauder:

"When on a holiday trip in the south of France, Evelyn Lauder, was intrigued with a floral scent that wafted through the garden below her balcony. She searched for the source and found that it was the pittosporum flower, which she immediately knew could be the floral center of a wonderful fragrance. So beautifully orchestrated is the deep, warm scent of Knowing that it can almost be touched and felt."

Bottle:

Presented in a chunky lead crystal flacon designed by Ira Levy, decorated with a gold cord wrapped around the neck.

When it was first launched, one ounce of the parfum retailed for $300, the most expensive Lauder fragrance at the time, with Private Collection selling for $150 an ounce, it's second expensive. The quarter ounce parfum spray sold for $60, and came in a gold metal canister. The eau de parfum came in clear, rippled glass bottles with black matte caps. The 2.5 oz spray retailed for $50, the 1.7 oz splash bottle sold for $40, while the 1 ounce spray sold for $35. There was also a $50 set that included the 2.5 oz eau de parfum spray and a wide, clear plastic bracelet  (designed after the Knowing bottle) that the beauty advisers wore.

Fate of the Fragrance:

As of 2022, Knowing is still being produced and is available on the Estee Lauder website. Please note that the fragrance has been reformulated at least once since around 2010 to comply with IFRA regulations. You can see several of the original ingredients are no longer listed (aldehydes, davana, melon, lily of the valley, orris, bay, musk) in the reformulations note profile below.

Notes listed on the Lauder website (2021):

• Top notes: rose, tuberose, mimosa, plum, pittosporum
• Middle notes: jasmine, patchouli, orange flower
• Base notes: oakmoss, vetiver, sandalwood, amber

All rich woods and luxurious florals with luscious fruity accents. Worldly and warm. Intensely feminine.

Ingredients: Alcohol Denat.; Knowing Perfume (Parfum); Water\Aqua\Eau; Hexyl Cinnamal; Geraniol; Hydroxycitronellal; Citronellol; Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone; Linalool; Benzyl Salicylate; Butylphenyl Methylpropional; Benzyl Benzoate; Limonene; Coumarin; Farnesol; Eugenol; Cinnamyl Alcohol; Benzyl Alcohol; Isoeugenol; Citral; Anise Alcohol; Yellow 5 (Ci 19140); Red 33 (Ci 17200); Blue 1 (Ci 42090) <ILN37787>