Eau de Eulogy: Poême by Lancôme
Lancôme released Poême in 1995 accompanied by a campaign starring Juliette Binoche that drew from a $32 million annual ad spend, solidifying Binoche’s bare-faced beauty as France’s premiere global commodity. Just a few months following Poême’s release, the world witnessed the acquittal of OJ Simpson, the invention of the DVD, and the end of a war in Sarajevo— a conflict that brought already tenuous US/ French relations to an apex. Binoche’s look is what someone else might call “timeless,” but with her romantic tumble of dark hair and knowing, close-lipped smile, I think she looks genetically French. In 1995, this image was by design: at a time when the most groundbreaking fragrances were products of American fashion houses, Poême’s olfactory language harkened back to an earlier era when perfume was almost exclusively a product of Parisian luxury.
By 1995, Gaultier’s cone bra was a distant memory and Galliano had yet to take the helm at Dior— The era marked a temporary shift in influence, with French fashion and fragrance taking a backseat to US brands. It also marked a dramatic reorganization of perfume trends, away from the heaving European florientals of the 1980s towards American, crushed ice-scented aquatics. With notes of breathless tuberose and custardy ylang ylang, Poême was an opulent floriental designed for day, dripping with apricot coulis and tickled with talc. Its rich, “exotic” sweetness stood in a stark contrast to iced tea-scented CK one and star-spangled Tommy by Tommy Hilfiger. If anything, honey-colored Poême drew on the success of Elizabeth Arden’s cheerful Sunflowers, but swapped out bouncy, all-American Amber Valleta for an effortlessly elegant Binoche.
Perfumer Jacques Cavallier is the genius behind water-scented L’eau d’Issey and was hot off the heels of JPG Classique when he created Poême. It’s clear now that Cavallier was called upon by Lancôme to replicate Classique’s cleavage-scented, fructose-sweetened sensuality with an equally cozy, inarguably feminine amber, complete with matching coral-colored juice. Even dripping in pollen, peaches and honey, against L’eau d’Issey’s icy vacuity Poême felt old fashioned, so Lancôme dug in their heels with a spokeswoman in her 30s who reminded us that the perfume was for adults and came from far-away Europe. It wasn’t “One for all” as CK one’s proto-DEI tagline suggested, but rather an opulent signifier of Parisian taste and sophistication.
Cavalliere designed Poême to be as rich and luscious as a runny camembert: it opens with a panting swell of throbbing white florals slumping with overripe fruit. Remember Kern’s Peach Nectar, the preferred swimming pool of bees on picnics nationwide? This perfume has a similar caramel-colored saccharinity that softens into pastel-hued, duty free comfort. The banana-scented ylang ylang gestures towards sunshine and blue skies, a visual motif reinforced by a 1996 commercial starring Binoche that reads as a live-action eulogy memorializing the most beautiful woman on earth.
Emma Roberts wishes! Poême isn’t groundbreaking, or surprising, or explicitly sexy, but it’s discontinued, so if you too want to smell like a beautiful dead woman, get thee to fragrancenet. It isn’t a favorite in my collection but for some reason I reach for it all the time; in a sea of frou frou niche perfumes, sometimes the easiest way to stand out is to forgo trends, lean into being foreign, and when all else fails, fakê an accênt.
To hear more about Poême, listen to us talk about it on Nose Candy Podcast.