Vintage perfumes

Years ago, in the ’80s, teenage me had a favourite perfume, “It” by Lentheric. Fast forward to today, I obtained a vintage bottle on eBay. Now, as a successful perfumer of many years, I know fragrances mature and reactions take place, sometimes undesirable ones. But I’ve had very little real experience of any vintage perfumes.

It doesn’t have the “off” alcoholic notes. But this doesn’t smell as I remember, to be honest. It’s a lot more aldehydic, animalic (even civet?), and oakmossy, chypre. I do like a good chypre, but I didn’t remember “It” being one?

What happens to fragrances after this many years, is it only these kind of notes that will remain after all these years, and everything else, the floral, the fruity notes (and definitely the citrus) are just gone? Has my perception changed over time? Are we so conditioned nowadays to fragrances built with large amounts of those ubiquitous two ingredients, methyl dihydrojasmonate and OTNE, that fragrances from another era smell kind of odd, heavy, even? I don’t remember it being this heavy. I did read just the other day that as we wouldn’t wear the same clothes or make-up as when we were younger, we wouldn’t wear the same perfume either, our tastes evolve as we grow older. Is that what has happened here? It’s interesting though. I’m glad I got this bottle but I won’t be wearing it 🙂