First Eau de Parfum
Van Cleef & Arpels (1976)

First isn't so much a pyramid as a Nile delta of notes, fanning out as it does from mandarin and peach to a multi layered masterpiece.
It starts with a quote from Roudnitska's Femme, but any sense that it's an homage to Ellena's teacher is soon put aside. The pupil doesn't follow the master but begins his own journey - which heads away from the chypre, and towards a milky-soft floral. Sumptuously done, you may not want to wear this, but any perfume lover should try it at least once
(in vintage of course.)

An absolute masterpiece. First is such a cushion of elegance and beauty, a buffer against a world filled with tattoos, Wal-Folk and fast food. A romantic & sensual scent. Imagine Olivia de Havilland mixture with Ava Gardner! A strong feminine white floral without the sharp aldehydes. First on healthy, blood-nourished, unbathed skin, becomes an alluring creamy floral perfume. It's black merino-wool turtleneck jumper perfect for holding a mug of coffe at a chic cafe.

It's very floral but not too heady. Once you get over the intoxicating peachy aldehydes in the beginning, it develops into a floral and feminine scent. Ylang ylang is kind of the princess above them all. I get hynocenth here as welltwirl into some darker activities with the dissolutes: powdery musk, sandalwood and vanilla makes a soft powdery, but secure scent that embodies it's wearer with dignity and femininity in a way that many fragrances fail to de currently.

The aldehydes are sparkling, and could be a perfect example to noses in training as an ultimate example of possibly the most successful use of such ingredients. If you're someone who's put off by big aldehydes (Chanel No.5) then First is a great starter into the aldehydic olfactory group. This is definitely no modern fly-by-night fragrance, this girl has got the confidence to go the distance. Old lipstick with high heels and elegant trench coat maybe sexy black dress and perfect winger eyeliner. In colder weather though, especially on an evening out, this makes you believe you are a classy seductive parisian woman in 1976.

What a gorgeous scent! I have been collecting samples this week, and so far this is the one that has made me sit up and pay attention - I really must get an FB when my sample is finished. Other reviewers have commented on the way this scent reminds them of wealth and power, and is not aimed at a younger market but for "an older woman with a Pekinese" (as one review said). Well, I don't have a dog at all, I'm mad about cats and am definitely in the older category, but I remember falling in love with First for the first time when it was released, in the late 1970s, while I was still young. What most impressed me then, and still does, is that it is a supremely romantic fragrance. I don't get the allusion to money or bossiness that others have noted. Instead, I get the feeling of intense, romantic longing - that feeling that you get when you ache for someone or something, the emotion that, in fragrance, corresponds with, say, "Nights in the Gardens of Spain" in music. Romantic, passionate, longing, intensity - that is what First is to me. I absolutely love it.

I knew a woman who worked in Wall Street some years ago. She was intelligent, smart, beautiful, and determined. This was her perfume!

No need to rehash what Jean Claude Ellena has done with Frederic Malle and Hermes, in his signature "aquarelle" style, ghostly wisps of odor floating on air, beautiful but fleeting and devoid of "form."

This one has big-boned "form." Everything here is over-the-top. This is perfumery in the grand manner. There is an excess of aldehydes, flowers, woods, and a menacingly animalic dry-down caused by civet.

This is a perfume for intimidation. More dense than Chanel No. 5, and less joyful than Joy, with the bite of "1000."

It is a masterpiece!

Van Cleef & Arpels First (1976) is the aptly-named debut perfume for the house, and second composition released by perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena of eventual Cartier and Hermès fame. Ellena stayed within the lines of convention with First, as he hadn't yet devised his hallmark transparent citric style at this early stage, but ended up making a landmark aldehyde floral chypre which put VC&A on the map perfume-wise. There are a lot of similarities between First and classic mature perfumes like Jean Patou Joy (1930) and Lanvin Arpège (1927), but First shows an exercise in blending that is arguably a cut above even some of the biggest "dames" of all time like Chanel No. 5 (1921) or Guerlain Mitsouko (1919) and the reason is in the dry down. Van Cleef & Arpels First does what other aldehyde florals in this category fail to do: Showcase a consistent accord from start to finish. In the modern age people might complain this is being linear since we're used to aromachemicals accomplishing a certain banal sameness from beginning to end, but First still allows progression through layers like any good classic perfume but with a beating heart that continues the entire way.

The opening of Van Cleef & Arpels First features the prerequisite aldehydes and bergamot for the style, but a smooth three-fold raspberry/blackcurrant/peach fruit keeps the aldehydes from being too sharp, a lesson learned from the sunny tomboy drugstore chypre Revlon Charlie (1973), but applied to a higher-budget perfume. The rose and jasmine sit somewhere between Chanel No. 5 and Jean Patou 1000 (1973), but there is a bit of tuberose like that of Jean Patou Joy mixed with a clean white floral bouquet of narcissus, lily of the valley and iris, keeping the indoles in check. The impeccable balance and blending continues into the base with just the right amount of civet stirred into a creamy foundation of musk, sandalwood, tonka, and oakmoss, with dry pangs of vetiver to once again keep the overall accord from being too rich or heavy. The end result is a familiar golden floral glow like other perfumes of the same ilk, but without any seams showing. The voluminous aldehyde push of No. 5 is controlled, the fleshy simplicity of Joy reigned in, the raunchy animalic undertone of Arpège buried in creamy clean. First is a one-stop-shop for the aldehydic floral, and one fans of the time-tested genre will likely wear as a signature in all seasons.

The generalist perfume as we know it in the 21st century didn't exist when Van Cleef & Arpels First emerged on the market, because guys and gals just wore wherever whenever, but if there was ever a generalist in the aldehydic floral genre, I'd nominate Van Cleef & Arpels First to that title. This stuff is just fantastically diffuse, never heavy, but always full, like the transparency of Jean-Claude Ellena's later perfumes but without such apologetic sillage. There is strength and delicacy in Van Cleef & Arpels First that few other florals duplicate without fancy chemical tricks or a loss of complexity. The style is woefully out of fashion especially in a post-IFRA perfume industry that seeks to outlaw all natural ingredients in the name of patented chemicals that firms can use to wrest control away from the houses who hire them, but a person of any gender who appreciates friendly and radiant perfume with a definite old-time "perfumey" air about it will love Van Cleef & Arpels First. This is simply one of the best in the genre I have smelled, and the "First" anyone should sample from the category. Thumbs up!

Stardate 20180913:

When I was a newbie, I got a bunch of these from Target to give as gifts. I liked the shape of bottle,its name and it smelled decent though a bit old school.

With time, as I tried more fragrances, I thought this is a knock off of other aldehydic florals. Stopped caring for.

A month or two ago I came across vintage version on eBay for cheap and snapped it up. And I am glad I did cause this version is simply amazing.
You can smell the whole floral symphony with 3D effect. But that is not even the best part. The drydown is where you see its beauty in full. Soft, powdery sanadalwood.

It is hard to describe how good this is. I have Arpege and Joy in vintage formulation and I find First to be superior. Arpege is too indolic, First goes low on indoles and uses civet to add the funk. Arpege blinds with aldehydes while First uses it for a shimmering glow.
Joy is a great white floral but it is simple. Lacks the evolution First has.
I have not tried vintage No 5 but the current No 5 is nowhere near any of these 3 vintage florals.
All I can say is that this is Ellena's best work and he should have stuck to this style.

Vintage Version is 5 stars. Current is 3 stars.

I'm wearing vintage First. Ah, memories! I never owned a full-sized bottle of this. I burned through 3 or more miniature-sized bottles, decades ago. I considered this an "old lady" scent back then. For me, this was a term of endearment, not an insult. I liked the similarity to Chanel No. 5. I enjoyed its sophistication.

What stands out for me are the aldehydes, carnation, tuberose, hyacinth, rose, jasmine. Later, a touch of honey, and amber. Lastly musk, civet, and mossy accords.

I don't know how First smells today; if it has changed drastically. If you can get your mitts on a vintage mini or sample, I highly recommend giving this a sniff.

Roja Dove tells us that "Van Cleef & Arpels was the first jewelry company to launch a fragrance."

He also tells us that Guerlain's dark rose Chamade was used as a springboard for the creation of First.

Turin called it an "aldehydic animalic" and gave it four stars. He dubs it "a full-figured French floral in the most baroque high style,"…"a dark variation on Joy." "It smells rich and humorless."

Barbara Herman tell us "First just smells expensive…a big, elegant floral in the vein of Arpege."

Top notes: Mandarin, Black Currant, Peach, Raspberry, Hyacinth
Heart notes: Turkish Rose, Narcissus, Jasmine, Muguet, Carnation, Orchid, Tuberose, Orris
Base notes: Amber, Tonka, Oakmoss, Sandalwod, Vetiver, Musk, Honey, Civet, Castoreum, Patchouli

My reaction was simply that it was a sweet, very feminine floral and not at all to my liking - I can't abide Arpege either.

A neutral review because although not bad, it is not good either. For those into overdrive, this anticipated the powerhouse scents of the 1980s.

I was sitting behind a woman at an outdoor baseball game years and years ago, and her pretty fragrance wafted back to me. I overcame my shyness to ask her what scent she was wearing. It turned out to be First, and I asked for a bottle for Christmas.

Unfortunately, this scent didn't work for me, as it did for her! The light prettiness disappeared on me and turned into something chemical. I wore it for 6 months or so but ended up giving it away. But I still remember that baseball game as one of my first experiences of an "expensive" fragrance... expensive to me, anyway!

Kabloom! First launches right in to a huge aldehydic white flower accord the second you spray it on, then proceeds to fill the room with an unseen cloud of jasmine, green muguet, hyacinth, and rose. It's the same kind of gargantuan bouquet you get with Joy or even Amouage Gold, though it is crisper in texture and greener in hue than either. That this grand, old-fashioned, and unapologetically “perfumey” scent was composed by Jean-Claude Elléna confirms that he's composing all those bony, gutless scents for Hermès not because he can't do otherwise, but rather because he wants to, or because the Hermès art directors demand it of him. At any rate, First makes it clear that Elléna is no less capable of building bold, lush, and substantial accords than is Bertrand Duchaufour (who does so more often) or even Dominique Ropion, whose style First closely approaches. First could easily have been part of the Estée Lauder line, right next to Beautiful, Pleasures, and Private Collection.

First grows subtly sweeter as it develops, with soft vanilla and a generous sweet amber accord deep in its foundation. Potency and sillage remain impressive for hours before First drifts off into its warm ambery drydown. A grand scent if you like this sort of thing.

it opens up with that characteristic aldehydic hair-spray kind of smell, it ruins it completely for me :) smells terribly synthetic...BUT....

in the drydwon it turns into lovely honeyed fruity floral bouquet, where i do recognize the seeds for Dia , Amouage.

Still i somehow like this one better, becasue it doesnt smell so clean, so fresh, jasmine is warming it up!...its very gentle, longlasting, and feminine scent!

Its very old school type of scent by complexity (reminds me a bit of Chamade too), suitable for the theater.

Like No. 5, Arpege, and Miss Dior, this is a perfume that one might show to an alien creature who wanted to know what an unspecified "perfume" in a novel or song might be referring to; First is an archetype of itself, a Platonic ideal of perfumeness and so aptly named.

First has serious presence but isn't quite loud. High volume beauties like Poison are hair metal frontwomen with deep but resonant alto voices while First is more of a mezzo-soprano torch singer with some darker honeyed notes--still very audible but with range, color, and (First's most interesting feature) separation to the notes while still forming a very solid wall-of-noise. Usually scents go for one or the other: well-blended or given to stages of development, but First has it both ways unto perfection. I am well-aware that I'm in the presence of an unpretentious masterpiece when wearing vintage First edp. The more recent edt is more chypre than floral and much less complex and interesting.

The aldehydes here are less soapy than those in Ivoire, Arpege, or No. 5 but still unremitting--a constant buzz buzz of an airy bee wavering over that raw honey base that bleeds through from the start. Some peach and other rich, ripe, but sugarless fruit bobs around the top and middle but fades fast. A heart of compellingly oldschool bright bouquets, powdery orris, then a stunning white floral melange is rich, earthy: a little waxy. The jasmine is pleasantly evil and taunting. Ylang-ylang and narcissus (daffodil) dominate overall (to my nose) and are almost softly cakey and vaguely gourmand when vanilla and tonka arrive, then the flower cake is buoyed and joined in a twinned-dominance by warm but not cuddly animalics.

I see many are surprised that perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena of super-understated Hermes fame composed this scent. Yet I can read his signature hyper-naturalness and quiet gloom here that suggests nature's indifference to human concerns. I get hints of Ellena's Angéliques Sous La Pluie even though it and First share no notes; their blending and development are similarly panoramic; olfactory landscape photography. It seems as if all of Ellena's later works are separations and distillations compared to First, which has enough to go around for three or four later Ellena-style perfumes.

In the drydown, a woodsy musk murkiness prompts visions of tree nymphs but without the mysticism or crunchiness usually associated with that term. These are the slightly deco Sleeping Beauty Briar Roses of artist Eyvind Earle (he did the backdrop and scenery paintings for the painstakingly-animated classic Disney movie).

Even in 1976, First must have been a conscious throwback to grand perfumes of old. The end of the 1970s was one of the first major retro-nostalgia mad post-modern times that was to precede the constant mania for vintage since, and First is almost a first of its kind in that way--a classic perfume that references all classic perfume before it (and maybe even since...).