I have not been to the ballet in a long time—maybe over ten years?—but I enjoy it. I mean, I’m very much a casual fan. I couldn’t tell you a favorite ballerina. But ballet is great and if I ever live in a place where I can “go to the ballet” again I will do so instead of telling myself I can’t afford it.1 My affection for ballet and my affection for perfume have some overlap; both ballet and perfume are art without language, both involve great effort to create something that only lives a moment, and both are ultra feminine in ways that are both “classically beautiful” and “vaguely frightening.”
As far as scent goes, ballet has three aspects which I think a perfume can set out to capture. One is the elegant, pink-toe-shoe-and-white-stocking iconography that most says ballet to other people; this is also the aesthetic people refer(red) to as “balletcore.” It is deliberately girlish but it’s not immature. The fabrics you think of here are soft (workout tights) or smooth (shiny toe shoes). The second is complexly feminine and adult. In addition to the soft and smooth, the scent wants us to think of a performing ballerina, so there is also the stiff and the rough (tulle). Perfumes trying to capture this aspect may want to gesture toward the physical space in which ballet happens as well as the image of the dancer herself. “Balletcore” is cozy. “Ballet” is big.
The third is blood and sweat. I have yet to run across a blood and sweat ballet perfume but feel confident some indie brand somewhere has made at least one.
This is not a review of every ballet scent in the world. Some perfumes not represented here include ELDO’s “The Afternoon of a Faun,” Gritti’s “Tutù” and “Tutù Blanc,” Simimi’s “Esprit De Candela,” and Moresque’s “Ballerina.” I’m sure there are more beyond these.… In any case, not comprehensive. Also, in a stroke of brilliance, I didn’t bring any of these with me to Oregon, so if you’re like you’re totally wrong I’ll get back to you in um… a month… I guess.
The number one “balletcore” perfume brand is Odette (named for its owner/perfumer, Odette Fontaine). It’s not a contest. It’s Odette. And “Pas de Chat” from Odette was sort of the perfume that launched my writing up how things smell on here, because I couldn’t figure out how to describe how it smelled. I still in fact am not sure how to describe how it smells. It has a cozy, warm, sort of creamy–nutty scent to me. It is sweet but not in a foodie way. It smells like wearing an old cashmere sweater over an old silk nightgown. Is this helpful? No.