Description
Jules is game, smile, fantasy, charm. Jules is gentle, yet strong, determined. Jules is always free, always on the run, but manages to do it all. Jules on the vacation: you can see him everywhere. Jules at work: he isn’t obsessed with the boss image. Jules at night: the whole night belongs to him. Jules early in the morning: he dresses up, lights a cigarette and happily takes off, masculine and careless. These are the characteristics of Christian Dior’s fragrance. Before it appeared in 1980, Dior started a commercial campaign to prepare men for the new fragrance, provocatively named Jules. Jules is a name, yet at the same time it represents “the man, the seducer” – that’s what they called pimps back in the 19th century. The commercial campaign (the posters were made by the famous Rene Gruau) caused so much interest that, when it finally came out, it got sold out at the spot. The perfume is very masculine but elegant, with non-glaring but noticeable amber and notes of leather, flowers and aromatic herbs. It opens with Artemisia, lavender, cumin and bergamot. The heart is filled with jasmine, cyclamen, cedar, basil, rose and sandalwood. The base is composed of leather, Tonka bean, oakmoss, amber, suede and musk. The bottle is now different: transparent, elegant with a black stopper. The nose behind this fragrance is Jean Martel.
verywell – :
Dior is not a house that I like, but because of this scent, I respect Dior.
What a quality, what a power, perfectly rounded, niche quality (I’m talking about vintage one).
It not like other powerhouses from that era agressive and hard to sear, it’s pretty animallic, but with lot of green notes and a bit of leather which calm impression.
Great performances.
Worth having it…
Brukcc – :
I may weep writing this. I sold all my Jules and I’ve never made a bigger mistake. I wore it so rarely, I could never find the occasion for something so precious. Then no sooner had I sold my bottles – save for a couple of atomisers I filled – than the first time I wore it in months, the girl of my dreams, stopped dead in her tracks upon greeting me and said, “Wow!!! you smell greeeat!!”. Now she tells me…
Why? Because despite the nay-sayers and doubters, this is one of the few truly unique scents ever made. Look at all those reviews yet no-one can think of anything it smells like except its modern copy. There’s nothing else like it. If only there were. It’s so green and dirty and damn sassy… and complex and challenging and questioning.
And something more – it’s one of only a tiny handful of fragrances that can make the wearer feel truly, truly special. For me 80s or early 90s Kouros has that. For you it may be M7 – we all have one or two. And Jules has that. That incredible other-worldly magic, when you know you’re wearing a masterpiece, something nobody else is wearing – but everyone wishes they were.
I was feeling poor, feeling I needed to clear the cupboard… like a girlfriend you never get over, I feel I’ll miss it forever. (Until I win the lottery anyway… )
ZU_Lus – :
Seriously? Why do these hard to find discontinued fragrances get “Over the top” reviews from people that own it. Are they trying to justify their purchase? Come on now, let’s be real…
Jules is a nice green fragrance, reminds me of Drakkar noir (leather and green notes) mixed with some masculine floral notes (Givenchy Insense). But it’s not God-like as you might believe reading these reviews. It’s a very well done composition, but nowhere near the $2oo to $400 price tag seen on ebay. Save your money and buy 2 or 3 more modern fragrances. Don’t get me wrong, I love and even prefer classics. But I’m not going to pay someone’s car payment this month for an old, possibly spoiled fragrance.
Justas – :
Tested from recent vintage find.
This is a wonderful scent. Oakmoss, pine, Artemisia made smooth by leather – these are the discernible notes for me. It has elements of Yatagan, Drakkar Noir – a wonderful, powerful, old-school scent, but at the same time incredibly complex with a whole array of other notes (some floral) coming and going, swirling around under the obvious ones. It’s hard to compare with other fragrances of a similar “type” because it’s so deep and sophisticated, without losing any of its old school “rawness”.
It took my straight back in time to the 80s. A top-class, unique fragrance though that would stand up to any modern fragrance around today. It’s encouraging to read from others that the modern version is similar to the vintage.
Excellent silage and longevity (several hours – even longer when sprayed on clothes). This is one I can’t imagine being without.
October 2016
paffainge – :
Stunning green,green start. As has been said before a dreamlike, smooth, seamless transition to the Leather. This,is Masculine Leather of yesteryear, reminiscent of the Bel Ami Vintage and the like. None of the contemporary saccharine muck or the brashness of burnt whatever, or lipstick nonsense.
Extraordinary in that it doesn’t soften or fade on my skin. It maintains the note and and again seamlessly moves away.
A Masculine “I want to smell like that”
kirillv-2000 – :
PERFECTION! This is by far the best blind purchase ever. As a collector I needed to own this, but boy its getting straight to my top 3! I was surprise to find it in a Paris fragrance shop and then I checked on Dior’s website and its available there also! Dior is the best designer house, who appreciate their older, vintage creations and don’t let them just disappear. Spicy, green, stylish, not pushy but manly…..oh I love Jules…now & forever.
Menoc787bedyWelty – :
Certain scents get quite a reputation among collectors, especially if they’ve been discontinued or are difficult to find. Jules is one of those that I’ve read a dozen or so reviews about, praising its strength, unique character, tenacity, slightly dirty vibe, etc etc etc. Older bottles sell for absurd amounts and even the new bottles have an inflated price, perhaps because it’s nearly impossible to find in the US (according to a Dior rep I spoke to at Neiman Marcus in SF, Dior actually recalled their stock and sent it all back to Paris).
My thoughts smelling Jules for the first time? “Ok…so, it’s a sage-y aromatic fougere. What’s the big deal?” But I kept wearing it, and it started to grow on me. Jules made me realize just how much sameness there is in fragrance. A sage-y aromatic fougere IS a big deal because there aren’t any others quite like it. 99% of that category smells of the same soapy-clean lavender/coumarin combo perfumers have been concocting since Houbigant released Fougere Royale in 1889. Jules, on the other hand…there’s definitely something kind of dirty about it. It’s not B.O. de toilette or anything dramatic like that, but it’s a nice reminder that people don’t always smell like soap, and that can even be quite sexy.
miri – :
Alpha masculinity in a bottle. Enough said.
Meqzt769Diobtetty – :
Out of interest, does anyone think a 100ml Jules unsprayed 1985 full tester bottle of EDT in the dark brown glass, would be of interest on the market now? This also has the older CD address on it too, so original 1980’s formulation…
ziabul – :
Pure class in a bottle !!! At least i managed to find something animalistic dirty loud and elegant all at once even in 2015 !! So glad i found this. Same family as its noisy partners yatagan or kouros but pushing the civet to the limit
Will lasts a good day at work. Projection is quite high the first couple of hours
Dior at its best !
videoxchat – :
I have the vintage bottle(dark brown glass)and recently
i bought the new version in the “Higher” bottle.
My opinion is that the two fragrances are exactly the same with no differences.So,i am wondering why some people say that the new version of Jules is a different fragrance in relation with the vintage.
Perfect aroma,unique,dirty and very very mature…
ilyachka – :
It’s been over three months since I last put some dabs off my 9-ml vintage bottle on my wrist; I did 30 minutes ago, and I can feel a harmonious blend of tobacco, civet, lavender, leather, flowers, cedar, and other wonderful ingredients – it seems there is some kind of liquor hint (or, am I crazy?) on account of a tonka bean and wood combo -. The civet is loudly present during the first 5 hours after application, and the soapy vibe tells you of three decades of a thoroughly crafted fragrance (unlike today’s fragrances that are mass-produced synthetic mainstream fragrant liquids), which makes it, doubtlessly, a niche quality product and a unique piece of artwork that was given birth to in 1980.
Dior Jules is an ode to sophistication, lavishness, class, and masculinity, which can only be found at utterly steep prices. This is another potion that would be great to see on all shelves worldwide.
poppersi – :
I found a rare, dark amber bottle of this lost treasure for a hefty price. Its worth every cent as this classic is now lost to perfume history. Serious collectors should get a bottle before its gone forever.
I had never heard of this until Fragrantica. Dior was never really popular in the USA until Poison. Fahrenheit would later become common. Why was Jules so obscure? It has everything going for it. Green herbs-amped up oakmoss, sigh, nice artemesia, playful flowers-perfect lavender, carnation, jasmine and rose, dry sandalwood and musky leather. He projects loudly and is such a flirt. Is there a hint of civet?
Unlike the commercial rush of the 1980s, Jules was never pushed hard. Hence, he speaks no English and had one of the best ad posters ever. Perhaps he takes this fougere thing too far? What exactly is the fougere?Jules is one of the definitive ones. Right next to Jean Martle’s other master work-Paco Rabanne PH.
Celebrity=Richard Gere 1980
kasper81 – :
A very potent and archetypal macho scent from the 1980s. I dabbled with it a number of times, and it was one of those rare scents that some days I thought I liked, but then on others, I really didn’t. Looking back, I think it was one of those scents that could smell better on others than on me.
Remember the Richard Gere film American Gigolo? Or Warren Beatty in Shampoo? You could imagine both of their characters wearing this. The right period too.
Pook – :
Ooh ooh love, love, love, love, love. Grassy and earthy-spicy (the basil, caraway, with some pines hanging around) with a just enough leather to make it exciting. I put it on – and it was Springtime in Dreary-Ass Chicago January. I smelled the soapy note very briefly but it wasn’t strong or lasted long.
I’m not getting the Kourous/Yatagan vibe at all. I’ve worn both and dearly love both but this doesn’t have the animalic feel to me. Feels “clean” but not that current “clean” scent that’s supposed to make me feel like I’m at a chemical version of the ocean. It’s clean in a just sitting in the grass with sunshine clean
Aleksandr562 – :
A dry, bitter, smoky powerhouse in the old tradition. Like Aramis but without the sweetness; in fact, this is built around a complete lack of sweetness only seen in things like Yatagan. I could have sworn it was repugnant the last time I tried my sample, but I’m not finding the overbearing herbal sweetness or sharpness that I usually expect from this bunch. It’s also not terribly strong. This time around, it reminds me of the much older dry leather barbershop scents (i.e. the Trumper Collection…Astor, Marlborough, Curzon, Eucris). I could actually wear this, in spite of how I had erroneously rememebered it. If it’s as expensive and hard to find as I think it is, you might as well just get the Trumper’s Collection boxed set, but I am still pleased that another line besides Trumper’s has produced this type of scent so recently.
zbo312Negeltzex – :
I completely agree with Mark Antony.
I own two miniatures of this beauty (which is impossible to get here in South America), and I really like it; it’s nothing like nowadays fragrances, and I love and have owned many of them.
I’m looking forward to Jules being re-released worldwide… Christian Dior Perfumes, what are you waiting for?!
relizer16 – :
My father has kept a bottle, so I had a chance to smell this one (lucky I guess).A great masculine frag. high quality and special character. After the placing on the market of many bad fragrances during the last year, (in my opinion the companies in most cases recycle the the same ideas) Dior will make a clever move if the reintroduction in the market of the frag become worldwide.
a-sergei-1994 – :
What does “vintage” mean in perfumery? It doesn’t have the same meaning as wine, where the noun ‘vintage’ refers to a specific year. We use ‘vintage’ as an adjective to connote quality and a timeframe. The time implied is somewhere in the past. Anywhere in the past, as long as it isn’t still current. The intimation, aside from connoisseurship, is that the better/best version of a perfume is no longer made. The current model is defective.
One force that presses the issue is the restriction of materials and the dreaded reformulation. The chypre genre has become vintage by extinction due to the limited use of oakmoss. That is, pre-reformulation chypres become vintage the day after reformulation. Coumarin, the sine qua non of the fougère, is restricted as well. The chypre was bled to death over time. Has the same happened to the fougère?
So here’s the question: Does Jules still exist? Vintage Jules took advantage of everything the aromatic fougère offered. It was gregarious and handsome. It hit the balance point between cleanliness and funk that made you want to throw your arms around your fellow humans and smell them. It had the soap/musk mash-up typical of the genre, but added a bouquet garni and a smile. Vintage Jules reminds me why I grew up loving the smell of Paco Rabanne pour Homme and easily fell in with Yves Saint Laurent Kouros as a young when it was released. The aromatic fougère reaches out for you. It reminds you why the term inspiration carries multiple meanings. It is optimistic by nature.
The current iteration suffers from everything we kvetch about with reformulation: thinner, pale, less long-lasting. There are plenty of well-maneuvered reformulations, but when a particularly strapping version of a titanic genre is made small, I have to question whether it’s better simply left to die.
den9 – :
Complex..Love..True Dior!
If you love green,this is it.
Very scensual.
The true essence of Dior,after Eau Sauvage.
illeflyoraple – :
I used to love this scent. From what I remember it is a classic fougere but so much more. I am a lavender junky and the quality of the lavender used with this fragrance was exceptional. Definitely a power house fragrance that you could wear on your inner wrist that would last all day long which is so rare these days. Never over powering but very well blended with allot of individual notes implimented. Would buy this again as long as they don’t reformulate the juice, which is what they would probably do unfortunately
жучара – :
I was curios to check this out due to increasing number of votes which say its similar to Kouros, fortunately I found it at a friends home his father used to wear this in some ancient times.
To my untrained nose it has nothing at all to resemble with Kouros. It has a very dated leather / lavender vibe which is similar to some Chinese massage oil.
I definitely cant stand this.
andrei33 – :
I wish this juice were much more famous worldwide!
I currently own two miniatures of vintage Jules -both bought via ebay-, and I’ve found it really lovely and pleasant; I think it can be used by men over 30 years old, like me.
Message for Christian Dior Perfumes:
Re-release this fragrance worldwide, PLEASE!!!
UPDATE: Although I love the juice, it doesn’t last on my skin that very much; it’s a matter of skin pH, I guess.
Vytiokasss – :
I just received my Jules flacon…WHAT AN AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL FRAGRANCE!!!
To me, it is like a classier, softer, and less spicy version of Halston Z-14 mixed with YSL Kouros. There’s a great deal of lavender in it, yet it feels soft and pleasant, and the animalic note begins to stand out after some minutes. Unlike what many people say, this fragrance is not so overbearing; could it be that I haven’t put on enough in order to unleash the beast?
In summary, I DO like it…It was worth the wait! 🙂
Greetinx.
UPDATE: This fragrance has really grown on me…I’ll get more ASAP!!! 😉
Rantteeta – :
Vintage only: ultra spicy woods combo, thick sillage and duration, from the golden age of powerhouses this was King!
tchudniy.oleg – :
I’ve just bought it blind; it’ll be in my hands in 3 weeks, hopefully. I’m really looking forward to knowing what Dior Jules smells like! 🙂
na_techike – :
I have an original amber glass bottle from 1994 & it still smells
very good. Was discontinued from Australian stockists about this time.
sergeykoshkinW – :
In the 80s I was looking for a new fragrance when I stumbled upon this one. The saleswoman told me that it was for “Men who set trends rather than follow them”. I jokingly told her that I hadn’t really set any trends.
With that she took the tester from my hands, said “Then this isn’t for you”, turned on her heels and walked away!
Alexice – :
A strong but seriously elegant scent,by todays standard it is nothing special,it truly a men’s fragarance with all the accords associated with it,herbal,woodsy and leather, the drydown is great if you are patient enough to appreciate this type edt,it raw edgy and carefree in an old school sort of way,this is for acquired taste a very 80’s type of scent.
mariianastya – :
My fragrance for a couple of wild years.
A success story.
Very seductive scent and it goes almost for any season and every occassion. However, I got a little bored with it, although the girls did not.
The main critique is that it lacks a bit of personal character like Anteaus or Kouros so as to characterizë it a signature fragrance.
But if you just want a very good smelling perfume with lots of attraction potential and no fuzz you shouldn´t hesitate a second. It delivers. Believe me.
magidin – :
Cool raw badboyish dirty perfecto 80’s proto-“outsiders” lady’s man lover scent.
Vampiryonok – :
Review for the vintage juice…
If you like humongous animalic fougeres a-là Kouros or challenging herbal-woody concoctions in the same vein as Yatagan, Jules is a mandatory test! Old-school spicy-green masculine with the typical dirty/clean aspect of the aforementioned fragrances. Less animalic than Kouros and, overall, less distinctive than Yatagan yet an unbelievably unsung beauty.
Not much to add. For fragrance aficionados only.
Rating: 8-8.5/10
2973292 – :
The problem with Jules is that the top notes include too much lavender. After about an hour, the smell becomes anonymous.
Buy the way – it is impossible to compare this scent with Kouros YSL. They are totally different.
Shortly: I don’t like “Jules” at all….
xa0tic – :
Seems a lot like Quorum, except that a major animalic note has been added, and perhaps one or two of Quorum’s dominant notes have been subdued a bit. In fact, think 20% Kouros and 70% Quorum (10% unique), and you probably have an excellent idea about what Jules smells like. I suggest getting some vintage Quorum, which is still easy to find on ebay at great prices (look for the bottles that don’t say Antonio Puig towards the bottom of the front of the bottle; it should only say Puig). I don’t see any reason to pay big money for this one, considering the options now available. Jules is a bit more true animalic whereas Quorum is more earthy animalic (having a kind of “fresh” quality that Jules doesn’t seem to possess), if that makes sense.
UPDATE: After several hours, Jules went in a different direction than Quorum, though I could still detect the notes they have in common. Quorum is woodier and more herbal/fresh, whereas Jules was more animalic/spicy. I think Jules’ drydown is very similar to Programme Homme, Carrington Cologne, or vintage Santos, but I can’t remember which one! Jules is the smoothest of the bunch, at least after the first 10-20 minutes. As to prices, I’d rather wear this than Patou Pour Homme, at least most of the time I’m in the mood, though vintage Furyo is making its way up my list of favorite vintage scents.
Nastya_kiss – :
I still have one of the small sample bottles, but there are only a few drops left in it and how I wish it was still full!…I love this fragrance.
Being a woman who will occasionally use a male fragrance (if I like it) I was given this sample bottle about 15 years ago and was surprised how many women asked me what I was wearing, as they loved the warm, spicy scent – maybe it was just the way if reacted with my skin, but everyone said it reminded them of Christmas – scents of spices and sultry orange, with the fragrance getting more mellow over time. If only Dior would reissue it!
Deman – :
A strong men’s fragrance composed with woody green notes and spicy pepper accents.
به نقل از سایت دیور
destroy – :
On some days “Jules” is an über interesting, dark and complex beast. … BUT then on others it’s rather more like a dark furry “pissed-on” soaked beast. (~ It morphs and bites !)
~ But it’s well worth the wait for it’s more elegant “dénouement” !
садик37 – :
I remember smelling a tester ages ago – it was a really great smell -leather and spice. Wish I could get some
loki89998 – :
This has been one of my all time favourites and I wish that Parfums Christian Dior would reissue it again.
It’s typically early 80’s, intense, masculine and musky; when men smelled like men should!
I love the artemesia, musk, jasmine, sandalwood and rose (most of my favourites have these notes).
I also love the packaging and style of the perfume; so Dior!
Alissinynok – :
Whooops: Helps to sign in.Now I have to repeat myself, sorry. Jules goes onto my skin as musty leather and soap. Spice notes creep in nicely, but then fade away again to leave musty leather and soap. Later, a mint note arrives and fades with the same strange vanishing act. It’s not bad, smelling rather like a clean man in a leather jacket, but it’s not particularly spectacular either, with my chemistry. I didn’t get dirty edges or animalistic notes like CommonScent reports, just that musty leather that reminds me powerfully of English Leather only soapier. Hmmm
yarik68 – :
Awesome animalic scent. Masculine extravaganza with edgy / dirty nuances throughout the accords. Huge scent. Big thumbs up.