This is one of those "kitchen sink" perfumes. Of the top notes, I am reminded of a powdered sugar accord. I smell fruit and orange blossom. I state "powdered sugar", as the fruit isn't overly fruity-sweet per se. It's more refined. Very soon after the top notes, the heart notes become evident. Of these, I can detect gardenia, tuberose, rose, carnation, heliotrope, jasmine, and orchid. Not individually - but as a bouquet. The floral notes are quite divine, in my opinion. They "fill the room" as it were. With Rumba, I am reminded of another old favorite, Demi-Jour by Houbigant. That too, was a glorious floral fragrance. Michael Edwards classifies Rumba as a crisp fruity dry woods (leather) fragrance, but I smell a creamy, lactonic, peachy floral chypre with stylistic affinities to Calyx, Yvresse, and the current incarnation of Baghari. Rumba opens on a high-impact candied bergamot top note, which in fact persists well into the development. Smooth peach lactone and bouquet of sweet white flowers, among which I detect ylang-ylang, jasmine, and a dab of tuberose, soon join the lingering citrus. A hint of coconut in the fruity floral accord lends the composition an understated tropical exoticism. The plush drydown of sweet amber, vanilla, and musk is naggingly familiar, and it's only after much head-scratching that it comes to me: in both style and olfactory texture, Rumba resembles Kenzo's Ça Sent Beau, released in very same year. Coincidence? Zeitgeist? Either way, the two scents' pyramids have plenty in common: bergamot, orange blossom, tuberose, plum, peach, oakmoss, amber, and musk. While the two converge most obviously in their juxtaposition of fruit and powdery clean musk, a conspicuous patchouli base note leaves Rumba feeling darker, heavier, and somehow more conventional than the relatively buoyant Kenzo.

Rumba By Ted Lapidus For Women, Eau De Toilette Spray, 3.33 Rumba By Ted Lapidus For Women, Eau De Toilette Spray, 3.33

Fortunately for him, because Rumba was a joint enterprise - and he was the junior partner - he can just shrug and say It wasn’t my fault guv, honest... ! For Ellena, this was the apex of his career as symphonic composer. As the 80’s came to an end, and the Berlin Wall came down, Capitalism no longer needed to flaunt it’s opulence in the face of our Commi-Bloc neighbours; the fight had been won and the whole Big Hair - Big ‘fume - Big Shoulders thing was now surplus to requirements. This is a woman who has perfect make - up. Her eyes are deep, soulful, and so beautiful that you just can't look away from her gaze. Her hair is cropped short or is always up and her wardrobe consists of mostly grays and cashmere. She speaks softly and rules with an icy detachment. Unfathomably sexy and independent. Vintage Rumba is precisely one of those eighties beasts, which developes and evolves under the consept floral leather. All class and sophistication. Having served its purpose, the Loads-a-Money jibe - and the stonking fashion that went with it - was thought to be overstated and embarrassing. And sure enough, this kind of florid schmaltz was soon replaced by Eau de Watery Scent and Save the Whale T-shirt. (Ellena’s contribution to that being Eau parfumée au thé vert.)

It’s hard to imagine Jean-Claude Ellena as a rookie. But we all start somewhere, and in his early days he was - from time to time - paired with more established names. In this case it was Ron Winnegrad who shares the credit, and together they created a strapping oriental.