Pré d’Automne, launched by Guerlain in 1883, is a name that translates from French as “Autumn Meadow” — pronounced "pray doh-tom". Even in sound, the phrase flows softly, evoking a whisper of wind through dry grasses and the mellow sunlight of late September. The choice of name perfectly captures the emotional resonance of the season — that fleeting transition between summer’s warmth and winter’s chill, a time when nature exhales one last golden breath before its long sleep. To the women of the late 19th century, Pré d’Automne would have suggested something at once natural and refined — the beauty of the countryside distilled into elegance, a perfume that conjured a wistful calm rather than opulence.
The 1880s were a time of great cultural transformation in France, poised between the elegance of the Belle Époque and the scientific modernity shaping the coming century. Paris, still the undisputed capital of luxury, was flourishing under the influence of art, fashion, and innovation. The women who wore Guerlain were elegant yet independent, balancing traditional femininity with newfound freedom — cycling in their long skirts, visiting salons, and collecting the latest fashions from Worth or Doucet. In perfumery, this was the dawn of a revolution: natural essences were beginning to merge with new synthetic molecules, allowing perfumers to evoke impressions and emotions never before achievable with raw materials alone.
The name “Pré d’Automne” would have held special meaning in this context. At a time when city life was rapidly modernizing, the perfume offered an olfactory escape to the pastoral, a retreat into the quiet of nature. It evoked soft grasses warmed by the sun, fallen petals mingled with dried hay, and the gentle musk of earth after rain. For women accustomed to heavier floral or resinous perfumes, this composition would have felt fresh, serene, and intimately personal — a reflection of the new aesthetic emerging in the 1880s, where delicacy and naturalism were favored over grandeur.
Classified as a Floral Woody Musk with a powdery and faintly chypre nuance, Pré d’Automne rested on a structure both classical and forward-looking. The top notes of petitgrain and bergamot gave a brisk green and citrusy freshness, recalling the crisp air of early autumn. The heart of cassie, rose, and ionone formed the fragrance’s floral core — a soft bouquet of blossoms and golden pollen. Cassie, with its balsamic, honeyed quality, lent warmth and nostalgia, while ionone, one of the new synthetic discoveries of the era, contributed its unmistakable violet-powder note, linking floral sweetness to a woody base. The foundation of ambrette, coumarin, and musk grounded the perfume in warmth and sensuality — ambrette imparting a soft, skin-like musk, while coumarin (isolated from tonka beans only a few years earlier) added a sweet hay-and-almond richness that evoked autumn leaves and fields at dusk.
Within the context of its time, Pré d’Automne was both familiar and pioneering. “Meadow,” "prairie," or "field" perfumes had been a mainstay of 19th-century perfumery, appearing in nearly every formulary of the period, yet Guerlain’s interpretation elevated the theme through artistry and innovation. While others relied solely on natural tinctures of orris and tonka, Guerlain began weaving in modern synthetics, allowing the fragrance to feel airier, more diffusive, and enduring — qualities that would later define the modern perfume.
In scent and in sentiment, Pré d’Automne bridged two worlds: the romantic naturalism of the 19th century and the scientific sophistication of the 20th. It smelled not of an idealized bouquet, but of the living world — sunlight fading on meadow grasses, a breeze carrying traces of flowers and dry earth, and the quiet, wistful poetry of autumn captured in a bottle.
Fragrance Composition:
So what does it smell like? Pré d’Automne is classified as a floral woody musk fragrance — with a powdery and slightly chypre nuance due to the ionone–musk–coumarin base.
- Top notes: petitgrain, bergamot, rose geranium, acacia
- Middle notes: orange blossom, jasmine, cassie, rose, orris, ionone
- Base notes: ambrette, tonka bean, coumarin, musk
Scent Profile:
Pré d’Automne unfolds like the soft breath of an autumn wind across a sunlit meadow — a gentle mingling of green, floral, and powdery tones that drift between freshness and nostalgia. Its beauty lies not in dramatic contrasts, but in seamless transitions, as each note melts gracefully into the next. What Guerlain composed here is an olfactory landscape, painted in tender shades of gold and violet, echoing the hush of the season’s waning light.
The top notes open with the crisp brightness of petitgrain, extracted from the leaves and twigs of the bitter orange tree. The finest petitgrain comes from Paraguay, prized for its luminous clarity and balance between citrus zest and green woodiness. It releases a slightly bitter freshness — like crushed leaves rubbed between the fingers — its natural linalool and linalyl acetate lending both brightness and roundness. This is softened by bergamot, that sparkling gem from Calabria, whose oils are unlike any other in the world — more nuanced, floral, and less tart than common citrus. Bergamot contains linalyl acetate, limonene, and bergapten, a trio that gives it that airy yet sensual effervescence, linking the green sharpness of petitgrain to a sunny, golden warmth.
Threaded through this citrus canopy is rose geranium, rosy yet with a cool, minty edge, carrying hints of citronella and green stems. It bridges the citrus and floral realms perfectly, its geraniol and citronellol brightening the composition while evoking the freshness of a dew-laden meadow. Lastly, a whisper of acacia — honeyed, powdery, and faintly almond-like — softens the opening, hinting at the floral heart to come. Acacia absolute, often sourced from Morocco or Egypt, adds a creamy, warm pollen-like sweetness that tempers the green notes with a breath of tenderness.
As the fragrance warms, the heart notes unfold like late afternoon sunlight filtering through petals. The first to bloom is orange blossom, luminous and radiant, its essence from Neroli oil carrying the clean sparkle of the Mediterranean. Its principal molecule, linalool, gives a translucent brightness, while nerolidol and indole lend depth and a faint animalic undertone that brings the composition alive. Jasmine soon follows, rich and creamy, its source likely Grasse, where jasmine grandiflorum was cultivated for its opulent sweetness and balance between fruit and musk. Jasmine’s natural benzyl acetate and indole molecules weave a texture that feels at once pure and sensual — like warm skin kissed by sunlight.
Cassie, another flower of acacia origin (specifically Acacia farnesiana), introduces a balsamic warmth tinged with spice and leather. Cassie absolute, sourced from southern France and Egypt, is complex — containing methyl salicylate, anisic aldehyde, and ionones, which give it its characteristic mimosa-hay tone. Here, it softens the florals, grounding their sweetness with an ambered, almost suede-like quality. Rose blooms next, full and velvety, likely Bulgarian or French in character — the former prized for its honeyed, slightly lemony tone, the latter for its dry, green freshness. The rose’s citronellol, geraniol, and phenylethyl alcohol bring emotional warmth and an air of romance, the very soul of a Guerlain floral.
Supporting this opulent bouquet is orris, the powdered heart of the violet root, aged and dried for years before yielding its precious butter. The orris note imparts a soft, buttery texture and a violet-powder facet from its natural ionones and irones — molecules that lend both sweetness and a cool, woody floral tone. Guerlain amplifies this effect with synthetic ionone, one of the most important discoveries of 19th-century perfumery. Ionone captures the fragrance of violets — airy, nostalgic, and slightly melancholy — while enhancing the natural materials’ longevity. In Pré d’Automne, this use of ionone bridges natural orris and floral absolutes, creating the powdery “chypre-like” haze that defines the perfume’s heart.
As the fragrance deepens into its base notes, a sensual warmth takes over. Ambrette seed, often called the musk of the plant world, exudes a soft, skin-like warmth with fruity nuances of pear and wine. It comes from the seeds of Abelmoschus moschatus grown in India, and its main compound, ambrettolide, lends a subtle animalic smoothness without heaviness. Tonka bean joins in with its comforting almond-sweet aroma — the smell of sun-warmed hay mixed with vanilla and tobacco. The tonka bean, sourced from Venezuela or Brazil, is rich in coumarin, a molecule that became iconic in perfumery for its ability to add depth, sweetness, and an addictive warmth. Guerlain cleverly reinforces this with added coumarin, a synthetic counterpart that enhances the tonka’s natural tone and gives the fragrance its slightly chypre-powder finish.
Finally, musk completes the perfume’s trail — not the animalic kind of old but a soft, embracing musk that feels like the memory of warmth on skin. Together, ionone, musk, and coumarin form the fragrance’s unmistakable signature — a silky, powdery base that lingers like sunlight on linen. This triad not only extends the perfume’s longevity but transforms its natural ingredients into an impressionistic whole, where floral, woody, and musky nuances dissolve into one another.
In sum, Pré d’Automne smells like the turning of a season — the mingling of freshness and decay, of blossoms giving way to dry grass. Its composition captures the poetic calm of late autumn: the rustle of leaves, the sweetness of distant flowers, and the faint hum of earth before winter’s rest. Through its blend of nature and early synthetic artistry, Guerlain distilled not merely the scent of a meadow, but the emotion of standing within it — serene, nostalgic, and beautifully transient.
Fate of the Fragrance:
Discontinued, date unknown. Still being sold in 1900.
