As we drift closer to Fall (day by day, degree by degree…), let’s pause to admire this bottle of Poupre d’Automne from Parfum de Violet. The fragrance was launched in 1923. The stoppered bottle was designed by Lucien Gaillard, a legendary French jewelry who worked in the Art Nouveau style…

Here’s a 1924 L’Illustration advertisement for Pourpre d’Automne, with a background echoing the motifs of the bottle design.

The house of Violet was founded in 1827. It seems to have been keeping up with scent and design trends of the 1920s and even exhibited Poupre d’Automne at the famous 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts décoratifs et industriels modernes.

Closer to home, here’s an ad from a Brooklyn newspaper dated November 12, 1924. I like the phonetic spelling-out of “Violet” and the illustration of several Violet bottles. Don’t be fooled by the price — six dollars plus change might not look like much in 2019, but in its time (adjusting for inflation), it was closer to $100. Poupre d’Automne was a luxury item. And this brand was exporting its perfumes promptly!

(The Violet brand was revived in 2017 and its reincarnation offers a fragrance by the same name, inspired by the 1923 original. I’ll have to try it sometime!)

Wishing you a colorful and fanciful Fall.