06 Monday Jan 2020
Posted in Advertising and Scent, Art and Scent
Bourjois is remembered today primarily as the brand behind affordable but high-quality fragrances like best-selling Evening in Paris (Soir de Paris), launched in 1928. Another pre-war release was Mais Oui (launched in 1938, no longer in production). Mais Oui’s bottle featured a flirtatious fan-shaped cap and a twist of two-sided, pink-and-blue ribbon.
01 Wednesday Jan 2020
Posted in Advertising and Scent
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Happy New Year!!
For the first day of 2020, here’s an advertisement for Caron’s Bain de Champagne, published in International Studio in 1926…
24 Tuesday Dec 2019
Posted in Advertising and Scent, Uncategorized
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Wishing you a festive and fragrant Christmas…no matter what your style (Charlie, Scoundrel, or Jontue)!
18 Monday Nov 2019
Posted in Advertising and Scent, Art and Scent
“Freetrapper is our most modern masculine scent, but its origins are early America.”
Freetrapper is a fragrance from the NYC-based niche perfume house of D.S. & Durga, whose website goes on to explain,
“Beaver trappers were the cowboys of early America. Renegade mountaineers of the Jacksonian era who cut trails through the wild in search of beaver pelts — prized by hatters, doctors, and perfumers. Dark cedar, snake root, synthetic beaver castor, and wild bergamot.”
So far, so good. Frontiers…settlement…hunting…goods and trade. Earthy, animalic smells. I get it.
But there’s more to read, plus this ad that’s been appearing in my social media feeds lately:
14 Monday Oct 2019
Posted in Advertising and Scent
This advertisement for Écusson by Jean d’Albret (1947, now discontinued) set off an art historical spark in my memory.
The unknown artist who worked on this ad for Écusson (which translates as “shield”) was obviously inspired by Hans Holbein the Younger’s portrait of Jane Seymour, third wife of Henry the Eighth…
27 Friday Sep 2019
Posted in Advertising and Scent, Perfume Bottles
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…
09 Monday Sep 2019
Posted in Advertising and Scent
Every fall season should include days like this, with companionable strolls down leaf-strewn paths under brilliant foliage and clear skies.
This advertisement for Prince Matchabelli Golden Autumn was published in 1964. I wish I could get closer to see the details of the couple’s outfits — sweaters? tweeds? — but even without sharper resolution, the mood is clearly conveyed…
04 Thursday Jul 2019
Posted in Advertising and Scent
Spacious skies, amber waves of grain, the open road…this print advertisement for Perry Ellis America (1996, now discontinued) has everything.
“It’s Big. Really Big.”
I’ve never tried either of these his-and-hers fragrances in their eagle-embossed bottles. I doubt that either of them would have thrilled me as a perfume when they were still available. However, looking back, I can’t help but admire their Clinton-era optimism. So much has changed since the mid-90s.
Wishing you a happy Independence Day, however you’re celebrating it.
21 Friday Jun 2019
Posted in Advertising and Scent
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Here’s a 1994 advertisement for Ô de Lancome to mark the summer solstice. It’s time to break out those citrusy Eau de Cologne or “eau fraîche” splashes!
(The echo of “Suddenly, Last Summer” in the copy throws me off a bit…but I’m sure Lancôme’s creative team wasn’t counting on us to know much about the plot of Tennessee Williams’s play.)
