29 Wednesday Aug 2018
Posted in Advertising and Scent
My husband and I recently went to see the new documentary McQueen. I’ve been an admirer of Alexander McQueen’s work for a long time—even before his death in 2010. In 2011 I was a frequent visitor to “Savage Beauty,” the retrospective exhibition of Alexander McQueen’s designs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and I’m still haunted by McQueen’s artistry and the magical way it was showcased there…
08 Wednesday Aug 2018
Posted in Advertising and Scent
It has recently come to my attention that today is International Cat Day (or, as I like to call it, “Wednesday”). In that spirit, I offer you five images of fabulously fragrant felines!
The first one is a circa-1890s trade card for E. W. Hoyt, based in Lowell, Massachusetts. This cat and her kittens are promoting Hoyt’s German Cologne, with a side-mention of Rubifoam tooth cleanser. Note the distracting presence of the canary in the upper right corner of the scene…
06 Monday Aug 2018
Posted in Advertising and Scent
In my looks at fragrance and advertising, I’d also like to mention a few perfume ads that take their inspiration from film as well as the more traditional visual arts.
Elizabeth Arden’s campaign for Fifth Avenue is contemporary as well as film-influenced. Fifth Avenue was released in 1996 and it’s still in production; the Arden website describes it as “a sparkling, sheer floral with subtle warmth and richness.”…
14 Thursday Dec 2017
Posted in Advertising and Scent
Are you doing any Christmas shopping this week? Have you trimmed the tree? We’re keeping things relatively simple this year, but I’m enjoying the preparations.
In the spirit of opened gifts and fulfilled wishes, here is a Christmas advertisement for Bourjois Evening in Paris, dated 1961. The “dreams come true” in this ad are assorted Evening in Paris gift sets. (I own a vintage bottle of Evening in Paris, mostly likely dating to the 1960s, and I love it…)
28 Tuesday Nov 2017
Posted in Advertising and Scent
Agent Provocateur has released a few good fragrances over the past decade or so, although its most recent release (Fatale) was very disappointing. I like the original Agent Provocateur scent, and Maitresse; I know that L’Agent also has some fans. I don’t think the collection is very heavily advertised in the United States, however, because I don’t remember seeing this advertisement when L’Agent was launched in 2011.
It’s a surprisingly stark and gloomy-looking ad for a women’s perfume. There’s a bit of cleavage, but nowhere near as much as we see in other perfume ads from L’Agent Provocateur (it’s a lingerie company, after all!)—and the chess board gives the image a cerebral twist…
01 Wednesday Nov 2017
Posted in Advertising and Scent
Tags
This one’s an easy one, right?—and it’s influenced by movies rather than fine art, strictly speaking, but I’m including it in this series nonetheless.
Aviance Night Musk (1983) was a flanker to the original Aviance (1975) by Prince Matchabelli, and its advertisements were just a bit racier than the earlier Aviance ads. Whereas the ads for Aviance showed couples heading out for a night on the town, Aviance Night Musk suggested something a little more illicit in their decision to stay in.
I love that sleek red pump; so early-80s…
30 Wednesday Aug 2017
Posted in Advertising and Scent
Tags
advertising, art of perfume ads, copycats, fragrance, jane fonda, jennifer aniston, selena gomez
I don’t usually say or think much about Jennifer Aniston, because she and her acting career and her romantic travails generally don’t interest me. However, when her début fragrance was released in 2010 and arrived in the United States a year later, she edged her way a bit further into my awareness…
16 Wednesday Aug 2017
Posted in Advertising and Scent, Art and Scent
In late 2014, I visited the Jewish Museum to see an exhibition on the life, career, and art collection of cosmetics mogul Helena Rubinstein. The show included materials related to the perfumes released by her brand, which was especially interesting for me. I was particularly curious about the ads for the fragrance Emotion, launched by Helena Rubinstein in 1960.
This ad, which dates to 1965, shows a stylish couple posed against a background of wavy black and white lines that resembles the patterning of a particularly mod zebra. The man is kissing the woman’s hand, or perhaps inhaling her perfume…
06 Thursday Jul 2017
Posted in Art and Scent
This is such a perfectly summery perfume advertisement that I had to post it. I don’t know anything about Princesse Isabelle, or about this fragrance, other than that it seems to be a romantic floral eau de toilette.
What I do know is that Princesse Isabelle selected a painting by Claude Monet for this ad…
