Thank you to Karen for pointing out this great article in today's New York Times Sunday Magazine. The author describes attending a party at Versailles to celebrate the new biography of Marie Antoinette's perfumer, Jean-Louis Fargeon. Each of the party guests received a bottle of Sillage de la Reine, one of Marie Antoinette's perfumes that was recreated by Francis Kurkdjian from a formula found in the French national archives. Why wasn't I invited?
You can see a detailed list of the notes used in Sillage de la Reine in my post from February 25. The NYT article also mentions one other replica of a historical perfume: the Caterina de Medici fragrance made by i Profumi di Firenze.
Thank you for posting about the article, R. I am printing it out right now.
I read Antonia Fraser's excellent biography of MA over the summer. However, the one thing that was missing was a discussion of the queen's perfume choices. Happily, this article will fill that *gaping* omission! :):)
R, I should read that biography. Is it good? I am really looking forward to S. Coppola's upcoming film though. Marianne Faithful is going to play Empress Maria Theresa, but that is all I know about the casting so far — except it seems to me I read who was going to play MA and it was an odd choice.
Just remembered: Kirsten Dunst!
Yes, I read that it was going to be Kirsten, too! I think she may do an admirable job.
The book was excellent, though a bit long! I could tell that Ms. Fraser really enjoyed the subject matter and researched extensively before putting pen to paper. That's why I was a bit surprised that she did not talk about MA's love of perfume, because she discussed her fashion choices and dress throughout the book.