Last week at the invitation of my perfume-loving friend, Diana, I assisted at a presentation on perfume and gender for the Gender Studies Symposium at Lewis & Clark College. The presentation was in a long, stuffy room which soon filled with students. Most wore jeans and hoodies. One sat cross-legged and knitted.
Once the room quieted, I asked how many of the students wore fragrance. A few hands crept up. "What do you wear?" I asked. The students hesitated, but one of the men volunteered he liked the Burberry scents. Another man admitted to Axe. A professor said she'd been wearing China Rain perfume oil for years.
A little later in the presentation, we handed out cards spritzed with fragrance for the students to guess, without knowing the name of the scent, whether the fragrance was marketed to men or women. I wasn't surprised so much at their guesses — they were right about half the time — but at how much they loathed the classics. Christian Dior Miss Dior got a definite thumbs down, and Lanvin Arpège elicted gagging noises. All of the students had heard of Chanel No. 5, but none could describe how it smelled. On the other hand, CB I Hate Perfume Black March and L'Artisan Parfumeur Tea for Two intrigued some of the students, maybe because they recognized the concepts behind them.
Wow, I realized, I am really, really out of the mainstream in regards to perfume. It seemed high time for a reality check. I started asking friends and even strangers if they wore perfume, and if so, what it was.
One friend, the enviably chic Joanne, is a Guerlain Jicky fan — Eau de Toilette, not Parfum, she says emphatically. A woman at work likes Boucheron, but is looking for another scent to wear, "something with patchouli. I really like patchouli". Speaking of patchouli, a male friend who moonlights as the entertainer Miss Mylar is a big fan of Bond No. 9 H.O.T. Always. A stranger I talked to, a woman shopping for shoes, loves her Givenchy Amarige. (As she pulled on a boot, she said, "Do you think companies make perfume that women like, or that men like?")
But most of the people seemed surprised I cared about perfume at all. One woman's response was typical: she said she had a nice perfume, one she really liked, something French, but she couldn't remember its name. She said she'd have to go home and look at the bottle.
I know I like perfume more than most people. But I'd lost touch with how small a role, if any, perfume plays in most people's lives. Often I'm surprised at the popularity of certain things — the word "utilize", crocs, and thirsty-two ouncers of soda are a few examples — and it's good to be brought back to reality once in a while.
At the end of the perfume and gender and fragrance presentation, most of the students beat a path to the exit, but a few hung back. One pretty, quiet-voiced woman poised her pen over her notebook and asked which perfume lines were best. She wore Ralph Lauren Romance, but would like to try some other fragrances. And what was that perfume I mentioned — Une Rose? by Frédéric someone? Another woman held up one of the strips sprayed with fragrance. Her pen was also ready. "What was this one?" she asked my co-presenter as she sniffed the strip again. "Angela?" Diana asked. "Which one was 21?"
"Miss Dior," I said.
Note: both images via Images de Parfums.
Wow… Sobering to say the least. Boy do I feel like a member of a tiny minority….
But proud, I hope!
Ack! Gender studies! Funny how you don’t hear some words and phrases ever again after you graduate from college. I graduated in ’94 and it sounds like things are still the same. I was an art history/classics student and even though I was kind of a “fringe” person, everyone assumed I was a sorority girl because I was blonde, wore (a little) makeup and perfume. (Dying my hair black helped curb some of that! lol)
I wonder what some of these girls would have said if it was an individual rather than group experience. And if they were allowed to smell the fragrance strips more than once. Everyone seems to think they’re above peer pressure when they get to college but if the young lady that like Miss Dior had piped up, I’m sure she would have gotten a few weird looks from the girls who disagreed.
Incidentally, my best friends in college wore fragrance – Paloma PIcasso, Chanel No. 19 and Tartine et Chocolat, to name a few. The one who wore No. 19 used to catch hell from her Women’s studies friends for wearing anything but organic patchouli. I think she was relieved to have a friend she could be “girly” around.
You’re right–I bet it would have been a different experience one on one.
That’s so funny about the change when you dyed your hair! No matter what they say, the book will most likely end up judged by its cover.
Hahahaha! Imagine, No. 19 being considered girly!
I too have a somewhat sorority girl look, but not much of a sorority girl personality (and the real sorority girls can tell, unfortunately!)
Not sure it’s all that unfortunate. 😉
“Womanly” is more like it!
Yeah, exactly! No foolin’ them. I remember now my sophmore year was the time I had the near-toxic encounter with Ralph Lauren’s Safari. I sooo wanted to like that fragrance, especially because of the ad campaign, but it was the first fragrance I ever had a negative reaction to – massive headache and sneezing. I ended up giving the juice to my old roommate but I kept the pretty faux-crystal dagger-shaped bottle for myself. 🙂
Haha, I found it my senior year, and it was my signature scent for YEARS! Either my nose or my chemistry has changed, though, and now it’s too sweet on me.
I don’t know why, but Safari always makes me think ” hazelnut.”
Hazelnut? I barely remember how it smells, but now I’m really curious.
Well… I haven’t smelled Safari in decades. Maybe not hazelnuts, but some kind of nut. There’s a sort of round, butteriness to it that makes me think of nuts. Maybe it’s the tuberose. I do recall a bold prettiness. Now I’ll have to go and spray (lol!) – I have one of those ‘dagger’ spray bottles from the initial release.
I do remember the butteriness as well but there was this high, keening note of I can’t-even-guess that obliterated anything else I might have liked about the fragrance. Wearing it was like constantly listening to one of those tests from the radio broadcast system on a constant loop.
Safari is in a pretty great bottle!
And the Paloma is even less girly, IMO!
Paloma is downright tough.
I WAS a sorority girl and most of us wore perfume and had more than one or two bottles (this was during my Rive Gauche & Ralph Lauren phase) I think my sisters would have been right there trying to get their noses on those paper strips. Of course this was all 20+ years ago so there was a lot of Chloe, Opium, Obsession and well, it was the 80’s ….I only knew one other girl who wore Rive Gauche–and her great ambition was to sing opera professionally–she had a huge, gorgeous voice too…. back to the point…I don’t know how we all would have responded to “classics” back then, when you’re 18 it’s so easy to be brainwashed by the media and designer offerings.
The classics are kind of tough perfumes to like, too, without some experience smelling your way around the perfume counter.
Lauren was such a pretty one!
I wish I’d been in college in the 80s! All of my siblings were so I kinda got to live vicariously through them. Hmmm, maybe that’s why I was wearing designer fragrances at such an early age. Another memory: at 13 I went on a vacation with my family to the Bahamas (totally awesome) and I remember buying fragrance from a duty-free store for the first time. My choice was Oscar de la Renta’s Ruffles. My brother bought the parfum version of Opium for his girlfriend. I’d give up a kidney for that bottle of Ruffles now! lol
I bet Ruffles is out there somewhere! Great memories.
It’s good to see, I guess, that some things never change. I wore cologne and a little makeup when I was in college in the late 70’s and took so much s**t from the women’s studies crowd that it gave me a complex. But then, as now, I didn’t do it to attract the guys — I had a steady boyfriend anyway. I did it to smell good and look good to myself. Now I see the same hoodies and ultra-low jeans (Thank God we didn’t have to wear those!) on the students at the college near where we live, as though they’re trying to make themselves just as unattractive as possible. It’s just hard to understand, as you only go around once.
They looked a lot better in hoodies and jeans than I would, I can tell you that! I think I spent most of college dressed in men’s pajama tops from Value Village.
I was always wearing army cargo cut-offs from Goodwill, a t-shirt and Tevas. lol Very unglamorous but comfortable. The “me then” would be shocked that the “me now” actually prefers dresses and skirts to pants! The extreme liberalism of a college town is fun for awhile, especially when you’re young, but I was ready to get out of there after 4 1/2 years!
It’s great to see how people evolve over time–in style and in other ways. It sounds like your style has really changed!
hey- I’m a college student AND I’m 29 AND I wear very low jeans and hoodies…. and I think I rock the hell out of them, thank you very much. I would take them over a stuffy office suit or a skirt and heels any day- and men don’t seem to complain either… !
I bet you look great! Go get ’em!
That’s fascinating! The big reality check for me in your article is the account of the woman who didn’t even know the name of her perfume. I can’t imagine! (BTW, Lewis & Clark is my sister’s alma mater. Lovely part of town, as I remember!)
I know! I was shocked, too. I asked her to describe the bottle, even threw a few possibilities at her, but she drew a complete blank.
My initial reaction to the bit about the woman not knowing the name of her perfume was that she might not have been telling the whole truth…I’m willing to bet that she was feigning ignorance because she was afraid either of butchering the pronunciation or of sounding pretentious. I know I’ve had that problem when people in my small town ask what I’m wearing. Once, when I said that it was L’Artisan Parfumeur The Pour un Ete, I got a rather snarky comment in return, something about “Where on earth did you find something that fancy?” From then on, when asked, I just said, “Oh, it’s called Summer Tea.” Evidently, French perfume is too hoity-toity for these parts!
I had the same experience when a good old local guy asked me what I was wearing (he liked it) — it was Bal a Versailles. I just said oh, it some french stuff. At that moment there was no point in getting a blank stare back from this guy. 🙂
It’s also possible that you gal who couldn’t remember her fragrance has a bottle of No 5 on her dresser and didn’t want to admit it in the crowd.
This was separate from the class and was a woman in her 50s. It might have been No. 5, though. Maybe she didn’t want me stealing her signature scent!
Haha, I had the pronunciation thought too. 😀
L, you know, you could be right. Some of those French names are difficult to pronounce if you haven’t had a few semesters of French. I love Bela’s pronunciation blog.
Thank you very much, Angela. Glad you find it useful. 🙂
Some of them are difficult if you’ve had years. 😀 If there is a u or an r in the name, forget it… I’ll be embarrassed at my attempt. I know *how*…I just can’t. 😀
Ooh, what’s your blog, Bela? I normally just Google it when I come across something I can’t pronounce, but I’d love to check out your site.
And I know just what you mean, boojum…high school French class was a LONG time ago! LOL!
Here it is: http://belabela.posterous.com/
Thanks, Angela!
Recently I brought up the subject of perfume with a new acquaintance. “Oh, I’m a perfume bitch!” she told me. But then she couldn’t remember the name of her favorite perfume! I guess she tends to hyperbole.
She doesn’t know what a real perfume b***h is!
So interesting! I have to say, I feel really out of the mainstream in terms of lots of my tastes, and not just perfume. As someone who went back to school in her 30s, I can say I’m not at all surprised the undergraduates tended to loathe the classics. (BTW, the popularity of crocs has always surprised me too!)
I know I’m pretty insulated from the real world, in my happy little bubble here. It’s good to get a wake up call once in a while, although some of the reminders of the real world–child abuse, homelessness (actually, I see a lot of that in my job), racism–are not pleasant reminders at all.
It’s good to be connected to the real world, but also very good to be in your own happy little bubble. Both are good. 🙂
I guess as long as I know the bubble is there.
That’s for sure. Gotta have the bubble!
In college I wore only Muguet des Bois and Tatiana … and I would have been afraid to go to a perfume counter and sniff anything. Hell, it’s 30+ years later and I’m still afraid! But one of my most powerful scent memories is from college. Two women from Iran (this was before the fall of the Shah) lived across the hall. One wore the most beautiful floral fragrance I have ever smelled, and I asked her what it was and she told me and I have since forgotten the name … but I remember thinking that if I were a man, and I smelled that beautiful scent, I would track down the woman who was wearing it and ask her to marry me. So I bet that the nascent seeds of perfumista-dom were present in some of those students, and will burst forth at some time in the future.
I hope we planted a few seeds. I think I saw a little fertile ground, there, at the end.
I spent some time with Tatiana, too!
We few, we happy few…. 🙂
…the Brave and the Mighty (good smelling.)
Hee! We band of smellers…..
I’m really not surprised by this. I have one friend who shares in my appreciation for perfume — and even she sticks to the mainstream offerings. The rest tend to tell me from time to time that while I inspire them to want to try a fragrance, they’re also intimidated by the sheer volume of available perfumes.
Many of my friends don’t wear anything at all, of it they do it’s a B&BW body spray. The ones who do have a scent or two tend to wear whatever was popular at the time of purchase — Marc Jacobs Lola is the signature scent of a stunningly gorgeous & chic NYC dwelling friend of mine; I feel she deserves something better. A mall goth I know wears Dior Midnight Poison after I blogged about it because she was attracted to its name. My childhood best friend used to wear Estee Lauder Beautiful when she was a teenager, and these days has sworn off all fragrance but a sandalwood solid perfume. Another friend wheres Viva La Juicy. My younger sister wears some Victoria’s Secret offering.
I feel very alone at times because I do understand that very few people outside of a certain niche’ seem to truly love perfume. I look to my ever growing collection, my vintage bottles, timeless classics, Old World niches and realize that most people wouldn’t understand it. They wouldn’t hunt for the perfect perfume to suit a certain mood, they wouldn’t buy a fragrance because of the history, the imagery it evokes.
I go into dept. stores and see SAs touting the latest fare of fruity florals for the young & fresh — one quite literally didn’t know what to do with me when I went in inquiring about Shalimar months ago because certainly of my age & style wouldn’t want to wear something so ‘old lady’.
I am trying to educate my friends though. Recommending eBay for bargain buys, suggesting fragrances that would suit their tastes. In many cases people just simply don’t know where to start or what they’re missing unless someone is there to guide them.
Good job spreading the fragrance gospel! I think the internet can fool us into thinking we’re a more numerous group than we are. When I was at the shoe store I mentioned in the post, the perfume-loving SA mentioned another shopper who gave her some samples. My first reponse was to ask who it was! I thought I must know her if she’s passing around samples of Mona di Orio Nuit Noire.
Fight the good fight K!
I really get the “I feel very alone at times” feeling. Once I discovered that there was a whole perfume community, it felt sort of the way I felt as a kid when I discovered other people who were into the same music. I always felt like some sort of weirdo that had some sordid closet obsession with perfume, and now it’s nice to know that there are other weirdos. 🙂 I do try to convert my friends, but it can be pretty unproductive. The couple of friends that I do have who love perfume definitely stick to the department store counters. While that’s better than nothing, getting them to try a Lutens or even Guerlain is a fruitless endeavor.
It *is* very nice to find such a group of people, and from all around the world too! I don’t get to travel much these days, but I think it is neat that I could meet someone from god only knows where who loves the same fragrances I do. It’s fun sharing and swapping too! I tell my husband it’s like trading baseball cards!
That’s a nice analogy! People are always surprised to hear that I trade samples of perfume with other perfume lovers.
I’ve really loved connecting with the perfume community on the internet, too. Although I have dragged a few friends into my hobby, and that has been fun, too!
I hear ya, Miss Kitty. I have one friend who has more fume than I do. They’re all recent department store fumes, but her fave is Coco Mlle. When I learned this I got all excited to share samps and get her to the next level, and gave her vintage Infini, Tabac Blond extrait, and even shared my precious No. 22. She totally didn’t get it, thinks I’m crazy, and now I’m out 2.5 mls of my 22. 🙁
I’ve done the same thing. Lost some Narcisse Noir extrait that way. What was I thinking giving it to someone new to perfume?
I hope this just makes us part of an aware and discerning group…
Absolutely!
Angela – really interesting article. It does make me think about fragrances and the world at large. I suppose with most “hobbies” and art/culture forms there is a specialist aspect – I don’t know a hill of beans about stamps, except what is in the movie Charade. Have you ever tried to keep up with someone who loves stamps? To each his or her own. My mom could tell you everything in the world about vintage Wendell August Forge hammered aluminum. She has an attic full of the stuff. And I say: huh?
But as regards fragrances, it would be interesting to do the same experiement with some older individuals who have been out in the world a little bit. It doesn’t actually surprise me that young people don’t know that much about fragrances in general, least of all fragrances older than their parents. I was only exposed to what I found in malls when I was young, which thankfully included a few Chanel and Guerlain staples from the 80s. Find these people in one or two decades and see if their exposure and tastes have changed.
Reality check indeed – me v. a typcial college student: I can’t text message to save my life and I don’t know who the coolest counter-culture underground bands are these days. It is all relative.
Great points, Ann. I was about to write all the same things. 😉
Angela, the reactions of the class don’t surprise me at all. It’s the same with wine; people might really enjoy a nice red, but they often have a standard, inexpensive and inoffensive kind they buy all the time, and can’t remember the name of the grape/region – even sometimes the country it comes from. And they’re not interested in trying anything new. I’m the same with lots of techno-geek stuff; I’d be happy to keep my iBook G4 for the next thirty years and shudder at the thought of needing a bigger, better hard drive.
I am hopeless with wines, except that I always remember I like Rioja & Proseco…. I have a cheat sheet of wines and different cheeses from my Dad that I use when I am doing something special. Ditto for beers – all you Portlanders can lament: I only crave the McMenamin’s Ruby Ale. You can’t get a good ruby style ale anywhere. I am hopeless at ordering beers as my sister used to do it for me all the time when we lived in PDX. I am sure if I sat down with that class from L&C, they’d all have me out classed for specialty beers, etc! (The only things I am good at is ordering Scotch.)
Quite a specialty itself, Scotch is.
Well, I do it the quick and dirty way: a less expensive one and then a more expensive one. So I’ll pick Famous Grouse or Glenlivet // Oban. Nuff said. I hardly know about all the different kinds, and I really like bourbon and whiskey too. As a librarian I can say you only have to know about one or two things really well – the rest you can look up!
I’ll remember that!
Hey Ann, maybe you can help me with a question I’ve had for awhile. My friend always drinks Jack Daniels. I’d love to get him a bottle of something that would be an “upgrade,” but still be “in the style of” JD. What say you?
Well, IMHO, there are four roads you can take with this one. 1. You can just upgrade to the “Gentlemen’s Jack” which is a longer aged whiskey – it’s really good and would be familiar territory. 2. You can direct this person to Bourbon (which I love!) – Kentucky bourbons like Wild Turkey, or the Knob Creek or Booker’s which are both upscale bourbons from Jim Beam. 3. You can get some fabulously wonderful Iris whiskey which is aged differently than American whiskeys, like Bushmills – and there are tons of these that I don’t know about. 4. Or you could get my fav blended scotch-whiskey Chivas Regal – yum! It really depends on how this person likes to drink it – mixed or straight. The better aged whiskeys, bourbons, etc, can all be drinked very happily straight up! Some of these you would not want to “waste” with mixers, and should only be served with water, soda water, a twist, or ice.
Sweetlife – I’ll step in and answer from central KY, the heart of bourbon (and horse) country. Lots of folks like Makers Mark. I’d also recommend Knob Creek (a small distillery), or my favorite Woodford Reserve:
http://www.woodfordreserve.com/Default.aspx
Bourbon is just like perfume (or wine, etc.) – very personal, individual tastes.
I do love me some Bushmill’s … though I usually mix. And nothing like a Maker’s Mark Manhattan. But as a naturalized Santa Barbaran, I also love the wine (mostly Syrah and Rhone varietals… now talk about a hobby: wine lovers!).
Ah, another side street I hang out in. Should’ve known I’d find some of you here. 😉 Seconding the idea that selections can be personal, as in perfume–but also the Maker’s Mark, Knob Creek, and possible move over to a good Irish like Jameson’s.
I am not a bourbon person, per se, but the Maker’s Mark works for me. I flat out enjoy a couple of fingers of Jameson’s, neat. 🙂 Scotch, some. Gin, more.
I really enjoy coming up with “pairings” in my head…perfumes and beverages that echo or compliment each other.
Joe, I knew there was a reason I like you! I love a perfect manhattan with a twist made with Wild Turkey! We can wear our Timbuktu and drink bourbon manhattans and talk fragrance!!! 😉
Scentself – my fav perfume to wear when drinking Glenlivet is the original Badgley Mischka – something about that rich fruity patch oriental that goes great with the scotch on the rocks!
You guys are having way too much fun with your drinking and perfume wearing!
Oh my goodness, look at all these fabulous answers, I’m so glad I asked! That ‘personal taste’ thing is always what’s stopped me from going the bourbon route. We drink both Maker’s Mark and Knob Creek in this house, but they seemed more like a separate choice, rather than an upgrade, from Jack Daniels. Could be wrong though!
I think I’ll try the Irish route and see what happens. He’s definitely a straight up person–or with one or two ice cubes to let it open up.
And LOVE the idea of whiskey with Badgely Mischka!
Who-hoo! Anoher gin drinker! I’m so tired of everyone I know looking at me like I’m insane and then downing another shot of Absolut’s flavor of the month!
Ugh, not to mention all the tacky little candy-colored versions of the shake-it-baby “martini”…*shudder*
There is a gal on another forum who enjoys her port with her Borneo 1834.
Very good points, R!
You’re so right. I think sophisticated fragrance tends to appeal to people who have more experience smelling and tasting–and if it comes, it usually comes with age.
All the crazy obsessions people have make perfumania seem almost boring!
Ann – You had my curiosity going so I had to look up “Wendell August Forge hammered aluminum” – beautiful!
So many interests out there!
Oh no! Another one bites the dust. Once you know what it is, you see it everywhere! Vintage bar sets are the best though and it’s great b/c you can put it in the dishwasher. I have a few pieces myself.
Well, now I picked up something. Have been handwashing… 🙂
Ann, you’re so right. That’s what makes life so interesting, I guess. It’s always fascinating to meet someone passionate about something, anything.
Angela, what an interesting “experiment”. It would be fun to do presentations like the one you gave and see the reactions … and hold out hope for the one interested person who stays behind for more education. It reminds me of the pieces you’ve written about turning friends or colleagues into budding perfumistas.
But yes, we’re a strange lot. A few weeks back, someone saw the mess of vials and atomizers on my (home) desk and didn’t really understand when I said it was a “hobby.” I have come to accept that hobbyists of all kinds (even us) are a little bit freakish. Even though wine collecting is more well understood, I’m sure the average person would roll their eyes trying to understand why someone might spend $200+ on a bottle of Château d’Yquem.
It’s very cool that you’re talking to people. My best friend appreciates a couple things, and I’ve caused my mom to fall in love with Coromandel… but when looking at my ziplocs full of vials (and at my bank balance), I’ve started to suspect that I have as many screws loose as that crazy uncle whose basement is a huge fantasyland of model trains. 😉
😉
I forget how extreme my perfume collection is until I see it through a friend’s eyes–and you’re right, it’s scary!
This may not help anyone, but for some reason when I say I’m a “collector” people seem to change their tune. A lot of people collect things, so maybe that doesn’t seem as weird. You’d think “hobby” would have the same effect, though.
So true, Miss KV. Seems to legitimize it somehow. People can relate to a “perfume collector” far more than they can to “someone who likes to put strange smells on bits of their arms and then sniff those bits and blog feverishly about the experience with other people who sniff strange smells on bits of their arms.” 😉
Holy Cow Razz! that made me feel a little dirty (thanks!) 😉
That’s a very good description! The other day bf and I were drinking scotch and watching a movie, and I would be sniffing my wrist every few minutes – I got my Balsamo Della Mecca decant, and the smell goes very well with scotch. He just makes fun of me, and I try to remember not to do it in public. So I don’t put perfume on my wrists when I’m leaving the house – strictly if I’m staying in and can shamelessly smell myself!
A – if you put it on the back of your hand, especially near the base of the thumb… you can oh…prop your chin on the crook between your thumb and first finger. No one will even know you’re sniffing. 😉
That’s a great (and funny) description, R!
You’re right–collector sounds official somehow.
Well, OK. But perfume–scent in general–is a highly contextual phenomenon, we knew this already, yes? And Portland–and then Lewis and Clark itself–is a very particular cultural context. You’re living in a mecca of crunchy granola-ness that casts a jaundiced eyes on things not “natural.” I think you would have been in for a reality check of an altogether different sort if you’d given your presentation here at UT Austin. And another sort at, say, University of Georgia.
All of us folks on here, we learned to love what we love somehow–by reading about it, stumbling over it, smelling it on someone else. We had awakenings, we followed a path. I’d venture to say that very few of us (maybe you, dear A, but certainly not me!) started out with the big guns of French perfumery–perfumes that require a tremendous amount of time to develop– unless we were of A Certain Lucky Age, the age when those smells were all around us while we were growing up.
Most people in this culture are simply smell-blind, or at least smell-mute: they smell things, they even love to smell things but have no vocabulary to make sense of what they smell, so they don’t pursue it, or pause to think about it. I’ve been amazed by how quickly most perfume-haters “convert” when given even the briefest of primers. And by how much it helps to make a food/perfume/wine connection. And so on and so forth…
I think you’re right on the money with the mention of differing college cultures. What was “normal” at my husband’s alma mater would have been wacky at mine, and vice versa, even though the schools were not so far apart geographically.
If anything, I was impressed by how open the students were to smelling things. I half expected someone to march into the classroom and insist we put our perfume vials away, but there was none of that, fortunately.
“Smell blind” is a good term for it, A. It’s hard to get hooked into perfume when the opportunities don’t present themselves. On the other hand, not wanting to explore scent is what alarms me. It’s a whole dimension of life. Even if you don’t wear fragrance, the world is so fragrant itself.
Not wanting to smell – is that maybe because we’re inundated with smells in our society, not just perfume, but literally everything is scented?
That’s interesting. I can imagine being so bombarded with scent that it doesn’t even register.
This has been one of my primary stumbling points with perfumes in general. What’s the point of wearing something delicate like say, a light peony if it’s just going to get drowned out by your (and everyone around you’s) Bounce fabric softener “Now with scent-renewing pearls!” It just feels so self-defeating to buy something so lovely, put it on, and then…only be able to smell your sweater.
Yep. I don’t use fabric softener or dryer sheets and always used unscented detergent for just that reason.
But doesn’t Portland have one of the best free-standing perfume stores in the entire U.S.? I’ve never been there so don’t really know what it’s like. There must be some portion of the population that has gone (way) beyond patchouli oil, to support a store like that.
We do have the wacky, famous Perfume House here. Come on out, and I’ll give you a tour! There are lots of perfume lovers here, it’s true. I wonder how we compare on a per capita basis?
OOH! I am so there! I’ll be out in mid May with my toddler and husband visiting family. My husband is like what do you want to do? The ONLY thing I really want to do is go to the Perfume House. It is like the holy of holies – do I have to take off my shoes to get in???
Oooh, lucky you. Portland is a great city and the perfume house sounds great. I’ve only been once (sort of pre perfume obsession), and I always think I should have moved to Portland 10-15 years ago.
Hey, they let you wear shoes there and everything! Seriously, before you come send me an email if you want, and I’ll give you the dirt on Portland perfume to the best of my ability.
To both you and Angie: I love the idea of smell-blind … we pay attention (well, some attention) to the way FOOD smells. And the gourmand trend simply reinforces that — you smell like a cupcake, vanilla and brown sugar, pumpkin pie, etc. I bet many/most of those kids could come up with 200 bands they like, but can they come up with 200 smells?
I’m from the bad old 80s and it was pretty predictable in high school (Cristalle, Ralph Lauren, etc.) but in college, girls wore different things — Rive Gauche, Opium, blended hippie oils. They weren’t shy fragrances, although there was always some white musk floating around in there too. Fragrance (your individual “signature” scent) seems so much less important to younger people now. Everyone wants to smell like laundry. OTOH I do think if you’re given opportunity and awareness, interesting things happen. My teen girls own several scents now (nothing earth shattering) but none of them, by choice, smells like a cookie.
I suppose I should say I’m really riffing off of food writer MFK Fisher who has a wonderful essay about people who are “taste blind.” Which was most of America, back in the 1950’s.
I do think that both smelling and tasting new things is very scary for most people It sends us back to childhood, or to a place even more elemental than that, way, way, back to when the way something smelled or tasted would determine whether what we ate would kill us or not. So that yuck/yum reaction is pretty elemental, and to be expected, even though I find it deeply irritating and it does cut off people from a lot of fabulous experience.
That’s a take on it I never would have thought of! Really interesting–survival smelling, sort of.
In college I wore Coco. It was after graduation I discovered “niche” lines like Annick Goutal and Antonia’s Flowers. But if I has known about those when I was in college, I would defnitely have worn them!
(And don’t forget highschool! I was wearing Giorgio….egads.)
I take your Giorgio and raise it with a Babe. And I was there with Coco, too, all the way…
Coco was my college fragrance too… that and the Tea Rose from Perfumer’s Workshop.
College must have smelled good back then!
March, I think you’re so right. Just like some kids grow up eating a variety of good food and have sophisticated palates early on, some kids probably grow up with fragrance around them and have a head start on appreciating it.
Angela, I loved this post. Many of my female friends at Hopkins own at least one perfume, but it is generally something from Bath and Body Works or Dior Addict 2 or something of that nature, and they don’t wear it that often. Now that they are aware that I have a beauty blog, many of them ask me for advice, and I am working diligently to try to raise the Hopkins perfume consciousness.
Your post has a wonderful happy ending, but unfortunately my most recent perfume story did not. I was at Sephora when a young woman in a Juicy Couture tracksuit (this should have been my first warning) asked the SA what the notes were in Michael Kors Very Hollywood. The SA had no idea. I ventured that the most prominent note was tuberose, and tried to steer her in the direction of less terrible tuberose fragrances: Fracas, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, even original Juicy Couture, for God’s sake. She blew me the hell off and flitted over to the new Kim Kardashian. What can you do?
But I’ve heard KK isn’t terrible … and if (big IF) it starts someone like that on a lifelong Tuberose Journey, then maybe it has its purpose?
And it’s a tuberose!
I found it more honeysuckle than tuberose. But you are right! I hope that she is on a whirlwind Tuberose Journey as we speak 🙂
Tuberose can be a big whirlwind indeed.
That’s true. KK could be her gateway fragrance.
This is Sephora — herpes central. I’m not surprised in the least that the SA didn’t know what any of the notes were.
Sometimes there’s nothing you can do for someone. A good friend of mine wanted perfume suggestions a few months back, I gave her some ‘friendlier’ suggestions and she ultimately went with Viva La Juicy.
Herpes central! Ack!
The original Michael Kors features tuberose, Ari. Very Hollywood is different. The notes (from the press release via NST) are mandarin, iced bergamot, wet jasmine, ylang-ylang, raspberry, gardenia, orris, creamy amber, soft white moss and vetiver. I didn’t get any tuberose myself when I sniffed it.
I like Joe’s comment that if a mainstream fragrance eventually leads someone to something really interesting, then that’s cool. Maybe Very Hollywood will be a baby step towards vintage Leonard Tamango!
Robin, I can never get tuberose and gardenia straight! 🙁
Don’t feel bad–I confuse them, too.
I think most gardenia scents have at least a touch of tuberose in them, because perfumers have to “build” a gardenia out of other materials. There may be such a thing as gardenia absolute (I seem to remember perfumer Laurie Erickson, of SSS, commenting about sourcing a gardenia material), but I’d wager it would be hideously expensive and nothing you’d get in a mainstream scent like MK VH.
I remember Laurie mentioning that too, m. What I love about her gardenia-in-progress is that it’s the kind of rich, creamy, mellow beeswax-y kind as opposed to the screamingly synthetic mini-monster type. I haven’t visited the SSS site recently but last time I checked it hadn’t been released yet. I can hardly wait, though!
Yeah, Ari, it happens to the best of us. 😉
Thanks, Robin, for pointing this out as I was about to research the ingredients too. I can’t stand gardenia or tuberose but found Very Hollywood so well-blended that the gardenia doesn’t bother me.
Yes, Celestia, I should think VH would appeal to people who aren’t fans of either tuberose or gardenia. As you say, the floral notes are well-blended so nothing really stands out, and certainly not the gardenia. Of course, Guerlain girls like us prefer a floral with considerably more French-style oomph. 😉
Let’s hear it for Nahema!
Casting pearls before swine, Ari! But I sure admire your desire to share your knowledge.
I mostly agree that your experience with fragrance and folks in my age group (college age)- most don’t give scent a second thought (I never gave it a second thought, until a month ago). The old classics don’t speak to me; I understand there is a concept behind them, there is artistry. But something I could ever wear? Well, no, sorry. I tried, I really did. But Chanel No. 5, Miss Dior, and others just weren’t what I was looking for.
But styles change, right? What was appealing in a perfume in the 50s was different than then 60s, 70s, the 80s, and today. Some of us like to go ‘retro’, but others of have our tastes more strictly defined by our own personal experiences. That’s just the way it is, and there’s nothing wrong with it.
On the flip side, I think you would be surprised by how much young people do think about fragrance. Just last week I was sharing my recent perfume exploits with a friend from my graduate program, and was surprised that not only did she own perfume, she had winter AND summer scents! I never would have guessed.
I suppose all I can say is be comforted. Just because my generation doesn’t look for the same thing in a perfume as you do personally, doesn’t necessarily mean that we don’t look for quality, or don’t own more than one bottle (I’m almost up to three already!: SJP Covet, Kat von D Saint, and pending Miss Dior Cherie).
(By the way, I apologize if any of this made no sense. I was up until 4 last night writing a term paper, and my brain is still addled with sleep and architecture.)
Right on! Totally agree with the “styles change” bit (though don’t rule anything out–I’m shocked at how my own tastes have changed). And I too, have found that many people have secret perfume lives…
“Secret perfume lives”, I love the sound of that.
You make total sense, halimeade. Just don’t be surprised if five years from now you find yourself knee-deep in vintage extraits — and loving every rare drop of ’em! Fragrances have a way of leading you down some very interesting and esoteric paths. 😉
Well put. (I hear a little personal experience there, maybe.)
Oh, Angela, you’ve got my number. 😉
H, I agree with everything you wrote (it didn’t look sleep-addled at all!). But when we handed out the strips, we weren’t asking students if they’d wear them. When you see a photo of a 1930s dress, you can still admire it for what it is without wanting to have one of your own. I guess it’s about getting beyond the just saying “ugh” or “nice” approach to scent.
I dunno, when I see a 1930’s dress — at least an evening gown — I immediately want to add it to my collection. Of course, my approach to perfume is a similar one.
But yes, I find the most unappealing thing about people in my own age range — post college but just barely — is the way so many of them write off classic fragrances as being ‘old’. Understandably, they are not for everyone, but why write something off without giving it a try and if it’s not to your liking you can still appreciate it for what it is. There’s a reason the Chanels, Guerlains, & Carons have lasted so many decades. They’re not for everyone but there’s still an artistry to them.
People do change with age, though. When I was a teenager I never would have thought to buy some of the fragrances I have — my foray into niche’ fragrances is a relatively newer thing having started only a few years ago. Chanel No. 5 used to be my end all of perfumes despite the fact I couldn’t afford it as a teenager, whereas the perfumes I did wear often included a select few offerings from B&BW and Lancome.
Branching out is always something that should be encouraged. I was even coerced into buying a bottle of Lolita Lempicka which is normally the antithesis of what I want in a perfume.
I remember reading somewhere that every generation needs to form its own “tribe” in order to successfully separate from the one that came before theirs. In my teens I chose my own scents too, although my mother had some very fine perfumes that I could have worn. I wouldn’t wear hers, because it didn’t “speak” to me. Give these BBW patrons a few years, and my bet is that they’ll be able to appreciate the classics once the generational baggage is gone.
When I was in college in the late 80s/early 90s, a good friend of mine gave me a bottle of Shalimar edt. When I wore it my mom was just totally disgusted – she said that she was sick of it b/c all the girls wore it in college when she was there in the early – mid 60s. And I can relate – Eternity was the fragrance du jour when I was in college and I detested it for no good reason except that every girl in the world was wearing it and you could smell it everywhere. I think there is something to be said for the “tribal” comment – that these groups of young people want to set themselves apart from what was before them but also wear what is the trend. It is a natural thing. I love Shalimar now, but it took me a long time to get over my mom’s strong opinion about it. And I suppose if someday my daughter wants to wear Eternity if it is still around, I may have to give in to her desire to wear a “classic”….. (Although I’d love it more if she wanted to wear Shalimar!)
I reckon you’re right about that, Olfacta.
It’s about time someone did a doctoral dissertation on tribes and perfume! You make such a fascinating observation. Choosing perfume or not, and what perfume you choose may have more to do with your tribe than how the actual fragrance smells.
I’m with you on the 1930s dresses, K! They’re the sexiest dresses out there, in my opinion.
I think some of the classics require a certain olfactory experience to really appreciate, even if you appreciate them but ultimately decide they’re not for you. It’s hard to have the experience to take in a Miss Dior if you haven’t spent at least a few years smelling your way through scores of different fragrances.
I’ve got it, Angela! It’s the blue cheese analogy. Like edible mold, those oakmosses and civets and castoreums and galbanums can be a wee bit of an acquired taste.
That’s a good analogy. And to use your wine analogy above: I’ve heard it said that novice wine drinkers (and I remember this being true in my early twenties) tend to do better with whites — especially sweeter whites — and then “learn” to gradually enjoy reds. They say this is often a function of the average American who’s been weaned on soda pop (which IMO is a terrible trend).
I’ve about given up on learning. Can’t help myself, I like them sweet… but I drink *so* infrequently that it really just doesn’t matter. I gave it the good old college try, though.
Absolutely, Joe. And while some people – especially Americans, who have been known to drink Coke with steak – never get past sweet white wines (which is fine: some of the most noble wines in the world – and some of the most expensive – are sweet and white), more adventurous palates start craving a different kind of pleasure. That’s where reds come in. They’re dry, they’re often tannic, they’re complex and fascinating. They can smell like leather, or barnyard (standard descriptor for certain older red Burgundies) or black truffles. They’re the equivalent of My Sin, reeking of positively animalic excitement. 😉
Sweet, herbal, peachy, or acidic, bring on the whites. And definitely bring on the reds after Robin’s killer description! I’m getting thirsty over here.
Robin, you are right about “the barnyard funk”. That’s how I describe that note to my wine drinking buddies. And I love that quality in a red wine. (And in a perfume, like Dzing!)
BTW, to all of you. I want you to know that I love this blog. I rarely comment, but I read almost every day. And posts like this are absolute favorites.
R, absolutely! I believe it 100%. It’s also like figurative versus abstract painting. You can appreciate a landscape on some level because you “get” it. Similarly, a Demeter is easy to understand (not to diminish Demeter). But something like Shalimar is a whole different beast.
Yes, Angela, YES. And it really takes a certain kind of, I don’t know – patience or persistence or curiosity, maybe – to get past the initial “Whoo-HOO, that’s some funky-ass smell/taste/painting” and explore what’s behind it, what the substance or artistry or significance of it is.
Which is why, I think, we are such a tenacious and impassioned bunch. We want to understand the things that may seem difficult to understand, appreciate the things that may seem difficult to appreciate. We know the great rewards of that kind of pursuit, whether it’s finally “getting” a cask-strength 18-year-old Macallan or an iconic Guerlain. I think we’re fortunate to have whatever it takes to be able to recognize those achievements and their inherent quality.
To me, trying all these new fragrances and challenging my nose (really my mind) is like a little mini-adventure! I don’t get out in the world as much as I used to or can now, but I can embrace all these fragrances from all over the world representing different essences, cultures, moods, etc, and try them on here and there. I like the challenge of “getting” something – when there is that eureka moment, especially with the classics or even with some new artisan house – they are all like little treasures that I can enjoy and savor. The ones I don’t like I often revisit to see if my nose will sense something wonderful or interesting even if the fragrance is not something I would actually wear.
R and A, you both make such fabulous observations. Tenacious and adventurous are such great descriptions of anyone who is a real amateur of any art form, I think, whether it’s music, visual art, or perfume.
Yes!
The blue cheese analogy is so right. I once gave away a bottle of chanel # 19 because it “didn’t smell right” to me AT THE TIME and now I wish I still had it because its so darned expensive (esp here in NZ) now, and I didn’t care for my Paloma Picasso, my Magie Noir, Tocade and Opium (All of which were gifted to me by my husband) I must have been liking FRUITY FLORALS back then, I think. Oh, I wish I had all those Now!
Laken, I feel your pain. I think about a few of the bottles I’ve given away, and I weep. Still, I guess we all do it.
Agreed! Since I’ve begun my own little scent journey I’ve kept a detailed journal of everything I’ve sniffed- name, notes, and my thoughts on the scent and how it wears. It’s done wonders for my ability to articulate my thoughts on scent, something you rarely learn these days!
That’s fabulous!
it must have been so much fun Angela : D
and you are brave too. it must have been something like reading poems for tigers. apart from my 6 year old daughter nobody appreciates my little precious collection, but i gave it up to give a chance to others.it was a bit frustrating acutally. no it is purely to make me happy. and it certainly does : D
What a great metaphor! My college friends do not appreciate my love of poetry much more than my love of perfume, lol.
It was fun! I definitely felt a little kooky, though. Love the “poems for tigers” analogy.
Angela: what in interesting experiment and reflection! I, too, sometimes receive “perfume reality checks,” and they are usually unpleasant. For instance, I was having tea with a new friend and I told her how I love perfume and she just gave me the most quizzical look, like “why would anyone be crazy about perfume?” And I have also had the experience of asking someone what fragrance he or she is wearing and having that person not remember. Then there is frequent situation wherein I am asked what perfume I am wearing and nobody has ever heard of it (even though I don’t wear really obscure stuff). I think smells just aren’t always on most people’s minds unless they are very unpleasant or very pleasant. I think people are usually more concerned about their appearance than their smell. In my experience the subtleties of smell are something that you have to “tune in to” in order to appreciate.
It does seem like we’re a lot more of a visual culture, true. It sure is fun to explore the olfactory side, though.
We perfumistas are highly sensitive and exceptional people. 😉
I think so, too 😉
That’s a fact!
What a neat experience, Angela. Even if many of those students will never pick up a tester bottle themselves, chances are that some of them will. And I’d bet that they’ll at least notice what scents the people around them are wearing.
My guess is that students taking a gender studies class might be more averse than the average to the romance/sex advertising that fragrance is promoted with. That slant annoys me, too.
As a college student, I was wearing (in succession, never having more than one bottle at a time – and most of them were minis!) original Chloe, Exclamation, Tatiana, Xia Xiang, Navy, and Aspen for Women. But that was late 80’s, and my college was a very traditional university culture. We wore skirts to football games, for heaven’s sake…
I’m doing my best to let my kids smell lots of fragrances, so at least they’ll know what THEY like, as independently of current fashion as possible. If my daughter wanted a bottle of Angel, I’d roll my eyes, but probably get it for her. (Not gonna happen, though – she doesn’t like heavily fruity or vanilla scents. She’s getting a small bottle of DK Gold for her birthday, because she keeps snitching mine. Ssh, don’t tell her.) A few weeks ago, I let my middle kid sniff my arms where I was testing Ubar, Divine, and Ysatis. His pick? Divine. But he also was able to say that Ubar smelled the most expensive.
Ha! Now that would be fun – replicate Angela’s experiement, except with kids! Maybe under the age of 10? I dunno, what age do they start getting all cynical and ‘tudey now? 😛
That would be fascinating!
My youngest, age 9, flatly refuses to smell anything scented. “Ew, yuck, gross! Except that one.” He meant Havana Vanille, of all things.
It would be very interesting to do such an experiment with kids, though.
I’d think Havana Vanille would be an easy one for him to like!
What a lovely birthday present! 🙂
I agree!
My 5 yr old used to have an uncanny nose for frags. She’d invariably turn her nose up at cheap fruity florals, and really like the complex, expensive, perfumey frags I’d consider “acquired taste” scents. Lately, though, she seems to like them ALL… and I’m a little disappointed. No more trusted second opinions. 🙁
This was the kid who kept asking for a spritz of your niche-y stuff?
I think it’s like candy – OD on sugar, and you get sick of it…
Unfortunately, I haven’t o.d.’ed yet…
Never ODed on nasty drugstore dreck?? You surprise me. 😉
I guess I’ve been smart enough to back off at the really deadly stuff. And I’ve made myself immune through regular doses of Jean Nate.
Wow, maybe you have a future chef!
That middle kid sounds mighty promising!
A lot of my friends wear perfume (male and female) although none are perfumistas and most have only a few bottles. However, they are all facinated by my collection and when they visit, they sample my large array and spritz themselves as if they are at a perfume counter.
That must be fun. I have a few friends who are interested, too, and always want to sniff whatever I have that’s new.
That must be a LOT of fun!
Gosh, so many of you made really good points. I agree with Ann S., Joe, and Minnie. I’ve been selling perfume for a long time and it no longer surprises me that people don’t know the difference between perfume and cologne, and what fragrance it is that they own. They often swear that it’s “such and such” but when they go home and check, it often turns out to be something completely different. Some people are just more perfume-aware than others. There are those who come to a counter and know more than the S/A. (I know that many of you have a very low opinion of them.) I have two certificates of accreditation from perfume courses and I am astonished by some individuals knowledge, especially some straight men!
I had a really good SA at Nordstrom for a few years until she left her post… now I am totally adrift. Finding another good SA is worse than finding a new dentist! It is a carefully cutlivated relationship for sure!
That’s a good comparison, except that a fragrance SA is so much more fun than a dentist!
But Ann, you have US. 😉
Yes – thank god!!! It makes it a lot easier with so many great fragrance friends!
You must meet a lot of fascinating people in your work! I guess you’d see the whole gamut of fragrance lovers. (I wish you were in my town selling perfume, too.)
Thanks, Angela. I think I can safely speak for Robin R. too when I say we would love to meet you up here in Vancouver!
Some day I’d love to make the trip!
Beautiful article, Angela. My hairs stood on end in a good way 🙂
Thank you! That’s so nice of you to write.
Your experience (experiment?) is close to the one I had when teaching a “Perfume and Fashion” primer to mostly American 20-year-old fashion students at the London College of Fashion. I got to the point where I told them I didn’t want to hear another “yuck” out of them.
Sad thing is, most of them loved Calone and Galaxolide.
Good thing is, everyone loved N°5 Eau Première (mainstream done right) and I made a couple of converts to vintage Diorissimo and Cuir de Russie!
I’m very curious what perfumes were ‘yuck’ to them. I find that response — from fashion students no less — very irritating.
Well, it was more raw materials, which *can* be sort of surprising — aldehyde C14 for instance (the “peach” in Mitsouko), or blackcurrant bud which does have a pissy smell, a bit like boxwood… By the time we got to actual perfumes I’d sushed them thoroughly on the yucks, though some were quite horrified by Bandit (but that happens even to hardcore perfume lovers). Eau Sauvage was well liked: most of them thought it was for women.
Yeah, I can understand where raw materials might have that reaction, honestly.
Part of it is cultural, too. There’s the blue cheese analogy, and I’m thinking of myself — a perfumista with a fascination for interesting new smells — and my instinctive reaction to a freshly-opened durian melon: pee-YOO, I’m embarrassed to confess. If I hadn’t known any better, I would have thought that it was a melon that had gone very, very bad. And yet to our Chinese population here in Vancouver, it’s one of the most mouth-wateringly delectable smells in the world. One of the flavours at Mario’s Italian Gelati, right next door to Chinatown, is durian – and it’s one of their top sellers. (Quite a cosmopolitan city we’ve got!)
Ha! Durian is such a fascinatingly divisive fruit, isn’t it? To me, it smells like Oscar the Grouch’s fetid, never-washed underpants, but my dad loves it with a passion. But you raise a really good point, Robin: if east Asian people are often fond of strong, take-no-prisoners tastes like durian, fermented bean curd and well-aged fish sauce, why are their perfume-buying habits so clean and anodyne?
Aldehyde C14. My nemesis now has a name.
Durian smells like hell but tastes like heaven. Yum! We grow it in the Southern part of the Phils. If you really cant stand the smell, you should prolly try the durian candy first. =)
D, I read your post, and it did ring true. When I was a 20-year old, I think would have been fascinated by perfume–I know I would have–but it would have been an intellectual exercise because I just didn’t have the smelling experience to appreciate a lot of perfume. But I was tenacious, and that made all the difference.
Wow Angela, what a great article. Love the moment at the end where a perfumista is born…
This article really made me think a lot about gender and perfume, and other “frivolous” things like clothes and makeup. **Warning** I feel a tirade coming on… I actually found it very predictable that gender studies students showed zero interest in perfume. I am probably stereotyping so forgive me, but I tend to think of gender studies students as individuals who believe that things like makeup, provocative clothing, and fragrance are an imposition on women by a male societal structure trying to objectify women and make them more appealing for the enjoyment of men. That was a mouthful, so in a nutshell… I bet lots of women there thought that perfume is something that women wear to be more appealing for men, not something that women wear for their own enjoyment (which makes it all the more interesting that the woman shopping for shoes asked whether perfume companies make scents that women like or men like – good question!).
I could not disagree more with people who think that clothes, makeup, and perfume exist only to make women more appealing to men. That is such a misguided outlook. The fact of the matter is that wearing beautifully tailored and designed clothes, the ability to make your face over into something new and fresh and exciting, and ESPECIALLY experiencing the scent of something creative, evocative and transformational is how we, as human beings, can LIVE and BREATHE art on a daily basis. I don’t need to go to a museum, I can open my closet. These things expand my mind and my soul, and make me just plain happy to live in a world where this embarrassment of riches exists all around us. I don’t wear clothes, makeup, or perfume for anyone but ME.
That tirade being said, if my boyfriend thinks I look and smell nice that’s fine too. 🙂 LOL
Pretty much. I embrace being a woman, I enjoy my clothes and my shoes and my cosmetics. For years I was happily single, not looking, not interested and I always left the house looking my best.
I feel more empowered when I am in full regalia so to speak, especially if I’m wearing red lipstick. I want to be edgy, I want to be stylish, I want people to hear me walking through the office in my stilettos and realize my presence. I’ve never considered things like makeup and perfume to be some sort of anti-feminist anchor, weighing us down to conform to society.
If my fiance’ likes it, great, but ultimately my appearance has always been something I do for myself.
Of course it doesn’t help the way all of the big perfume companies use naked, writhing, lubed up women to sell their products. If more women in that gender studies class knew more about perfumes like ormonde jayne and andy tauer, they might be more likely to pick up a bottle of perfume.
Yeah, I don’t know when the ads took a turn for that. It’s like the Shalimar commercial with Natalia Vodianova rolling around naked to Serge Gainsborough.
I think one of my favourite perfume commercials is the one w/ Sophie Marceau for Champs-Elysées.
I know the one you’re thinking of, K. It’s terrific (and the Portishead song that goes with it is a bonus) –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9VatEtJYhs
I can really relate to this. I think the thing that irks me more than anything is the judgmental attitude that comes with thinking that women shouldn’t wear perfume, makeup, heels, etc. I’m a feminist and part of that, I feel, is that I don’t expect other feminists to judge me for the way that I look, just as I don’t want to judge them. Women fought for the right to be whoever they want, look however they want, and why would anyone be exempt from that?
Sorry for rant. But imagine the hell I went through as a former Evergreen State College student. 🙂
Exactly. Women fought for the right to wear lipstick at the workplace in the early 20th century.
I’m a very much a feminist, but I consider myself a feminist in the classical sense. A woman wanting to embrace being a woman without having to conform to what others dictate.
I don’t understand why some ‘feminists’ find it their right to ostracize women who embrace their femininity. I’m proud to be able to wear red lipstick and black kohl and curve hugging suits.
I (stepping gingerly since I’m a man) tend to agree with you, but then there are people who would say, “maybe having cosmetic surgery might be a feminist thing to do as well if I do it ‘for myself’ and I’m taking control of my own body” (to which I guess I would just say, “but don’t you question why you think it’s ‘better’ to have a bigger chest, or more perky eyes, or whatever?”). Splitting hairs, and I don’t want to get into a debate, but it is something to ponder, I think.
To be fair, I think there might be a bit of confusion about feminism versus femininity. Feminism is defined as an attitude favoring the movement to eliminate political, social, and professional discrimination against women. Embracing our femininity is a different thing altogether. 😉
P.S. I’m for both.
Joe, it’s an interesting point. I think if plastic surgery really was something someone was doing for themselves that might be true. I wouldn’t think that would be the case most of the time, but maybe I’m thinking too much of celebrity culture, which I realize is an extreme. It’s also difficult to say how much someone can really be said to do it for themselves, if there’s no way looks can be taken out of the equation (that’s the whole point), and like it or not, we all have some sort of idea of a norm we are trying to attain. Plastic surgery is an oft-debated thing among feminists, and I’ve heard some people say that it’s only against the principals if it’s done for anti-aging reasons, so there you go. Even feminists do not agree. (Interesting tidbit: my feminist studies teacher had several facelifts while I was at Evergreen. 🙂 SEVERAL.)
And for the record, I wear makeup and perfume and dresses and heels because it’s fun and it’s how I’m most comfortable. I’m not trying to change myself to fit anyone’s standard of beauty, especially considering that, if anything, I get a lot of flack for how I dress and the fact that I wear makeup.
k-scott, until quite recently I was one of those women you are describing. At least, I would have told you I was. But I actually had a kind of secret life — secret even to myself! I loved “dressing up” and make up but only for Halloween, theater productions and so on. I loved smells, but never would have thought to enter a department store voluntarily, and that’s where they keep the perfumes, don’t they? (Until I discovered I could order samples!) It’s a complicated issue, but I’ve found that a lot of my friends didn’t fully come into their femme selves until their late thirties–that is, until they’d acquired enough power and experience to navigate the quite serious pitfalls of beauty and fashion with a little more certainty. I’m jealous of those of you who found your way earlier.
I’m a perfume horse who could care less about clothes, makeup, shoes etc etc etc. Plus, I minored in Women’s Studies, where there were plenty of femme women who wore high heels and lipstick but didn’t shower every day, plenty of butch women who wore perfume and collected things like shoes and watches, and a lot of women in between. Stereotypes are so last century!
I may not leave the house looking like a “girl”, but trust me, I could care less if you do. Or don’t. Or whatever.
Perfume horse! I love it! Actually, I love your whole comment, from start to finish.
I second that!
I also minored in Women’s Studies and detested my professor who frequently criticized clothing and perfume and cosmetics. Oh and she had a thing about weight, too – she was always trying to convince us overweight women were healthier than thin women. So I struck out on all counts – thin, dressed, made up and sprayed head-to-thigh in Fracas.
Ha! As a plump, nicely-dressed, boringly-coiffed, gleefully perfumed feminist, I am here to tell your professor that people come in all sorts of healthy shapes, sizes and scents. Judging people by the way they look or smell is the least insightful way to get to know how they tick, think or vote. It’s so reductive and yawningly unhelpful.
Amen, sister!!!!
Preach it, sister.
Just to clarify, for one, I am a feminist. Undoubtedly, resolutely, proud to say that I’m a feminist. For two, I was hoping that the readers here would not take my comment to be a wholesale dumping of “gender studies students” into a category of women who hate makeup, clothes, and perfume. Stereotyping was not my goal. I just writing from a place where I was invoking my own experience in women’s studies class in college where I felt ostracized for having interest in “frivolities,” and something in Angela’s article seemed to mirror my experience. I certainly wouldn’t keel over from shock if I met a Gender Studies major/professor/expert who liked perfume! Just wanted to start a little healthy debate, which it looks like I did. 😉
Your comment was very thought provoking and got us going, which is terrific. Thanks!
Actually, I’m the copresenter, and I am a gender studies minor who loves perfume. Part of the point of our presentation was to get people to ignore efforts to gender perfume by marketing scents specifically for men or for women and rather following their respective noses. And given that so many of the students who went have talked to me about perfume outside the context of the symposium is something I see as a good thing.
I remember when I was first presented with the idea that perfume really IS for everyone, no matter what the bottle or PR blurb indicates. Luca Turin declared firmly that it was B.S., and it was like someone kicking a hole in my head. A really nice hole. As women, we’re used to ignoring whether something is designed for us from early childhood (you think I’m going to let boys have all the fun with matchbox cars and Huckleberry Finn? Pshhh.) but it was kind of radical to me to hear a straight man saying that he wears what he damn well pleases.
I think, as with all new ideas, sometimes people’s initial reactions aren’t always the most fruitful. I’m so glad to hear that students have, given a moment to consider it, decided that they want to know more. There’s a whole wide world of scents out there, and it makes me really happy to think that you and Angela helped to shoulder the door open for ’em.
Your comment makes me want to rush the mall and make a guerilla attack on the perfume counters to mix the “masculines” and “feminines”!
Diana, I agree with you. To all of you, I wish you could have seen the presentation Diana put together! I can tell just by the thought-provoking comments here how much you all would have enjoyed it.
Indeed, many of my most beloved perfumes are most displeasing to men 🙂 I am the most rabid feminist I know (but then again, the only feminist I know is my mother), and I also delight in ’50s style dresses and red lipstick. I see no contradiction between the two!
Precisely. Femininity and feminism are two different things. 😉
Sure, but you can understand where the feminist historical pushback against many external accoutrements of femininity originated right? Since at some point perhaps they were seen as accessories to discrimination… It’s now the difference between saying you MUST dress this way as opposed to you MAY dress this way if you want (the question being how much of the “you must” has really disappeared).
You are right, Joe: the definition of femininity used to be very strict narrow, and I can remember 70s feminist analysis comparing the dress requirements to Chinese foot binding, designed to hobble women and keep them helpless and dependent.
Yep, Joe, I totally get that, too. Glad we have the freedom we do today as women, from what we wear to how we contribute to our families, our personal and professional relationships, our communities and our countries. It’s a freedom that’s been hard-won. 😉
I’m just loving the fascinating discussion coming up!
K-Scott, I actually thought the students were pretty receptive to the whole perfume scene and not judgmental at all, at least as far as I could tell. My wake up call was simply the look in the mirror they gave me just by being there–I realized I’m on the fringe of this whole perfume thing, and I’d forgotten that.
I’m with you, though, philosophically. I’m way girly but consider myself a die hard feminist. I wear lipstick everyday because I think I look great, not because I think other people think I look great.
I would have loved to be at that presentation 🙂 I’m a bit of a tester bottle freak (can’t walk through a department store without taking a detour to the perfume section)!
Seeing as I’m a senior in HS, I’m not surprised by this at all. Half the people who wear perfume here don’t know what they’re wearing while they other half never strays from Juicy Couture or what VS has to offer!!
You will have so much fun exploring perfume! As you keep testing things and building your scent vocabulary, fragrances will become even more interesting (and some less interesting, really) to you. Have fun!
A,
I wish I could have been a fly on the wall at L&C!
Living in Portland is an interesting experience. I wouldn’t say, in general, we are crunchy granola types. But most are left-leaning politically and environmentally aware for certain.
I have not strolled a college campus lately, but am constantly surprised at how interested Portlanders are in fragrance and what I like/recommend. Afterall, The Perfume House is here and there’s always a connoisseur of scent or someone in search of a beautiful new find whenever I have been there.
I live in Portland myself and I am in love with the Perfume House. Whenever I converse with someone new about perfume I always ask them if they’re familiar with that place and shockingly most are not! I can’t believe it. It’s such an amazing resource for scents here.
I refer everyone there. I would never have been able to smell L’artisan, serge lutens, bois 1920…etc, etc, without them. We are truly so so so lucky.
Lots of good discontinued stuff, too. We really are lucky!
When I was in college there were still good independent drugstores with perfume departments, and one of them was just off campus. It was an urban school (UCLA) and I would stop by there on my way to catch the bus home. They had full bottle testers, all the good stuff and lots of it. I remember things like “Joy” and all the Chanels. That’s how I learned about fragrance. Now it’s chains, celebrity scents and paper strips. Even the Sephoras have become more oriented toward the mass market.
It almost like you had some extracurricular instruction with the drugstore so near. Nice!
You’re right, of course! I feel like I saw some of that in the classroom, too. Sure, the students were looking at serious issues like gender and marketing, but they were also game to learn about fragrance, even if they didn’t have a whole lot of experience with it.
I’m not surprised either. Someone commented on the parallel to people’s tastes in wine. I find the same issues with many young people and food. My teenage son, who has grown up with complex fragrances and the tastes of many cuisines, has a good nose and a love of many different foods. It took some time to expand his tastes, but he developed them through exposure and education. His friends trend toward, um, the mainstream. Axe and pasta with red sauce.
But some of these friends have begun to develop an interest in what he wears, and his female friends are sometimes curious about my collection. If they ask, I let them play around with some of the less expensive offerings. If they grow very interested, they get samples and decants and a sniff or two from my vintage collection. And every once in a while, I will meet a young person whose eyes automatically light up at the scent of a classic.
fantastic article… i must admit that i am not a very discerning perfume user (especially not compared to all y’all!) but i do love scents and this blog helps me keep up on what’s going on in the world… i have pretty simple scent tastes (and a small budget), this blog helps me expand somewhat… (judge away – currently in rotation: l’occitane white tea, kenzo amour florale, burberry brit, bbw p.s. i love you)
i don’t know if it’s b/c this article took place in the northeast, but when i went to school at vanderbilt in the south (nashville, graduated 2005), it felt like most of the girls wore scents. (davidoff cool water still brings me back to sophomore year) perhaps it’s part of the southern culture of being dressed up… regardless, whenever i smell/wear chanel chance i am brought back to dressed up girls with cashmere sweaters and pearls walking by me on our tree-lined campus!
even here in socal, where i currently reside, a few of my grad student girlfriends wear fragrance… although now that i think about it, not many.
my interest in perfumes was all self-discovered, i wish i had someone like melisand61 to show me the ropes! 🙂 and thank you, angela, for a great article!
The internet has really changed things for people interested in perfume, I think. Back in the day when I started being interested in perfume, pre-internet, it was all word of mouth and being lucky enough to meet someone else who had a few bottles for you to sniff.
I was always interested in fragrance-secretly spritzing my mother’s Chanels and Givenchys from a young age. I started wandering into the perfume aisles by myself the second I got my driver’s license. But Angela is right about the internet. If you keep reading and posting on the various blogs, you will learn a lot. That’s how many people “learn the ropes”. And you may also eventually meet people in the fragrance community too. I’ve made many online friends, but I’ve also met a dozen perfumistas in the DC area, and I’ve visited other cities to meet up with others. It can be a very social passion/hobby and it attracts many smart and interesting people.
You’re the friend’s mom I dreamed of having! Every once in a while you recognize the real nascent perfume lover among the perfume likers, and it’s rewarding.
Angela, I think Lewis & Clark might be one of those schools where the kids are less interested in fragrance than, say, the University of Texas (I live in Austin now – used to live in Portland), where a lot of the young people shop at Saks and Neiman Marcus and are more aware of fashion, and, thus (just possibly) fragrance. When I go to those stores, I see a number of college-age women shopping for fragrance, and I take heart!
It just might be. Plus, these students are young and probably don’t have a lot of money to throw at perfume.
Ah, college days. I wore Dioressimo and Cristalle, the latter being a suggestion from my dance partner, who wore Antaeus. I also had one lipstick from Clinique, and that was about it for gussying up.
What great taste!!!
True!
I love the term “gussying up”!
Thanks, A and A! When I was in England they didn’t know this term, or about spiffing up. This was after my being confused over the term “knees up”, which I then countered with “wingding”.
I do love “wingding” but am not familiar with “knees up”.
What a great read! Growing up in a house hold were fragrance was a daily indulgence it shocks me to hear how many people my own age have little or no appreciation for it. Both my mother and father ALWAYS wore perfume and I now feel naked on the rare occassion when I leave the house without it.
Although I must admit that it’s only since turning 25 that I’ve started to venture into the classics, but now I am thoroughly enjoying them!
How nice to grow up with good fragrance around! I hope you enjoy exploring the classics. Even if you ultimately decide you don’t want to wear them, that they’re not you, they’re rewarding to experience, I think.
I’m genuinely heartened to see how many NST-ers, male and female, comfortably identify themselves as feminists. Recently, I’ve had a couple of depressing conversations with friends who explicitly rejected the term, despite the fact that they believe in, support, hope for, and/or work towards equality of the sexes. They say it’s become so freighted with feminazi bonerkiller cargo that it’s not something they want to associate themselves with. I can’t believe we’ve allowed the term to become shorthand for women who view makeup and perfume as tools of the patriarchy, high heels as shackles, and testicles pickled in a mason jar as snazzy home decor. It makes me want to paste Tomato Nation’s “Yes You Are” essay ( http://tomatonation.com/?p=677 ) on my forehead and skip down the street spritzing everyone with Mitsouko, whether they’re male, female or not specified.
I have a crackpot theory that perfume appreciation may lend itself to open-minded tolerance and generosity of spirit. From what I’ve gathered from a couple of years of reading scent blogs, people who really like perfume tend to know that what is gender-appropriate is endlessly malleable and historically flexible. That first impressions and knee-jerk reactions are not always helpful. That sharing, good faith, and collective efforts lead to good things and great smells. And most of all, how to be graceful when faced with something we don’t understand.
“…how to be graceful when faced with something we don’t understand.”
Wonderful! I agree– i think learning about perfume, especially with so many kind and generous people, goes a long way towards making one more generous and thoughtful as well.
Love this discussion, esp the comments about the ‘fume phobic northwest!
I am repeatedly reminded of how kind, generous, and smart NST’s readers are. There must be something pretty good in what we’re sniffing.
Thanks for the link and the thoughts, Chanterais! I love the image of protesting by skipping down the street spritzing males and females alike with Mitsouko!
That is a nice image!
I like your “crackpot” theory, Chanterais. Sounds pretty sane to me.
😉
I’m working on it. I’ve got a section that details how Ormonde Jayne perfumes make you sit up straighter, and Robert Piguet’s make you run off and join absinthe-drinking lesbian cults, but it’s not quite finished yet. My legal people are so finnicky.
That’s hilarious!
Chanterais, this is so well-articulated, and it makes me so happy to read your insightful words. Will you be my new best friend?? 😉
Awww! I’m genuinely blushing. What a nice thing to say! I’ve got a long, long way before I’m anywhere near as deftly articulate as you, Kitty, but thanks for the kind encouragement. You’re kinda my perfume hero, you know.
**Ducks shyly back into hobbit hole.**
You guys are way too cute!
C, funny that I’d never thought about it before, but you’re right–commenters have always been firm about crashing the gender divide in perfume. I know a good portion of my own collection was originally marketed to men, and we hear all the time from men wearing perfume marketed to women. Hurray!
Love this post!
Brilliant, Chanterais! Bonerkiller cargo , pickled – well , you know- that was so entertaining to read! Thanks, I needed that lift!
I wonder if some of the college age set’s antipathy towards more complicated perfumes is due to the aura of exclusivity that many of them ooze. Throughout college I wore Tatiana and Opium (courtesy of Mom), and a lot of Jean Nate. Admittedly there wasn’t that much to choose from where I lived, but I know Chanel was available. But I was afraid to go over and even “look” at their bottles. I was terrified at how much they would cost, and terrified to ask. Those counter ladies, chic, but scary. I bought most of my “smellys” at JC Penney or the drugstore. I finally did try Chanel 5- when I joined the Army! It was at the PX, and that’s when I realized it wasn’t cheap, but I could afford it. Maybe the average “young adult” is similarly nervous about the various counters. I was 40 before I got the nerve to go into Neiman Marcus or Saks. (all of those wasted years).
I can see what you mean. There’s a lot of mystery and snobbery about perfume sometimes, kind of like wine, I guess. It should be fun!
Wierdly, I actually feel nervous at high-end perfume counters.
You shouldn’t! And yet I know what you mean. If you want to go back, it’s nice to build a good relationship.
After having just spent a week with my 18-year-old niece, I’m inclined to believe that college kids are indeed from another planet… Admittedly, I’m a misanthropic hermit, but her music, clothes, attitude — everything — were completely alien. OK, OK, maybe I’m just old!
I wore all kinds of interesting perfumes in college (Cocktail, Orchidee Blanche, Royal Bain de Champagne, Joy) but I confess that I couldn’t handle skank at that age either. Tastes do change, however — both our own and those of society as a whole — and I’d like to hope that a few of those students will come to appreciate the classics (OK, OK, I’m still working on the Guerlains myself!).
What I find stranger is when people who are otherwise in tune with sensual, artistic pleasures — food, wine, fashion, design — have zero knowledge of or interest in perfume. Why is scent forgotten or dismissed?
“What I find stranger is when people who are otherwise in tune with sensual, artistic pleasures — food, wine, fashion, design — have zero knowledge of or interest in perfume. Why is scent forgotten or dismissed?”
Natalie, that’s such an interesting question that I think it deserves a column of its own for a thorough exploration. How about it, Angela?
I’ll noodle it over.
Do noodle. Thanks!
L, your comment makes me think it would be interesting to see a distribution curve of perfume appreciation plotted against age. Sure, there are some real fragrance lovers who are young, but I bet enthusiasm and sophistication grows with age.
As for people who are interested in aesthetic things but ignore fragrance, I’m not really sure how to answer that. It’s puzzling.
Would it be possible to run an anonymous poll here to gauge, roughly, how old readers are? It might not give us a comprehensive picture, but it could be interesting. Maybe on the next open thread, I’ll post a little micropoll ( http://www.micropoll.com/ ) and see what comes up. If that’s okay?
Wonderful post and great comments!
I think it has something to do with the context of texting and multimedia – there are so many more things to pay attention to now, and scent is a bit more difficult to access than most — you cannot just download it to your iPhone (yet!).
This also highlights for me why the mainstream perfume companies are so desperate to hitch their wagons to Beyonce et al!
That’s interesting! It’s true that appreciating some perfume takes time. Some perfume just isn’t easy and fast to love.
I agree with your point about accessibility (oh how I long for an olfactory speaker!), but your comment about having other things to pay attention to made me suddenly remember a moment earlier tonight where I had to turn off my music to smell a new perfume sample properly. People have mentioned the barrage of scented products as a possible reason for people tuning out their noses more, but now I’m wondering how much the bombardment of all our other senses comes into play.
Interesting point. To really appreciate a scent, you need to pay attention, and with all the distraction out there–cell phones beeping constantly with texts, etc.–it can be hard to focus sometimes.
Indeed. I think the sense of smell, in this noisy and highly verbal-auditory-visual age, is comparatively underused and underrated. I think that’s one of the reasons all of us here love it so much. It is quiet and still exciting, accessible and yet mysterious, as changeable as we are, infinitely a comfort and a delight. I know that nothing centers me and puts me in touch with beauty and art as reliably and fully as scent. It enhances everything. 😉
Great observation!
rziest, I think I’ve done that, too, (turn off music to focus on a scent, or at least become annoyed that it was preventing me from focusing), and I never realized it consciously. Thanks for this valuable observation – now I’m going to try turning off the music the next time I’m testing something new and interesting.
What a lovely post! 🙂 It brought a smile to my face because that is a common experience for me, and not so much a reality check as a temperance check. Because you see, I am one of those hoodie and low-cut jeans wearing uni students, just beginning to wiggle my toes in the niche perfume ocean. Half my friends think I’m insufferably pretentious, and the other half think I’m nuts 😛 And I have more than a few friends who don’t know the name of their perfume, so I think it’s quite a common phenomena. I couldn’t understand it either! how can you not know?!
I do think there is a “market” for niche perfumes amongst uni students though. The reason my boyfriend and I got into perfume is because – as the poster above me said – we’re also lovers of all the other wonderful sensory experiences as well – photography, music, fine food (and sex!), and perfume just seemed like the natural thing to explore from there on. And those are all things that a lot of students are into; it makes sense, really. We’re in uni because we’re curious about the world and proactive in seeking out its experiences, we’re young and everything is so new and exciting to us, our appreciation of things is heightened.. At the same time we’re jaded and technology-sick, we’ve conquered every mountain so quickly and we’re craving something intangible, inexplicable, instinctive and primitive. That’s why we’re so crazy about raw sensory experiences, and the only thing that keeps us away from perfume is the inaccessibility, both perceived – social (in)desirability – and real – price. But whenever I pull my friends aside and force on them a sample of Tabac Blond or a unique hand mixed scent made by an Arabic expert perfumer in the UAE or India… they love it, and they want more.
I sense a business opportunity for the very astute! 😀 And, no, I have no issues with commercialism if it brings happiness and truly beautiful things to more people’s lives 🙂
Hehe, I’m sorry for that little rant. I just thought you might be interested to hear the point of view of someone bridging these two worlds 🙂
Also, cliche time:
I’m a long time reader, first time poster, just wanted to let you know how much I love your blog 🙂
Welcome, and what a fascinating comment! I really love that you’re exploring perfume with your boyfriend, too. And what an interesting observation that perfume is an antidote to technology! There’s lots of food for thought in your comment, thanks.
Well I’m old enough to have a daughter just starting uni but I remember exactly what you are saying! (Although I had already become a perfume lover as a school student, drowning myself in the likes of Tabu, Ambush, Desert flower etc).
It does puzzle me a little that there seems to be a perception that you only learn to appreciate perfume when you are old, I was to discover Mitsouko (during a deliberate trip to the city to smell it, I must have always had the genes!) not that long after I finished uni.
I do believe that youth need their senses educating though, a little like music, very difficult to pick up expertly as an adult (in fact, nearly everything is).
Maybe that’s why there is the perception of such a youth-orientated marketing push to the young…get ’em hooked and you’ll have them for life!
You were lucky to discover Mitsouko so young!
Oh my goodness. I’m so moved by your comment. “Jaded and technology sick” “Craving raw sensual experience.” Yes! Yes! Yes!
When I taught at the university “wired classrooms” were the hot new thing. The year I taught in one we did all sorts of new techie stuff. Then I took the students to the archives to look at the papers and letters of the writer we were studying, and they just could not get over the tangible presence of those things. The thinginess of them. It was their favorite part of the class.
So glad you have a partner who appreciates your explorations! The two of you are going to have some really good times together, I can tell…
The THINGINESS of them. Perfect! As a happily nerdy historian, I understand completely the rush of actually getting to see (and sometimes touch!) the really old stuff.
The fact that these things are actually tangible…..well, it takes my breath away. THINGINESS FTW.
Interesting. i would have thought, especially at a college, that a lot more would wear perfume.
Maybe they do. It could be this was a shy crowd, too, or not a representative crowd. But I give them all credit for being there!
Great article Angela!
When I was still in the univ,most of my friends wore B&BW and VS. We still can’t afford “real” perfumes back then – hafto prioritize readings & books! But we all loved to go to perfume counters and sniffing perfumes albeit if its only on paper. (Dark secret, if ever we need to go to a party and need to smell lovely, we’d drop by the counters and ask them to spritz the perfumes on us as sort of sampling.=p)
Im into perfumes although still mostly mainstream (not too many indie/non-mass produced stuff going around here in PI) and love to recommend scents to friends/co-workers. =)
It’s true, perfume sure isn’t cheap, and when you’re in school you don’t usually have a lot of cash to throw around. Why not enjoy the occasional spritz from a tester?
Exactly. Back then, I can’t even go to the mall without doing a proper accounting for my meager allowance.
But now that I can afford it, I can’t seem to stop! Although I buy mostly mainstream stuff. Where can I actually start looking for “indie” stuff (Is that how you even call it?)
Btw, Is there a perfume that’s based on ylang ylang? When I was little, I used to get them flowers and crush them and rub the juice on my collarbones and at the back of my ear. I love that scent. It reminds me of my granma – waking me up before sunrise on a Sunday, then walking to church to attend mass..
There’s Aqua Allegoria Ylang & Vanille by Guerlain, but I think it’s no longer available.
Oh gosh, ylang ylang makes itself felt in a number of different fragrances. Guerlain is usually good about larding some ylang ylang in their perfumes. I remember some nice ylang in Manoumalia.
Thanks Angela & Annie! I’ll look for those scents. *ecstatic*
I’d second just about every observation and reflection here regarding scent’s place in our perceptions of self and how our personal tastes support or contrast different expectations of gender identity. More specifically, I totally agree with re-introducing the human sense of smell to its rightful place of honor next to the other senses, when it comes to its role in our interpreting and engaging in this collective existence together. Our sensual connection to the world around us is dulled when people are told they are not allowed to cherish certain smells and wear fragrance that speaks to them on some primal level, simply because it challenges what has been marketed as exclusively “feminine” or “masculine”. Someone shouldn’t feel ashamed for being turned on by scents they subconsciously associate with pleasant, sensual experiences (Likely fact: Some of our strongest scent memories are tied to smelling our own fragrances and body products while in the throes of passion or responding to scents that make us feel safe and happy, like the scents of family, leisure and home), simply because responding to that scent note somehow defines them as a less than whole or a defective male or female.
Gender marketing is total bunk and absolute BS. The right dose of “masculinity” or “femininity” added to any outfit or fragrance? The male or female body sitting in it or the skin wearing it. I’ve never met a floral shirt that wouldn’t look significantly more virile on a man. I’d say to any impressionable new fragrance novice: Start a fragrance revolution. Fight for your right to wear your memories, dreams and passions “on your sleeve”, whether you’re a man who’s heart flutters at the smell of lilacs and coffee or a woman who feels totally at peace when she’s wearing a blend that smells like smog and metallic dust. While I also love, love, love 30’s evening gowns, I love 30’s athletic-wear more–men’s and women’s designs–and gladly wear what I like, which can be a mix of every possible symbol of masculinity or femininity under The Sun. I’m a heterosexual woman and it’s possible that by challenging gender perception, some people will resent that they can’t immediately size me up and classify my sexual preferences, personal experiences and complete bumper-sticker list of interests in one “safe” sweep. But I don’t give a flying “Florissimo” about that. Ambiguous scent associations (I don’t mean your typical “unisex” blends–I mean something like coming across “Chanel No.22” on male skin and wondering why he chose it and how differently it evolves on him than on you) and androgynous beauty fascinates and seems universal, timeless and very honest, somehow.
Let people expand their respective primers of fragrance association, AFTER they meet you, not simply project expectation; who they think you should be–how you should look, smell or sound. Think a classic can’t say “energy” or “sex”? Let them try telling you that after your “Arpege” is scenting his or her dreams in the years to come. Your personal fragrance preferences should follow the nuances of your personality, not dictate to you instructions on how to behave like an “authentic” woman or man. Puh-Leease.
Say it, sister! I sense a manifesto here. Too bad you couldn’t be a guest speaker at the presentation.
I love it. GO ON!
I enjoy reading about niche perfume more then I come around to sniff it. Lack of money and lack of availability (have to travel to the next big town). I worked in the university and always asked the girls coming in what they wore: Lacoste Pink, Dior Addict, some TBS, Gaultier, D&G, so rather often not even cheap stuff. So there is a interest, but honestly, these people need time to appreciate everythibg that has to do with a certain kind of self indulgence: Good food, good wines, an expensive chocolate.
I turned 30someting and I learned to love some whiskey, good made scents, and I cook and love good food. Still I know I cannot appreciate a really good and expenisve red wine, just a “middle” one, and also I still have a road to go to perfume.
It is about learning, or? And developing, and culture. If you have alook around here, all people with a rather higher education, with great writing skills and good english (I am an exception on the last point, I practice here ;-))
It is all about being aware of marketing and of being a “target-group” oneself. After that people have to get the self-confidence to trust their nose and then yes, they start to learn to appreciate. Not only scents:-)
Some of my friends who were only into mainstreamers (the worst kind of’em!) blame me now for showing them the real perfume world. They have all a Ph.D degree – funny, mh? They can afford it and they have a certain cultural awareness.
There are some great mainstream scents, fortunately (I’m thinking of the Estee Lauder line, for instance) but it’s not easy when you have to make an effort to find good perfume.
Can I add that I still do not like Chanel No.5? I mean, I cannot get it (as extrait, nearly, the Eau de Premiere rather well) but everytime someone passes me by and I smell that, I get sick.
Too bad! It would be a hard one to avoid, too.
Here in Prague this would not happen.
Everyone wears perfume.
OK some may not remember what it is and some may wear the same fragrance for years – DKNY seems to stick – but everyone wears something.
Older women may wear Opium, Eden and Aromatic Elixir (If Dior made that they would call it Rat Poison no doubt). Rich older women go for La Prairie.
Younger women wear the same indistinguishable fruity florals. OK I can tell if it’s Envy Me, Miss Dior Cherie, Max Mara, Escada or the ubiquitous Light Blue or J’Adore. But not many people can. I walked in the elevator one morning and this 30+ woman was already there. I inhaled and sighed Mmmm… Dolce Vita. You should have seen the LOOK I got, like I said some voodoo incantation or something. “OMG can you tell?” she whispered.
I hope you told her she had *excellent* taste. Love DV!
Of course. I love it and wear it myself after all!
I am not surprised more people wear perfume in Europe. I recently relocated to Germany, and let me tell you, the Sephoras here are much more satisfying for a perfume lover than the ones in the US. It seems there are about 50 different perfumes on the shelves at Sephora and other chain stores in the US, I am always disappointed, my browsing lasts 2 seconds – Sephora is more about makeup in the US, I suppose. But it seems there are about 500 different perfumes at the equivalent specialty and department stores in Germany (and France – my husband’s French). There are so many perfumes available here to sample off the counter that I couldn’t find anywhere in Boston, a big-enough city. And there’s a perfume shop on every corner. Perfume is more common here. It’s great for a perfumista!
Sounds like heaven!
Don’t you love it when they are shocked that you know their perfume! Nice one to smell in the elevator, by the way.
Yea. It’s like I’m being a smart alec. Sometimes they even ask if I like it and I can only be honest and say I don’t. Are others not supposed to be able to identify our perfume? Is it a big personal, intimate secret?
That’s funny. I guess perfume can feel personal.
Sigh – just one more example of how Europeans just really know how to live, in so many respects. Thanks for adding this perspective, Nile Goddess!
Very interesting article, Angela. 🙂
I’m not ‘with it’ (does anyone even say that, these days?) either when it comes to perfume and it really doesn’t bother me. If keeping up with modern trends means liking plasticky fruity florals, I’m quite happy to be a dinosaur. The women I know don’t wear perfume very often so I am aware that it plays no important part in their lives. It certainly takes second, third or even tenth place in mine when there’s other stuff going on. It’s all mostly in my head: I like reading about it, but I’m not a collector and don’t feel I have to try everything. I’m a fraud, basically. LOL!
Well, it’s nice to have you stop by and visit anyway!
I’ve really been enjoying your blog. I love hearing the perfume names and feel a few seconds of two things I enjoy so much–perfume and France.
Wow. Once again I’m late for the party. What a great post Angela. And such wonderful comments from the NST readers. This has set my head spinning. The suggestion that ‘scent/smell overload’ may play a part in tastes or aversion to perfumes is an interesting one. I think that an overview of the different exposures to scent from a generational POV may be something worth looking at. Not just from the perspective of what is considered politically or genderly (I made that one up) correct for the time frame but also what were the dominent ‘smells’ from childhood perhaps even back to the infancy/pre-verbal stages of exposure. I can only speak from my own experiences, though I’d love to see how this might play out for others. For my age group I’m something of a throw back since I was raised with an older generation. Also, unlike many of my friends and relatives of my age group, I was immersed in a farm environment. I grew up with animal smells, with earthy scents. The scents of fresh fruits..actually ripe..not picked for shipping before the true aromas have the chance to develop. The scent of roots pulled fresh from the earth, herbs made aromatic from the sun. Flowers (old varities with actual scents) still in the garden where they grew. There are so many smells associated with nature that many people are never exposed to today. The animalic aromas of goats, horses, cows. While many of these smells in concentration can certainly trigger the ‘yuck!’ response…they are also some of the greatest components of truely wonderful vintage perfumes. Ask any horse person what they think of the scent of freshly brushed(curried?) horse..and you will see this look of fondness cross their face before they even begin to respond.
Is it any wonder someone not exposed to a wide range of smells has a longer road to travel to appreciate some of the ‘vintage classics’? No points of reference to guide them on the trip until or unless they deliberately walk that path. I’m not saying that they cannot appreciate or enjoy these scents(or this great journey of discovery) without all of the references a different generation may have stored in their scent memory…I’m only suggesting that it take more effort to “get it”.
It sounds like scent is an important part of your life, and I love how you describe it. You sound like a potential Bal a Versailles fan, too!
OTOH, you could be my type of fragrance lover, highly urbanized, who was absolutely scent-starved when she discovered the Guerlain counter at the age of 17 in the mid-seventies. BAM. A perfumista was born that very day. 😉
What a fascinating comment! I confess to having a liking for fruity florals (as well as other “catagories”, and I’m wondering if it comes from years as a child hanging out in my grandparents orchard eating tons of fruit. They were real gardeners, flowers, fruit trees, veges – everything. Our own land was a profusion of fruit trees, flowers and flowering trees – nature was everywhere way back then. Pre- technological revolutions days – we didn’t even have a t.v. when I was small, all our childhood fun was spent outside. To this day I’m a real “nature girl”
It makes sense you’d be attracted to something with such great memories.
I had a good childhood, although we ran a bit wild. My hard times came when I was an adult!
Angela! What a great discussion you have brought to the NST table! Thanks to all- I have really enjoyed reading throught this thread. I do think the general masses (especially college age girls and boys) often do not know the name of the perfume they wear (if any). BUT it is such a time of self-discovery and becoming- I bet with the right guest speaker….And on another note- my own teenage daughter thinks I am crazy (cra-cra she says) because I am obsessed ith perfume- and maybe so- but I pointed out to her that she has more (and better- if you ask us!) perfume than all of her friends- and she wears it- and she borrows mom’s.
You’re doing some good work with that daughter, H. No matter what she says now, you’re building something good in her!
I intended to just skim this post this morning and the next thing I knew an hour had gone by! Wish I could have gotten in on the discussion yesterday. My main comment is this: I was so impressed by the thoughtfulness, intelligence and generosity of this perfume community after reading all the comments. We smell good AND we’re smart!
I agree–the commenters here are exceptional!
Talk about a reality check;
I was at a trade show in Orlando this past week, and I was talking to a (female) vendor of high-end bags. I recognized what she was wearing as something I own (and like), but silly me, couldn’t recall what it was. I asked her, “What are you wearing?” and she actually blushed and apologized. “Perfume,” she said.
She had totally misunderstood me, and I explained that I liked her fragrance, and recognized it, but couldn’t identify it. It was good old Stella– perhaps the least interesting or offensive perfume I own.
It shocked me to see how she was so embarrassed at being asked about her fragrance–it was as if I asked her if she had bothered to shower in the morning!
The experience reminded me that I live in a time when fragrances are often banned from the workplace…
Oh! I feel so bad for her! Little does she know “what are you wearing” is a common greeting for people of our tribe. Next time make sure you give her NST’s web address so she knows she’s not alone!
“a common greeting for people of our tribe” just warms my heart. I wish I could smell you, Angela, because I’m pretty sure it would be a treat any day of the week!
that almost sounds too creepy, but I think you know what I mean : )
I’m honored!
I’m very interested in perfume and gender.
I’ll read through the Feminine Things blog sometime.
The singer for ~*my favorite band*~ is very androgynous and so there are ALWAYS discussions about gender so its something I think a lot about these days (but always have been interested in).
Lately he’s been wearing wedge boots and people are like “Why is he wearing high heels?? he’s a guy!! D: D:” but those boots ARE men’s boots XD XD
Now for an on topic comment…None of my friends wear perfume.
My sister didn’t wear perfume until very recently. She was under the impression that ALL perfume is headache inducing and stinks, until she liked some of the perfumes I was wearing. Then she decided to get a perfume for herself, and ironically chose one that instantly gives ME a headache (Black Orchid)
All my friends are interested in CdG and the Six Scents but they also think they’re too expensive.
Gender fluidity is a really interesting subject, one that fascinates me, too. Perfume is one of the easiest ways to cross traditional gender lines, I think. If a guy wants to wear wedge heels or Fracas, more power to him, I say.
So true, I recall watching fireworks on the roof of a LES building on the last 4th of July with some art students and locals, and no one was interested in perfume. They could not believe I cared or that anyone was interested in perfume anymore. Of course they don’t know about all the new stuff. They think perfume is only that dept. store stuff that makes them sneeze…so I think the area is wide open for people who want to bring new beautiful things to those who might be able to appreciate them with a little introduction. The classics now, they are an acquired taste, I’m thinking of Mitsouko and others of that vein. They are difficult, but like coffee and wine and othe acquired tastes, people can find them rewarding eventually.
I think you’re exactly right that perfume is an acquired taste. But what a pleasure it is to acquire it! Right now liking perfume even has a little stigma is some quarters. I just hope blogs like this one help chip away at that.