To me, a perfume is not always sexy. It depends on the way people wear it and why they wear a particular perfume at that particular moment. Perhaps they want to seduce, maybe they want to feel comfortable or to reinvent themselves. With my creations, I am telling stories but the person who is perfumed with my fragrance can recreate their own story.
— Gérald Ghislain of Histoires de Parfums, quoted in Say it with Scent at Khaleej Times Online.
I liked this article, though it seemed a little like a puff piece for him to advertise his perfumes. The thing that made me think was the fact that he traveled between Morocco and France as a child. I am interested in the influence of French colonialism in Northern Africa on the development of French perfumery. I haven’t really made that connection before, but now it seems kind of obvious, even though French and Arab style perfumery are very different now. How much did their presence in N. Africa aid in the development of the French classics we know now? Did the French influence Arab perfumery, too? If so, how much? Off to my library of perfume books…. Perhaps someone knows a specific book or website that addresses this topic? Thanks.
Supposedly the idea of perfume was brought to Europe from the East during the Crusades. I have many great perfume books, but none of them are as strong on perfume history as what you’re looking for…hope someone else will chime in.
Those are marvellous questions and now you have me fascinated too. I wonder tho’, if the North African influence on French culture could really only be traced to relatively recent times, ie the last 50 years or so? After all, France colonised those countries for ages before that without receiving significant migration from them (I think? Could be wrong … ). Surely the greatest change is going to be brought about only when the people from the new culture actually live in the old. As they do now, but maybe it’s a bit early to see that working out in perfumery. Anyway, good luck!
Saint-Saens wrote his ‘Suite Algerienne’ as impressions of a voyage to Algeria. Its ages since I heard it but I recall it having a kind of Europeanised-Arabic flavour, mixed with military music to represent the French garrisons.
I think you are right about recent emigration patterns, and perhaps we have yet to know how much influence Northern African perfumery will have on French perfumes. Did it influence Jicky? I’m would like to know more about Victorian perfumery and colonial influence. I want to know the things Guerlain was creating from the 1820s (Cuir de Russi and Eau de Miel) to the end of the century Jicky, the beninning of “modern” perfumery.
I love this quote.
Me too!