[Ed. note: I'm having various internet access & other technology issues. Apologies for the lack of posts today — here, a bit late, is Angie's weekly article. Hopefully I'll be back in business soon. Robin]
When I was a kid, the year broke easily into two pieces: a hot, dusty summer of playing at the swimming hole and making forts out of dried Manzanita branches; and the school year of textbooks, reuniting with friends, and tetherball.
In some ways, the start of the new school year was more significant than New Year’s day. Each school year, I hoped my carefully selected outfit from the Montgomery Wards catalog would signal my good taste and worldliness. My new haircut would launch me into the stratosphere of girls boys liked. My memorization of the capitals of all fifty states would awe the smart kids. Maybe, for the first time, some of the boys might even be taller than I was. The beginning of the school year was a time for optimism.
Today — the day after Labor Day — starts the school year for most American students. These days, I’ve taken to perfume to express my optimism for the brilliant new me that will surely take root. (O.K., maybe vintage coats play a role, too. And that chunky cast bronze ring I've had my eye on.) Through perfume, I can express the qualities I want to embody.
First, I’d like my perfume to convey something witty and unexpected. I don’t want to smell like everyone else out there, and I want a little twist, a little surprise for people who get a whiff of me. My new favorite, Dana English Leather, will be good for lazy weekends and is more often worn by retired men than women like me. English Leather wears off fast, too, so I can put something over it later in the day. The love-it-or-hate-it Comme des Garçons + Daphne Guinness Daphne will dazzle people with its offbeat personality of turpentine-like incense, bitter orange, and tuberose. I love the goofy coziness of L’Artisan Parfumeur Dzing!, too.
Of course, I want my perfume to be as interesting, complex, and smart as I plan on being. Ormonde Jayne Ormonde Woman, vintage Shiseido Feminité du Bois, Christian Dior Miss Dior, and Robert Piguet Bandit are all examples of fragrances that most people don’t “get” on first smell but can come to love. They’re perfect matches for the 1950s cashmere sweaters in brilliant coral, grass green, and robin’s egg blue I’ll be wearing with old Pendleton skirts and boots as the weather cools.
Finally, I’d like my perfume to have the low-key, unflappable glamour I covet. Smooth, rich fragrances like Caron Tabac Blond, Guerlain Vol de Nuit, Lalique Encre Noir, and XerJoff Richwood are good matches. Who knows? The new year might throw in a few rides in a Bentley or a weekend at a country estate. I want to be prepared.
I don’t know that my perfume choices will telegraph any of these messages to other people, but they make me feel good, and I’m old enough now that that’s my priority. Another benefit of being older: the boys are a lot taller.
What about you? Does today feel like a new start for you? What role does perfume play in your (hopefully) optimistic view of the year to come?
Note: image is after school special by iboy_daniel at flickr; some rights reserved.
This morning was so gloomy and cold that I decided it was a good day for Coromandel. Well… It ended up being one of a numbered few actually warm/hot days this summer season in our area. I still enjoyed my choice.
I thought about it for a while and realized that I do not care if I smell like everybody else or completely unique – as long as I enjoy it. It just doesn’t bother me – one way or another. It used to but not anymore.
To me, Coromandel embodies warmth and sophistication. Such a great choice for fall!
Here in Texas, school generally started in mid to late August, well before Labor Day, so by September it was in full swing. For me, the emotions associated with the start of school ranged from disappointment at the end of vacation (elementary school) to utter dread (junior high) to acceptance (high school). I did not come to actually look forward to it until college.
As an adult, however, I do have reason to regard the beginning of September as a new start and a reason for optimism, for September 1 is my and my husband’s wedding anniversary. Thursday marked 21 years for us, which these days is enough to impress people, as so many of our generation have not stayed together. Often we will schedule our vacation in early September, which is also something to look forward to. The weather is still plenty warm, and the hotels, restaurants, and attractions are less crowded after Labor Day (and often less expensive as well). I find that I tend to mark my life in relation to our travels together, so that, for example, 2004 is “the year we went to Idaho” or 2007 is “the year we went to South Dakota”.
September also marks (in a good year) the beginning of the end of the brutally hot weather. Last night it actually dipped down into the 60’s overnight for the first time since May. I am looking forward to wearing all my beloved “winter” perfumes that I find just too heavy and oppressive on a 90+ degree day. Attrape-Coeur, Vol de Nuit, Zen, Feminite du Bois, Shalimar, Champagne de Bois, Ubar–I haven’t forgotten you! It is traditional to think of spring as the season when everything comes to life again after the winter, but for me I feel that summer is a long, hot, dreary time of waiting, and that fall is when I begin to feel alive again.
September really is a special month for you! I can see looking forward to it all year long. 60s at night is perfect sleeping weather, in my opinion. We’re finally getting a spate of hot weather, but the nights are so cool the house never gets above 70, even during the day.
Houston owes its status as a major city to the invention of air conditioning. Once our AC broke down over the weekend, and by the time the repairman got there on Monday afternoon, it was 100 degrees inside our house.
I can’t even imagine! I hope you have a basement you could huddle in. Ack.
No basements where I live. The water table is normally too close to the surface.
Yikes. That’s hot.
Another September anniversary here – 25 years next week. Sadly, I won’t be wearing the perfume I wore the day I got married – Patou’s Amour, Amour – it’s discontinued.
Congratulations! I think 25 years calls for its own special anniversary perfume. Any candidates?
Congratulations on your silver anniversary!
Congratulations, Aparatchick!
It’s not hard to find Amour, Amour on ebay – but it might be more fun to audition candidates for a new, 25th anniversary perfume. 🙂
I have a bottle of Amour Amour I’ll give you. I found it at a thrift shop. My email is mdixie17@gmail.com.
What a generous anniversary present, Dixie!
What an incredibly generous offer, Dixie!
Congratulations Aparatchik!
Congrats to those of us celebrating anniversaries! How wonderful is that.
Congratulations, 50 roses!
Thanks! We had already had our vacation in July (it was my husband’s 30 year class reunion), so we just went out of town the one night, but we did it up right. We stayed at a 4-star hotel, had dinner at a really nice restaurant, and I used by sample of Shiseido White Rose. I am forcing myself not to fall in love with this perfume, as I cannot justify buying a FB.
That sounds wonderful! Just think: a spritz of White Rose, and all the memories would come back. Maybe a Christmas present?
Congrats on the anniversary! The CEO and I logged 19 years of marriage earlier this year, and I know what you mean – people of our generation are almost as likely to be divorced as not.
I noticed on Facebook a few months ago that a girl I graduated with is still with her husband. Wouldn’t be all that unusual, but she dropped out our senior year to get married because there was a kid on the way, and knowing her boyfriend, we all assumed he’d ditch them within a couple of years. He didn’t, and they’re still sending each other flirty messages on Facebook. It’s heartening.
That is such a sweet story!
That is a sweet story, and encouraging. I learned at my 20th class reunion that one of my former classmates–age 38, mind you–had already been married and divorced five times!
That’s got to be some kind of record! No telling where she’ll be by the time she hits 50.
Roses, I feel your pain. I’m just north of Dallas, and oh it’s been lovely to have some cooler temps after two months of 100+ days! I’d trade the cooler weather for some rain, though, as much as I love it!
Angela, I always used to find fall more exciting than the New Year of summer, for similar reasons – new clothes, new teachers and new prospects. And now I do enjoy getting out those fall scents again!
By the way, if you are referring to the rings you mentioned in a previous post (you mentioned a cool boutique and a jeweler, I think), do get one! I looked up the link, and, if I were anywhere near that shop, one of those would be MINE, for sure!
Yes! Those are the rings. I’m desperate for one. A big, chunky, gorgeously designed bronze ring. I’m waiting for the new shipment, but it could be months before they come in (in the meantime, I’m saving up).
When you finally get your ring, I hope you can arrange to show us a picture!
I’ll see if I can arrange it! First step, get the ring.
I just bought myself a new bottle of Bandit for the fall. I have pulled Ormonde Woman out of summer hibernation and it is ready to go, too. Today was a chilly, rainy day in New York. Fall is the season for chypres, and they will go great with my brown wool jacket and wool gauze print scarves!
We must be scent twins! Those are two of my favorites. Fall, New York, and chypres—my my, that sounds like heaven.
“Autumn in New York”. . . you just started an earworm there. Fortunately, it’s one I like!
I didn’t even think of that! Make that two earworms.
Spring here and our school year starts in February- so I shouldnt be commenting but I found a new perfume the other day called Ambre Sublime (and it is) and its perfect for our spring weather which can be warm, cold, wet, dry and windy-all on the same day! Just picked my first full vase of freesias for the season so I am happy.
I’m so jealous–is there a perfume for THAT? Spring makes my heart happy, while fall just drags me one step closer to dreaded winter. Happy Spring, Debbie!
I love and fear fall for the same reason! The weather is gorgeous–so beautiful–but each day of it brings the long, long months of cold and rain closer.
Geographic seasonal bias strikes again! I love and fear spring, for corresponding reasons. The weather is gorgeous, but each day brings the dreaded heat of summer closer and closer. Fall, on the other hand, I can love without reservation.
Nice observation. In spring, I can’t wait to rush to summer.
That sounds like such a great perfume! And freesias, too. Very nice.
Richwood is so amazing! It smells great on my husband too. I wish I had more than a decant!
It is so ridiculously expensive. I did some copy writing for the company and asked for a bottle of it in return (no fancy bottle, but a plain bottle they give employees) and that’s the only reason I have it. I love it, though.
Great negotiating skills, Angela.
I did my best!
A bottle (of perfume) that they give to employees? I need to go to work for a perfume company!
It’s a beautiful little bottle, too–simple but very nice.
I LOVE FALL! School started here a few weeks ago, but just in the last couple of days it’s started to *feel* like fall. Whew. I was thoroughly sick of muggy weather.
I was always excited to go back to school, and it puzzles me that my kids are always dragging around instead of happy to start a new year… I think that these days, teachers have to spend so much time reviewing last year’s material for the kids who didn’t retain it over the summer, my children just dread the first month of “I remember this, can we just move on now?” (My high-schooler has been happy to start this year, but she’s got some challenging classes.)
Been wearing my Cuir de Lancome, my Le Temps d’une Fete, and my Lyric Woman… almost got out the vtg Magie Noire yesterday, for the rainy-windy day we were having. Looking forward to my Tabac Aurea and my Champagne de Bois, too.
Fall perfumes are my favorite of the year, too. All the perfume you listed sound wonderful! Here, it’s finally starting to get warm, so I’ll have to choose my daytime fragrance carefully. Now I’m longing for Cuir de Lancome, though….
At this time of year, my husband & I celebrate our anniversary and take a vacation so that we can get our heads straight and enjoy the “breather” between summer and autumn. I prepared for the hiatus with some new perfumes to discover– notably, a set of Soivohle manufacturer’s samples from the Perfumed Court. Ten precious extraits in tiny little vials, waiting for me to solve their mysteries.
Oh, that sounds terrific. Add a good book, and that’s my idea of heaven.
I love Fall. As an educator, it’s always been the New Year for me too. And it signals the end of the horrible hot Texas summer. And October brings birthdays, and the holidays right around the corner. I enjoy cooler weather, so I don’t mind winter peeking out at me around the corner either! And while there are some scents I cannot stand the thought of wearing during the summer that I love in cooler months (Rochas Absolu, Coromonadel), there are no scents off limits in the cooler months. C’mon Fall!
I feel just as you do about Fall! – it really is the New Year to me, after all those years in school. And of course, those of us who live with hot summers and mild winters will always welcome the return of Fall. I like my summer scents, but am looking forward to a change. Here, however, while the angle of the sun says “fall”, we still have to wait at least another month for cooler temps and fresher air. It’s 100F today! No wonder October is my favorite month (and not just for my birthday and Halloween).
Wow–that’s warm for your part of the world! Fall will be here soon.
The farther down the peninsula from San Francisco, the warmer the summers (and colder the winters). At least I don’t live in the Central Valley.
^Hehe. I’m from the central valley, so I know full well what you’re talking about I don’t miss those 105 degree summers, let me tell you! Luckily I escaped as soon as I turned 18; I’ve been happily ensconced along the much cooler (in every sense of the word) coastline of California ever since.
I do love cooler weather scents, too. I’ve heard people say some of the heavier fragrances really bloom in the heat, but I’m too chicken to try.
I went back to a September fave, Missoni. This is MY idea of a fruity floral! I even got whiffs of it when I got up the next morning. This fall, I can’t wait to wear my new discovery from my trip to Paris, the breathtaking – but poorly named – Rien by ELd’O. (And the price can’t be beat next to Lutens and Malle and Chanel.) Rien is gorgeous, it’s a secret I wanted to keep to myself, but must share!
I’d better get a sample to smell right away!
It has been rainy and on the cool side in my area of New England, but it doesn’t feel like autumn at present. I’ve been wearing TDF Pure Virgin. I’m hoping to break out TS Like This in a couple of weeks though and, by Halloween, I look forward to Wazamba and Dior Mitzah. Can’t wait! Thanks for the great review Angela, and thank you for reminding me about Daphne. That is such a wonderful fragrance. Plus I guess I need to try Richwood. To be honest, the price point puts me off everything in the XerJoff line.
I forgot about Mitzvah! A good one for cool weather. Yes, the XerJoffs are super expensive, and it’s probably best not even to go down that path if it’s not in your budget. I do love Irisss and Richwood, though.
Our tenth wedding anniversary is at the end of this month so for our second honeymoon we are going to Hawaii. We haven’t been since 2000 so I’m looking forward to getting large bottles of Jessica McLintock and Alliage which are not readily available in Canada. We had almost no spring, and summer only started in early August. Now we are in the high 20’s C. Finally some heat!
That sounds wonderful! I’ll be imagining you enjoying a gorgeous sunset. *big sigh*
I’m very tempted by the Xerjoff exploration sets on Luckyscent.
I think I discovered the perfect late summer fragrance today: AG Eau du Sud. It really captures that late August/early September feeling of abundance and fields just starting to dry out, etc. – fresh and sunny. No need to start thinking about the cold just yet.
Oh, that’s a brilliant fragrance for warm, herbal weather.
Oh, nice choice! I think I’ll get my Eau du Sud out this week!
Beautiful post, Angela! I always read your posts with interest. I, too, equate the autumn with starting over with a clean slate, with self-evaluation and renewal. Perfume certainly plays a significant role in shaping identity, in boosting confidence, and in just enhancing the everyday with beauty. Dzing is one of my all-time personal favorites – the leather calls to mind an old wingback chair in a fabulously well-stocked library – and is ideal for those cold autumn nights. I love Ormonde Jayne Woman for its witchyness and its deep forest smell (perfect for Halloween). I plan on having both of these lovelies in heavy rotation once the weather gets cooler (currently, LA is experiencing the hottest weather we’ve had all summer…..boo).
I’m somewhat obsessed with autumn. I’ve waxed lyrical about this season on my blog, on Facebook, and to my friends (poor friends). There’s this song I discovered on children’s television (I blame my 5-year-old twin nieces) a few years back called “Fallin’ for Fall” that sums up my feelings perfectly. It’s actually a pretty cute song, short and sweet, for anyone who loves fall as much as I do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f38SlRh0-Ic
Love of autumn plus Dzing plus Ormonde Woman equal heaven. My gosh! I envy you. I will line up my Dzing and Ormonde Woman and wait for that first whiff of fall, which I know will come soon!
^Oh, and I’ll also be wearing Jubilation 25 this fall, which smells like pencil shavings to me. Pencils and cooler weather go hand in hand! It’s back to school all over again!
Don’t be surprised if you have men following you down the street! That Jub 25 is sex in a bottle, I’m warning you.
I know people who love Apres L’Ondee in the springtime — but I also love it in the early autumn. It reminds me of purple hosta and herbs gone to seed. Somehow, it’s warmer and more golden than it is in the spring (when it reminds me of gray rain & on new gardens).