I have a few feet of old charm school and beauty manuals on my bookshelf. This week, rather than yammer on in my usual way, I’ll treat you to some of the advice on fragrance these books have to offer:
Teen-Age Glamor by Adah Broadbent (1955)1: “Another accessory is an intriguing whiff of perfume. It’s the certain sparkle which send your spirits winging. Light and delicate flower aromas are sparkling, demure, or flirtatious. The heavy, spicy, musky, and exotic scents are ridiculous with your fresh, smooth, look, which requires a light flower fragrance. You occasionally prefer to be identified with one certain scent, but with so many alluring fragrances there is no need to be an echo of yourself. Once upon a time, all the girls in a club decided to use the same perfume. A sad mistake!”
“Perfumes and Health,” by Felix L. Oswald, M.D, from Womanly Beauty of Form and Feature, edited by Albert Turner (1900): “Is it quite inconceivable that [fragrance] counteracts atmospheric impurities, routs microbes and protects the lungs against disease germs? [….] French physicians have gone a step further by sending patients to the Isle Hyeres, where the air is saturated with the odor of flower plantations. Some half dozen different perfume factories cultivate hyacinths, pinks, roses, mignonette, heliotrope, violets, etc., by hundreds of acres, and the result in an air de mil fleurs that can be noticed miles to seaward, and pervades the lungs of visitors to the inmost cells of their tissue. The persistence of such aromas does surfeit sensitive patients, but it is probably that it affects the microbes of their ailments in a more decided manner, just as the germs of malignant catarrh are killed by frosts which only slightly affect the comfort of the convalescent.”
Women & Beauty by Sophia Loren (1984): “Perfume, like silk, wine and fresh flowers, to me is one of the necessary luxuries of life. A particular joy of perfume is that it has such a powerful effect on your mood, lending confidence and glamor, romance and elegance at a touch….As to the use of perfume, remember that ‘love and perfume you must not hoard.’ It can be one of the most emotionally appealing of all accessories. Use it freely.”
The Nancy Taylor Course, Volume One (1958): “There are three basic types of fragrance, each of which automatically suggests a certain type of personality. And, from these three you will choose the one which suits you best. They are:
- The Flowery type.
- The Spicy type.
- The Exotic type.
Perfumes with a flower fragrance usually depict the very feminine, soft and lovely woman, and create the aura of a delightful (and perhaps even helpless) personality. Perfumes with a spicy fragrance reveal a distinctly piquant, provocative personality to the world. And, of course, the lush, exotic scents usually prove to be very exciting aromas and should be used to enhance a more sophisticated personality. [….] Perfume should not be used directly on your clothes or on fur. Instead, touch lightly to the ‘pulse’ spots—inside your wrists, behind your ears, inside your elbows—yes, and behind your knees!”
Elegance, by Genevieve Antoine Dariaux (1964): “Today it is considered very bad taste if a woman’s presence can be perceived by scent before it is observed by sight, even if her arrival is announced by Miss Dior. It is also inelegant to leave in one’s wake a trail of heady perfume, like the exotic heroine of a pre-World War I novel. […] Two principal factors influence a woman in her choice of a perfume. First, the container—which she enjoys displaying on her dressing table if the bottle is elegant, obviously expensive, and if it bears a famous label and secondly, the scent itself, if it underlines her personality and adds to her allure. [….] An elegant woman usually considered it a point of honor to remain faithful to her perfume, which she considered as a sort of signature…But now it seems perfumes follow a more varied pattern; some are designed for young women or for not so young ones; some are made for summer, others for cooler weather. So an elegant woman, though she cannot change her scent every other day, because her clothes would become impregnated with a dreadful mixture, is not as faithful as she used to be.”
1. Please forgive the unconventional spelling and grammar in this and other excerpts. You’re getting the text verbatim.
The except from Elegance had me laughing: “some are designed for young women or for not so young ones”. Was there a ban on the word “old”? Come to think of it… there might still be… I think “mature” is what is used most of the time.
These were fun to read. Thanks!
I’ve heard “seasoned” and “experienced,” too! I still like “of a certain age.”
I’m glad you enjoyed the excerpts!
This read conjures up my Old Hollywood Classic Ingenues and makes me wonder what fragrance Bette Davis was wearing in “All About Eve.” Or what fragrance Joan Crawford was wearing in “Mildred Pierce”. Catherine Deneuve in “Belle de Jour”. Jane Fonda in “Klute.” Thank you for that spectacular read.
I’d love to know, too! It would be fun to guess, though. I can imagine Joan Crawford in My Sin.
I picture Joan Crawford in Je Reviens, Bette Davis in MIss Dior, Deneuve in Eau Savage or Fidji, and Jane Fonda in Chamade or Calandre.
Interesting choice for Joan! I can see her in Eau Sauvage, too. Miss Dior is a great match for Bette Davis.
Poor Sophia – she is beautiful, but it must be exhausting to continue to try to look like that photo on that book at her age – I think she was born in 1934.
I guess there’s a downside to being so gorgeous!
Oh no! My clothes must be impregnated with a dreadful mixture! What great tidbits of wisdom — you must have so many hours of laughs in this book collection!
Robin pointed out that we’re more likely to wear things we can wash now, so it’s less of a problem, or I’d smell up a real cacophony, too!
‘love and perfume you must not hoard’
Must remember this…
Thanks for the post!
I like that line, too!
Wonderful! I love these little windows into their times!
Years ago I lived at Paradise on Mt. Rainier, and to entertain ourselves we’d have weekly “reading circles.” We’d read our own or excerpts from another’s works to share with the group. Without a doubt, the most popular selections were from a “medical” manual for women from the early 1900’s that one of the women brought with her.
I used to have a book for women over 40 that actually recommended getting monkey gland implants! (I gave that book away, dang it.)
If you want to read up on the whole money gland fad, look up Serge Voronoff. He made his fame grafting testicular tissue from monkies onto human subjects. Demand was so great for the procedure that he even established his own monkey farm in Italy to source the tissue.
*monkey gland
Ay yi yi. I don’t know who I feel worse about, the monkeys or the people.
Certainly for the monkeys. The people were willing subjects and paying a pretty penny for the procedure. Serge Roronoff was the quintessential real life mad scientist. He originally used tissue from executed criminals and only switched to monkey tissue because supply could not keep up with demand. He even went so far as to attempt to inseminate a female monkey into which he had transplanted human ovaries. Eek!
Poor monkeys. Roronoff sounds like the true mad scientist. Ick.
Yuck. Just yuck.
Pretty much.
Really a shame you didn’t keep that book, Angie!
I know! I gave it to someone for her birthday, and I bet you $100 she never even opened it. The sad thing is, we’re not even good enough friends that I can ask for it back.
That must have been a hoot! When I worked at a national park, we used to have “drive-in movie night,” where someone would set up their laptop outside and make a big bowl of popcorn, and we’d sit outside by a fire and sort of squint and pretend we could all see the screen just fine…
That’s great!
Amazing what ingenuity comes from necessity, huh?
My favorite excerpt was from Sophia Loren. She’s very quotable, and has lovely sentiments. Thanks for sharing!
She really does! I love her appetite for spaghetti, too.
Angela, thank you for including the link to the Cranky Perfumista post. I laughed till I nearly hurt myself, and now am making a mental note to add “Sweet Cheeses” and “Holy Mother of Bob” to my curse arsenal. (My boss actually exclaims “Cheese Whiz!” on occasion, and it generally causes a smile or two.)
You know, I completely forgot I wrote that until I saw the link that Robin included at the end of the post!
“Impregnated with a dreadful mixture” describes exactly my merino wool neck warmer at times. Right now it smells like Chergui to the tenth power multiplied by a jarring mix of everything else I’ve worn in the past weeks. I really must wash it.
…Or else wear something that will annihilate the other fragrances. Maybe Angel?
That might be the only thing that would annihilate Serge.
Not much can go mano a mano against Ambre Sultan for instance.
The Dariaux qoute is a favourite of mine too! And yes, wash and wear fabrics and an automatic washing machine in every house have made all the difference. And most of us own many more clothes than people ever used to anyway.
By the way, if anyone is interested in Dariaux’s book, do try to pick up the 1964 edition, not the much abridged 2004 edition. The latter seems to have been trimmed of a lot of advice that someone must have decided was ‘dated’. In fact, that is the whole charm of the original.
“Elegance” is one of my favourite retro books. Ms. D is good for many a quote – my favourite is “An elegant woman is never surrealistic in her attire”.
She must have had a beef with Schiaparelli!
Maybe it was indeed a swipe at Schiap!
Ms D. does come across as a bit of an old stick at times. I’m not sure that she would allow that elegance involves imagination, not just following the rules.
She really does focus more on elegance and propriety than style. She and Schiap would probably not have been friends.
I have the 1964 edition (and I’ve seen more of them out in the world), and it’s full of good stuff. Too back they trimmed out some of it for the re-release!
“The heavy, spicy, musky, and exotic scents are ridiculous with your fresh, smooth, look, which requires a light flower fragrance.”
As my 14 year old would say: The struggle is real.
Thanks for such a fun essay Angela!
“The struggle is real”–I’ll have to remember that!
That’s the quote that got me, too. If heavy, spicy, musky, and exotic scents are ridiculous, then color me foolish.
I assume the line was aimed at teen-age readers, and that the implication was that those heavier scents were meant for more mature women. Funny thing is, when I was a teenager, I loved heavy, rich orientals. As I have gotten older, I have developed more of a taste for somewhat lighter perfumes and find some of the heavier perfumes a bit overwhelming.
I’ve been starting to wear lighter, more feminine fragrances, too (although I do like some of the bigger ones, too). I’m not sure what’s going on, but it’s nice to be able to widen my taste.
Many of us love them! However, I’m a good stretch away from any “teenage glamor”!
Loved this post. Very informative. I have some sweaters that are impregnated with some definite mixtures but I don’t think they are all that dreadful. Lol.
It’s a custom blend!
Very fun and loved reading all the comments. I love pulling out a scarf and smelling what I wore on it last. Then I go right ahead and pick a new perfume for the day. I can always take the scarf off it is does not go well.
Good point! My winter coats tend to have a melange of fragrances clinging to the sleeves, especially. I don’t mind it.
As a child of the 80’s who hauled her Shalimar and Poison to high school for that (totally unnecessary) refresher spritz, I appreciate, “Love and perfume you must not hoard.” Thank God For Sophia Loren. : )
I think she even had her own perfume for a while! I feel like I remember seeing it on drugstore shelves. I don’t remember smelling it, though.
I remember that. I gave it to my grandmother because her name was Sophia. She preferred Halston, though.
Hey, Halston’s a good one. I have a bottle, too.
Fun post, Angela – thanks so much! Of course, I am also perfectly happy to listen to you “yammer” any time!
You’re welcome!
Love it! (1955 was the year I was born.) And love that you collect these. I myself have 20 years’ worth of Cosmopolitan’s Bedside Astrologer booklets, which featured scents for each sign every year.
Also (no offense to Robin!), I always click to read the rest of Angela articles! Now that I’m “vintage” myself…
I remember those bedside astrologers! I used to love them. Did Cosmo stop putting them out? I’m very impressed by your collection.
They have been a pathetic shadow of their former selves since Helen Gurley Brown retired–just a few pages at the back of the January issue.
Sad.
Here’s an extra, from the great man himself, Christian Dior (Christian Dior’s Little Dictionary of Fashion, 1954):
Perfume
Since the beginning of civilisation perfume has always been used and has been considered an essential part of women’s attraction.
When I was young, women used much more perfume than they do now and I think that was wonderful and I regret that more women do not use it lavishly now.
Perfume, like your clothes, can so much express your personality; and you can change your perfume with your mood.
I think it as important for women to have beautiful perfume as it is for her to have beautiful clothes. And do not think that you need have perfume only on yourself; your whole house can smell of it, and especially your own room.
Wonderful! I wish more folks still felt this way.
Me too!
Thank you! That’s perfect.
Great read! From the Nancy Taylor Course “the flowery type” : creating an aura of “helplessness” in which the damsel in distress is seen as attractive, alluring, and charming. Times have changed, I hope…
I was surprised at “helpless,” too! It seems like the last thing a person would want to appear.
And why would you want a man who defined you as helpless and found that attractive? Times have definitely changed….
And thank goodness for that!