Halfway through Lizzie Ostrom’s Perfume: A Century of Scents, I set down the book and wondered who it was written for. Not the perfumista. Ostrom’s essays on the book’s 100 featured fragrances often leave out key lore or information on a perfume’s place in the pantheon, its history, or sometimes even how the perfume smells. Then it occurred to me: the book isn’t about perfume, it’s a telling of social history through perfume.
Perfume: A Century of Scents presents ten fragrances for each of the twentieth century’s decades and an essay introducing each decade. Each fragrance gets a Thurber-style illustration and a snappy nickname. The book starts with Houbigant Parfum Idéal in 1900 (“the Queen-Bee Perfume”) and ends with 1996’s Demeter Dirt (“the Un-Perfume”).
When I say that the book isn’t really about perfume, I mean that, for instance, in Ostrom’s essay on Diorissimo you won’t find the story of Roudnitska’s study of his patch of lilies of the valley, or even much of a description of how the fragrance smells. Instead, once you’ve waded through a page of how tough it is for men to buy perfume for their wives, you get a comparison of Diorissimo to Grace Kelly and Dior fashion’s “modest, appealingly feminine lines.” It's a comment on the times. Similarly, the essay on Youth Dew ignores how it was one of the first fragrances women bought for themselves, or its queer relationship to Tabu, and talks about the smell of retro suburbia. I don’t note this to put the book down — I enjoyed these takes on each fragrance — but rather to let you know what you’re getting into.
Also, in the “wow, this is fabulous” or the “please, no” category is the book’s voice. At her best, Ostrom is Auntie Mame, waving her bejeweled cigarette holder as she weaves a hilarious and on-the-nose story about a particular fragrance’s place in history. I laughed out loud more than once. However, I can imagine some people growing weary of the style and zoning out through the pages of semi-colons, dependent clauses, and adjective-laden chattiness.
Perfume: A Century of Scents is packed with great stories and fascinating nuggets of information. Did you know that Michael Jackson wore Bal à Versailles? Or how about Paco Rabanne’s briefing for Calandre, quoted via Michael Edwards, which instructed perfumers to imagine a story where a man “takes the girl for a ride along the seaside…He stops in a forest…there he makes love to her on the bonnet of the car”?
That said, in my casual reading, I stumbled over a few errors. For instance, the book lists Sophia Grojsman as the nose behind White Diamonds, when it’s Carlos Benaïm and Olivier Gillotin. Old Spice’s debut falls under 1937, which is true — for the original Old Spice, a women’s fragrance. This matters, because her description is about how Old Spice is the ultimate “nice guy” male fragrance. Ostrom writes about the “Normandie” cruise ship and Patou “Normandy” in the same sentence. They're both named Normandie.
But for many people settling down with the book on a cold afternoon with a pot of tea, these are nitpicking details. Most people will take in the book a few essays at a time, enjoying Ostrom’s wit and potpourri of anecdotes. This is how I recommend reading it. Pretend you’re at a cocktail party in the company of a chatty magpie of knowledge with an interest in fashion and a fat stack of vintage magazines at home. With this approach, Perfume: A Century of Scents will be a fun companion over your holiday break.
Perfume: A Century of Scents by Lizzie Ostrom is available now in the UK. The US edition (Pegasus Books) will be available on December 6, 2016, and is $26.95 hardcover.
I did like the informal style in which she wrote the book,as if you were attending one of her cool gatherings of perfumistas in a trendy underground location in oldtown-London’s fabulous back-alleys and cobblestone pubs.Very few books on perfume have actually had ALL the contents I want to read,Perfumes:The Guide was a very good introduction to brands I never even heard about,but they didn’t say much on most of the inspirations/creations dates…that is the Info I wanted for a specific perfume.Cult perfumes is a lovely coffee-table book,with some history on brands,some “really who cares!?” Info,and unfortunately the omission of one SUPERCULT Brand:Etat Libre d’Orange!!!How is that possible?Lol.Denyse Beaulieu(sp?)’s The Perfume Lover was a really cool read,on the inspiration AND the creation of her vision,but also lacking in info like other scents of the time.I do have a couple more to list(Mandy Aftel,Roja Dove,Chandler Burrs book)but then this comment will be neverendin.My point is this:ALL these books in my collection,together,is my favorite compendium about Perfume,with enough anecdotes and wonderful history around our wonderful obsession:Perfume.x
I have a fat stack of perfume books, too, and I’m sure my stack will continue to fatten! Besides those you mentioned, I also like “Perfume” by Richard Stamelman. Happy reading!
The Stamelman book is one of my favourites – and all the Jean-Claude Ellena diaries etc. for a perfumer’s take on creativity.
I second your opinion on the JCE book. It was really interesting!
Not to rain on anyone’s parade but I found the Stamelman book’s writing style so frustrating that I stopped reading it and kept it for the fabulous photos. To me, it is like he had a thesaurus by his side and engaged it to rewrite the same thing over and over till my head was going around in circles. With a good editor, it could have been a much smaller coffee table tome.
I admit that I read it more for the fabulous photos and bits of perfume lore than for the cogent progression of argument and crystalline writing.
I enjoyed the book very much BECAUSE it avoids re-telling those old stories. It’s refreshing to read about a subject so dear to my heart from someone who comes at it from a different angle. It is true that Ostrom’s descriptions of the perfumes themselves are often slender, but you can read about them in other books and on the internet. Ten or fifteen years ago Ostrom’s approach would be odd and perhaps unsatisfactory, but now I think the time is right now.
How a perfume smells is only part of her story, so for her evidence she is not bound only by (often very aged and damaged) perfumes she can pick up on eBay or estate sales. She is free to tell us about perfumes that have completely disappeared and can be smelled by no-one. Ostrom’s social history approach allows her to recover meaning from these perfumes. She has certainly done some hard yards in the library studying the popular culture that gives context to the perfumes, and knowing what a slog that can be, I appreciate that very much indeed.
Funny that she omitted Shalimar though. Maybe Lizzie did it for fun, knowing it would rile the perfume community.
I’m glad to hear from someone else who’s read the book! I also enjoyed lots of the odd facts that popped up that I never would have known otherwise.
Sounds like a good read – thanks, Angela!
You’re welcome!
Hi Robin
Thanks very much for the review, really appreciate your reading the book. I only WISH I were Auntie Mame with the cigarette holder. My life is much less glamorous than that.
You are spot on regarding the angle I was taking and appealing to the general audience via social history. I was keen not to repeat anecdotes that are well told elsewhere, and while writing kept thinking how important originality was. I hated the thought of a re-hash. This probably did mean at times that certain key elements of a perfume’s story were left out. It’s also why Shalimar isn’t in there. I didn’t think I could make a new contribution. No antagonism intended.
And interesting too on tone of voice. The particular vein of humour in there emerged firstly to make sure the reader feel included, and again inviting and entertaining for the general audience. It wasn’t deliberately done, more reflective of how I approach perfume in my events. And writing the book did bring out some of the struggles I have with perfume as a subject. I love it to bits, wouldn’t be without it. Sometimes I do roll my eyes though when the industry disappears up its own nostrils; the sardonic aspects were my way of handling that relationship, if that makes sense. I’ll be interested to know if NST readers find the style engaging or not.
Thank you again for the review!
Lizzie
You’re welcome, and you can blame me, Angela–not Robin–for the review!
Oops sorry! Thanks Angela x
I’ve been lucky enough to attend one or two of this authors gatherings (and good fun they are too) so when I was given this book last year I was very pleased. It is true that I was momentarily taken aback by lack of particularities about each scent’s notes but once I realised the book was as much about context as about scents I could enjoy it for what it is, an engaging, gossipy chat about the twentieth century through the prism of perfume.
A perfect description!