After much consideration, I think I could stand to have these in my house. From Etro, the Rajasthan ("...suggests a nomadic and yearning femininity, wild gypsy poetry set in the Maharaja’s cities: like the bright and colourful precious pearls from magical India. Etro’s fragrance is dedicated to an ever-changing and unexpected personality, who is always able to surprise with joy. This is an oriental floral fragrance with pink pepper, lemon, mimosa, rose and amber") and Jacquard ("A tribute to the intricately woven fabric often used by Etro in their garments, the Jacquard Candle is full of fascination and new beginnings whilst remembering the past in an authentic and original way. This fragranced candle is sophisticated and exotic with its notes of bergamot, black pepper, iris, jasmine, sandalwood") candles, 145g each for £60 at Harvey Nicks.
Pretty designs on the candle holders! The paisley would be a nice nod to India. I remember learning how patchouli leaves were put among fabrics shipped to Europe, to repel insects, and then the fragrant patchouli itself became an item in demand.
Reading Edward Said’s book Orientalism in college kind of ruined me for Orientalist descriptions of “exotic” Asian locales and associations made with the locations.
Between growing whatever garden plants with fragrant leaves or flowers that I could possibly lay my hands on and some of the history courses I took, I react to perfume ads like, “But wait, what…?” I just need to repeat to myself: “It’s fiction. It’s *not* real,” when I read the ads.
Those ads aren’t non-fiction gardening books, or cookbooks calling for certain spices. The ads are like genre romances in tone, using a certain stylistic sort of wording to evoke an emotional reaction. Gosh, can you imagine what I’d be like if I’d ever taken a literary criticism course? Probably best not to imagine. lol
Those designs would be lovely for scarves. The designs likely already exist that way.
Etro has beautiful scarves — prettier than Hermes I think.
But yes, Edward Said was not a fan of exoticism and hopefully was too busy with weightier matters to even think about perfume marketing.
I already have the “collecting scarves” hobby. Best not to encourage me.
I got a number of silk scarves from Ten Thousand Villages. I miss those stores. I know I got a silk scarf with panels in various shades of green and blue-green from the Philadelphia Art Museum.
I have a few polyester scarves because they had cute floral designs on them and were cheap. And for keeping warm in the winter, I especially like scarves made with super-soft artificial fabrics like viscose and modal. I’ve acquired some regular acrylic winter scarves, too, mostly as gifts.
On the other topic, I hung out for some time in corners of the Internet where there were discussions of race and ethnicity and gender and sexual orientation, and ways to be more courteous to and respectful of a person in a particular minority group in the U.S., and polite and considerate ways to refer to minority groups. Faults that I commit are still mine. But I try to keep those lessons in mind.
There are various analyses of attitudes in pop culture, and how more cultural sensitivity could be applied. But I don’t think it’s so much a habit of the older and serious academics to look at pop culture.