Will Andrews of the Fragrance Creation Team at Procter & Gamble will be giving a talk, The science of scent: Adventures in a creative mind, at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in London…
Angela Flanders ~ shopping for perfume in London
Perfume-shopping in London is really all about the West End (the shopping/theatre areas west of the City). The East End, despite recent trendification, is not the place you’d expect to find much in the way of good perfume hunting.
However, it’s worth making the trip east to visit the Angela Flanders shop, established in Shoreditch in 1985, where she sells her own creations in a charming boutique. It’s a bit like the East End equivalent of Ormonde Jayne.
There’s one catch: the shop is only open on Sundays. At any other time, you have to make an appointment.
The reason for this becomes clear if you visit the area…
Perfume course at London College of Fashion
Denyse Beaulieu of the Grain de Musc blog will be teaching a 3-day course titled ‘Decoding Fragrance’ at the London College of Fashion this coming June:
The course, designed and given by the Paris-based fragrance writer Denyse Beaulieu with the input of master perfumers…
Le Labo on Devonshire Street ~ shopping for perfume in London
Le Labo opened their first London standalone shop very quietly, in late February 2010. They were already in London, of course, via their counter in Liberty — about as prestigious as it gets in the central London department store arena. Now they’ve chosen an equally upmarket neighbourhood for their first London shop.
Devonshire Street links Harley Street with Marylebone High Street (it’s pronounced ‘Marly-bun’, in case you wondered). This is an area of Georgian terraces and charming little mews, as well as being the epicentre of private medicine in the UK. Marylebone High Street is one of those chic, understated shopping areas where the charity shop sells Prada and you’re likely to vaguely recognize the person on the next table if you pop in for a lunchtime bite. (A friend of mine trailed after a familiar figure one day; it was Ronnie Wood.)
The Le Labo shop is actually just round the corner from Marylebone High Street…
Geo. F. Trumper, Jermyn Street ~ shopping for perfume in London
Jermyn Street is the wardrobe area of what you might call Gentlemanland — the corner of St. James that hosts many of the ancient gentleman’s clubs (Boodle’s, White’s, The Reform, The Athenaeum) — and the kinds of gentleman’s clothing shops that having been selling discreetly to royals and aristocrats for hundreds of years.
Geo. F. Trumper was established in 1875, which makes it almost modern by the standards of St. James. Although the business describes itself as ‘Perfumer’, Geo. F. Trumper was really about grooming in the widest sense. Everything that a chap would need to look — and smell — like a toff — was offered by Trumpers, and still is…