1000fragrances: May 2008

Thursday, May 29

Dior: Escale à Portofino

In the trend of orange flower and Cologne ... why do we need this creation from Dior?
If you think Neroli Portofino is too strong and dark and if Eau de Cologne from Chanel is too refined and expensive (the best for me in this trend) you can try Dior.
A mix of the 2, easy to wear with a touch of orange flower molecules on the skin. They exist since 1900's and were used a lot as fixators in colognes and soaps (you will recongize the smell).
What I find interesting in the perfume is the almond note on top and the very green leaf smell. But they evaporate very soon.
Not a big start for Dior Croisière line!

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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Rue de la Paix

Once upon a time the famous Rue de la Paix and place Vendôme in Paris were the center of fashion and beauty. If today they are the epicenter of jewelers, in the first part of XXth century it was the fashionable place for perfumers and great couturiers. Before Sephora was invented women went to their perfumer as to a fashion house and buying a fragrance was an act with rituals different from today's fast smell era. Guerlain was located for a very long period at 15, rue de la Paix and a perfume with this name was created to honor the street as a symbol of elegant taste. But something terrible happened just before WWI. 15 was not Guerlain property but the owners were Doucet family (who also had the very famous fashion house). For still unknown reasons Doucet did not want to renew the contract. Guerlain was forced to move its business to the actual Champs Elysées. It was a scandal in that era and the 2 parts went into court for a long trial (something like 9 years!). Newspapers like L'Illustration or Le Figaro reflected those events.
Today Guerlain has a store in Rue de la Paix, but it's located in the other side of the street, far away from the original place.
Also, the Champs Elysées building, once the house were the family lived, is not today 100% Guerlain. A very small plate near the entrance to Guerlain Spa shows who is near to Guerlain symbolic palace. One of them is the famous russian GAZPROM. Scented vapors and money making vapors, one fuel for the soul, another fuel for the economy and from time to time strong headache for UE.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Armani Privé

I was very enthusiastic when Armani started this luxury line and I enjoyed the very first concepts both in term of design and smell (like Pierre de lune and Cuir améthyste). But very soon I realized that l'Oréal's intention was only to mimic luxury. If you look back through Armani's collection, although he is known for a pure line, when it was about luxury and Orient evocation, he did the most amazing dresses, simple in form but rich in texture with embroideries, subtle colors and rich decoration. Nothing of that is present in those 3 fragrances with such poetic names.
But let's speak now about the smell. All 3 are very thin and done in the anemic Ellena's style but without his brilliant approach.
Vetyver Babylonie is a microscopic vetiver. You have to look after it in a big dilution of Terre d'Hermes with shades of Declaration and green tea splash.
Rose Alexandrie, a nice fruity-orange flower rose has another curious approach. It smells very close to an Avon perfume from 2003 collection - Life Scents (it's between Mellow Moments and On the edge), quite a surprise when you know the price difference.
Orange Alhambra, the most interesting, starts with a big and dissonant bitter orange note that becomes a soapy invitation to resmell the very good chypre drydown of Chanel Pour Monsieur.
In my opinion these 3 products are in the same "faux luxe" concept that starts to develop among brands. There is nothing to justify price and position within niche when l'Occitane or Yves Rocher did better on the same idea (but before).
I feel that much more creative energy is put in a "normal" perfume at Sephora than in those 3, and it should be the contrary because it's niche and it's expensive. As a consumer I feel very sad when I see that what was meant to be a revival of true perfumery with an accent on quality and creation (niche) starts to be just another way to make money. And I do watch Armani show's:)

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Monday, May 26

Ambre by Chanel (before 1924)

The Ambre from Chanel that I knew and found long time ago was in the classic modernist No5 bottle (the first type as seen in the previous Chypre post). But thanks to this russian blog (ezhinka) I saw a different bottle of this curious perfume. Some voices claimed that Ambre was one of the first fragrances Beaux created for Chanel, even previous to No5. I was not able to confirm this theory but again, it seems that another Rallet perfume made it's way to the very new Chanel brand. The perfume was still produced in 1924 but after 1930 I did not find any record in my old papers (like other pre 1923 creations).

Like Coty's Ambre Antique, this perfume was created around a sweet vanilla note and the characteristic opopanax base where all the sweet balsams/resins created a soft note but it's more oriented toward the natural amber note. It's not very anymalic (like Guerlain's Ambre) and not as sweet as Coty's version. It sits somewhere between with a characteristic rose oil note (almost fruity).

Like many ambery notes the time seems to affect quite well the "maturation" and contributed to the liquor like note (an "exotic" rhum vanilla undertone like in Bois des Iles).

Looking back to pre WWII Chanel perfumes it seems that Coco had almost all the notes of the classification wheel and all that a modern niche brand would put today in the portofolio.:)

No "official" modern Chanel presentation don't even mention those perfumes.

See also my previous post on those rare Chanel perfumes maybe a Rallet heritage.

Thank you again, ezhinka for the photo you published.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Wednesday, May 21

Chanel Chypre (before 1924)

Since 1917 when Coty launched its great success it was fashionable that every perfume house had not only a chypre fragrance in their catalogue … but a Chypre or a similar name.
Chanel also had a Chypre and the one you see in this picture from a bottle auction in Paris years ago is her version. For the fragrance it's difficult to know if this perfume was a Coty like or a previous work of Beaux for Rallet (chypre perfumes existed also before 1917). Almost every great perfumer of the classical era tried their talent in the chypre type and almost all were great creations: Jacques Guerlain, André Fraysse, Edmond Roudnitska, Jean Carles … Now, it was Ernest Beaux's turn. This is still a great mystery of XXth perfumery - how great or not was Chypre from Chanel? There is no full bottle left from that very small pre 1924 production and only the recreation of old notes could tell us the answer. The tight relations between Rallet-Chiris-Coty and the very first days of Chanel perfumes might solve the origin of this perfume. But we can still dream of Ernest Beaux's lost masterpieces.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Tuesday, May 20

Chanel Glamour (1933)

While Europe and USA lived their worst years through the great Depression, while some fashion houses saw their American clients ruined, Chanel was on the point to live a great moment of her career. MGM proposed her a contract (1 million dollar If I remember well) to design dresses for their big stars in 1931. But this project will end soon after only a few experiments. In 1932 Chanel did the very famous exhibition of diamond jewelery, featured in Vogue, and those creations are still the inspiration of today's Chanel Joillerie. Fashion for Chanel in the 30's was rather different from the previous decade - romantic evening gowns, tull and lace.
In 1933 Glamour was put on the American market. Was it a project meant to evoke her experiences with American movie stars and to capture their magic? Was it a perfume to evoke Parisian sophistication and dream in a troubled era, as did Jean Patou who brought joy to her clients?
It seems for me that this perfume has never been introduced in Europe and the ad you see is American, from 1934. The perfume is a No5 variation but more floral.
20 years after, Bourjois put on the market a perfume called Glamour, but this one was a Chypre Floral Aldehydic in the direction of Crepe de Chine and Ma Griffe. Bourjois also, was selling a lot in USA and their Soir de Paris was a best seller. It seems that they wanted to continue the not so successful adventure started by Chanel.
Chanel Glamour is extremely rare now and to find it intact with perfume is already a miracle.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Monday, May 19

Chanel shop after the war

That's Chanel shop in the early 50's with only fragrance / cosmetic products. Today in Chanel windows only fashion and accessories.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Guerlain 1903

This ad for Guerlain - Georges Busson "Au bois" (aquarelle painted in 1898) was used a lot in the story of Habit Rouge. But the original caption was about another fragrance.
"La Fleur qui meurt" was on the handkerchief and the man said "It's really delicious!".
Another delicate flower that died to soon in the history.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Sunday, May 18

Le Galion fragrances (2)

Following my first review of Paul Vacher perfumes, fantasy perfumes, as they were called before classifications started to be used, I will present the soliflores that I smelled with carmencanada. I knew some of them (available at the Osmotheque) but one was the greatest surprise of this year.
Lily of the Valley (1953) is a very simple / basic note in the direction of Muguet du Bonheur but not so sophisticated. It is very green apple and fruity pear on top, followed by an artificial rose (rhodinol) with sweet cinnamic accents, a small violet and a very delicate jasmine. Fresh but more like a base, not a perfume, still usable today.
Jasmin (1940) is an opulent flower with a big banana-benzyl acetate note like in the natural jasmine sambac over a very plastic base. It has a distinct jonquil note with its sweet honey undertone. The peach and the very light ambery drydown might be similar to a simplified Arpege variation. Another characteristic note is jasmone - a component found in the natural absolute but here used without restriction.
Rose is built around the Rose Wardia (Firmenich) idea, the image of may rose, with spicy notes of clove and cinnamon. Beautiful, simple, light and not very strong it has a woody drydown with a smoky guaiac accent + the light lily of the valley (hidroxicitronellal).
La Violette (1950) is a very very very sweet violet, well rounded, with a characteristic violet leaf note. There is nothing special about this, very well known song, but better done than in Violette de Toulouse (Berdoues).
Gardénia (1937) is a very strange interpretation of the flower because it smells very violet- iris. On top a very characteristic methyl octyne carbonate, violet leaf absolute and something green basil in the direction of reseda reconstitution. When the violet dies a soapy jasmine takes its place with few mushroom and earthy undertones that could belong to a gardenia. Then some nitromusks for the powder and fixation. A hybrid!
Tubéreuse (1937) is the most interesting perfume I smelled this year. Pure beauty with no wrinkle. Launched before Fracas it must have been a great success. I noticed its name in many ads of Le Galion perfumes in the 40's. And indeed this was a shock! It's not the creamy, sultry Fracas where the flower is more a pretext. It smells somewhere between Carnal Flower and Tubereuse Criminelle but it was created 70 years before! It has all the natural and rich aspect of Carnal flower and the deadly amazing start of Serge Lutens - methyl salicylate, eucalyptus with a green very natural hyacinth undertone. The most amazing about it is the combination of absolutes - tuberose from France (different from the Indian used today) and jonquil with its honey liquor and some French jasmine. Because it's a soliflore there is no other disturbing/contrasting note. The peach-coconut is very soft, the orange flower is light with a very spicy touch like in Origan. On the drydown there is a very thin ambery note (opoponax base + elemi resinoide) and something like celery (used in old tuberoses). It's incredible and a must smell for any tuberose lover. It's 100% modern and could be sold today with no trouble (only price).

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

About Bandit reformulations

Bandit suffered many reformulations (one even during Germaine Cellier's life) and its truly hard to say which is the first/correct version or to buy the proper one. Last week I had a surprise at Piguet's counter at Bon Marche store in Paris. I was admiring Fracas perfume bottle when suddenly I saw something special on Bandit. You can buy the perfume and its less concentrated version. Both have the certification of the original formula, signed by Givaudan director (but different names on both concentrations), company that merged with Roure, the first producer. On the perfume, the list of allergens is not indicated. It's not a "very fresh" version as the European labeling rule is not so new (I'm not sure if can be sold in UE like this). On the other one I had another surprise. On the fresh reformulated Bandit (no bases, opened formula), in the list of allergens the chemical name of what is known as Lyral (IFF). To my humble knowledge it was not available on the market before 1955 (Arctander says 1959). But who knows… history can be rewritten.
The Bandit that I know and that I like has something deep/animalic/dark like Scandal (Lanvin) under the very potent IBQ note. The latest Bandit, close to it, lacks the roundness and velvet-fur note. My desire is to smell the true Bandit as it was the very first day.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Precious Lanvin

By the end of his career (1970's) André Fraysse wrote a long autobiography typewritten on more than 10 pages that I had the luck to find. He presents his long experience at Lanvin, the birth of Arpege and some insights about their fragrance factory.
Lanvin had the chance and the elements to be as important as Chanel but it did not happen. It also shows what is not often said in marketing manuals - that the most important element in the success is not graphic/design/product/ad/strategy/etc but the human factor and those who believe in the brand. It's not always mathematic.
Today there is nothing interesting about Lanvin except from the extraordinary fashion of Alber Elbaz. The fragrances on the market created when the brand passed in the many hands of the many owners shows what happens when people with just commercial studies are granted with an heritage they do not understand. But the decline is not new. In a historical period Lanvin was more famous than Chanel, and not by intelligent ads but by extremely good fragrances. Rumeur, Scandal and Arpège (the real one) were among the best and they were praised even by the very critical Edmond Roudnistka (he considered André Fraysse as the best perfumer ever). The design, graphical style and interior decoration created by Rateau were among the most accomplished in the 20th century with both unity (as Chanel but not Guerlain) and poetic imagination (as Guerlain but not Chanel). Good perfumes, good presentation, very good sales, modern but sensible - all that was lost in the history. What Lanvin Fragrances are today is the best example of "Brand Death" - when a brand has lost its soul.
In his autobiography André Fraysse, for a mysterious reason sets the creation of Lanvin fragrances the moment when he arrived - 1925. Of course, there is no reference to previous fragrances of Maria Zede (as if they've never existed).
Here you have an ad for Lanvin Fragrances, published 2 months before Fraysse's arrival. You will see a lot of names of the perfumes (10 fragrances and 4 lotions) thought to be only a gift for clients and also 2 international locations - Rio de Janeiro and New York.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Rochas 1926

In many recent articles about Rochas (the past 5 years) I saw the same error written again and again when author retell the story of Femme. That Rochas started his perfumes in 1936. Well, somewhere there was a typographic error that expanded. It's around 1926 that Marcel Rochas started to put on the market his first perfumes and it can be very easy seen in the ads he put in French Vogue. :) The correct information was given first by Christie Mayer-Lefkowith but few journalists read reference books and preffer a PR document. Today, after the closure of Rochas fashion so brilliantly revived by Olivier Theyskens, the fragrances are even worth. In the history Rochas fragrances survived the disparition of the fashion house in the 50's in a brilliant way, as does today Mugler. But now, it's just another example of "Brand Death" - when a brand has lost its soul. Their current offer is not interesting in any point (not even design) and if you liked classics (Femme, Madame Rochas) try vintage! Contrary to Luca Turin, I see Tocade as one of the worst fragrances ever created and after he expressed his first opinion in 1994 I did many efforts to smell it. It belongs to my "do not inhale" category.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Friday, May 16

Guerlain - Bouquet de Faunes

There was a time when it was fashionable to wear furs in winter and in summer in a considerable amount and variety. Today the smell of natural fur is almost extinct in our memory and this reference is not as strong as it used to be at the dawn of XXth cent. Many perfumes were created before 1950 especially for furs and maybe this will contribute to a complete picture of the movie Fur about Diane Arbus. There is no particular family for Fur as it is for the leather (with all the variations as soon as the olfactive reference changed - Peau d'Espagne, Cuir de Russie, IBQ leather as the bags/shoes, soft suede and finally eco-vegetal leather). But many perfumes, mainly chypre, had in their formula some kind of fur note achieved through bases.
Bouquet de Faunes is for me the missing link between Jicky and Shalimar. To see Shalimar as Jicky + some ethylvaniline or a further work on the previous Emeraude success from Coty - is to misunderstand Jacques Guerlain's genius. This fragrance appeared in a very troubled period. The arts started to explore everything that could be called primitive. The old legends of Russian folklore (like in Petroushka - Russian Ballets) and L'après midi d'un faune (after Debussy) showed a Nijinsky with unusual movements and a scenery with bold colors. "Les fauvistes" have already explored in paintings the power of unchained colors. Brancusi did amazing pure sculptures that had the force of old peasant wood carving and Neolithic ceramic woks. Very soon the African art fascinated designers/graphic artists and would soon bring an "exotic touch".
A famous picture shows Josephine Baker with her "big cat" - a panther.

For me this picture and the one of Nijinsky in l'Après midi d'un faune (1912) are essential to understand this unusual Guerlain perfume.
It seems that Jacques took Jicky (with its major notes of lavender and civet) - calmed down the aromatic Provence notes and wrote a coloratura aria for the panther. A salvage and brutal note where the animalic fur is unchained. Some years later, the big cat became domestic and he gave her vanilla & milk (cats like everything with vanilla notes, I did this experiment). And voilà Shalimar.
I recently smelled some very old products - musk Baur, Tibethine Firmenich (a natural musk reconstitution), Muscarome Synarome (a Tonkin tincture reconstitution), Minkone Synarome (sex under a mink coat). Those are extinct smells in our days but Bouquet de Faunes is all about that. The violent world of WWI when women wore fur coats and men leather boots darken with birch tar. Raw, brutal, unchained (but not in the same way as Scandal)!
Foto: Lalique bottle from ragoarts

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Best young perfumer 2008

Yesterday I spent my entire day at the event organized by the French Society of Perfumers - SFP: the fair of raw materials, where all major names in the industry presented their new naturals/chemicals that would inspire the perfumer for the next masterpiece and in the evening the announcement of the prize for the best young perfumer. During the day in a very intimate place where you could cross perfumers like Isabelle Doyen, Mathilde Laurent, Antoine Maisondieu, Jean Kerleo, Patricia de Nicolai and many others, I smelled very interesting materials that I would detail later.
The prize, first organized in 1957, is a contest where young perfumers are invited to present a creation inspired by the theme of the year. Then a technical jury will analyze the perfumes followed by an artistic jury that would look for the most creative perfume. This year the theme was a text:
"You push your hand in among the damp leaves, which when shaken shed hundreds of tiny clear droplets of water onto your fingers whilst the little plant’ perfume exhales and intermingles near the ground with the smell of the plants below and the stronger emanations of the earth”.

citation from Henri Bosco (Le Mas Theotime 1945).

More info about the Award, on the site of SFP. There was no price limit, but this year the participants had to follow the regulations (IFRA, allergens, etc).

The winner , best young perfumer in 2008, is Jennifer Jambon. She is a young French perfumer working now in Chile for the company Cramer and her speech spoke about emotions, scents, inspiration but also insisted on the opportunity of young perfumers to express their art even if they did not study under the guidance of a master as it used to be in the past. The trophee, created by the very famous designer Thierry de Baschmakoff was a "golden mouillette" - a sculpture inspired by the blotter that a perfumer uses every day to cast their magic. The perfume created by Jennifer Jambon (every participant received a sample in the end) is a very delicate floral on a soft woody ambery drydown. It starts with very green leafy notes like crushed petals in the hand in an ozonic breath, then opens to a delicate flower with rose, watery lily of the valley and orris. The journey ends in the middle of the wood where earthy patchouli and soft amber offers the protection to the petals and leaves collected in this poem. Pure poetry: delicate, fragile, feminine.

In the photo I took, near the winner sits Alla Belfer, the chief perfumer of the former URSS, author of many successes since the 60's in the other part of Europe, where Dior/Chanel/Rochas/Guerlain were a most precious treasure a woman could have. I thought this picture is symbolic because it shows 2 generations of perfumers, 2 worlds with different cultures of smell that were in the same place yesterday in Paris where raw materials from all around the world to tell their story and inspire the perfumers.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Andy Warhol Union Square - review

Like many Andy Warhol creations (who used to take images/icons of his time) the latest fragrance from Bond No9 has a certain degree of familiarity within our world. It's not a perfume or a particular smell but rather an idea, a known song of our days - the freshness after the shower, the adorable blond hair in the rays of golden sun and the wind. It's a perfume that follows you like a white cotton wrap that protects body&soul (like a Massai necklace) from the potent fragrances that might disturb the natural view. Green grass, green apples and a white pear flower opens the view to this orchard of innocence. Innocence of smell because it's a fragrance that was born before fragrances became a weapon. The whiteness, almost metallic (brought by the violet-ionone) is maybe the white face/hair of Warhol's pictures, maybe the reflecting aluminium of the Factory as seen in the movie Factory Girl. The artist did not use the perspective in his works and this perfume is very linear and not very contrasted - like a big white canvas before a masterpiece on a bidimensional plane. I am not surprised that the heart is composed by lily of the valley and violet with touches of rose. The close relation between Warhol and his mother was maybe the idea. Many popular women fragrances of that era contained those notes (+ aldehydes) and this one is a projection of that familiar smell in the future. The violet is present in the perfume through the freesia note (linalool + beta ionone) and is present in many fresh lily of the valley fragrances. To complete the fresh skin impression, the fragrance has a delicate peach/apricot undertone that softens the vivid metallic energy. Very cool and long lasting fresh, the fragrance ends with a soft white musk note, cedar-sandalwood and something ambery (but not animalic, just a hint of indol for the lily). It is vibrant but shy, spring like, bidimensional, with a rain shower impression over a green orchard but not as sensual as the red flower on the bottle would indicate.
Top: green grass & leaves, green fruits (apple, pear, melon)
Middle: lily of the valley, violet-freesia, white rose, peach
Drydown: cedar, musk, sandalwood, amber, very light vanilla

"“My favorite smell is the first smell of spring in New York,” Andy Warhol once said. Perhaps in a similar spirit, Warhol began painting and silk-screening a series of highly stylized, phantasmagorically colored flowers during the 1960s. He returned to this age-old painter’s subject in 1970, when he developed a portfolio of vibrantly colored flower screenprints at the first of his two studios on Union Square. Both the florals and the location were the inspiration for Andy Warhol Union Square, the latest in Bond No. 9’s series of collectible Warhol eaux de parfum."
From the press release

Bond No9 is going green. Within an eco friendly action the collect the empty perfume bottles and give in exchange a refillable pocket spray. Not an easy decision for the owners of the very decorative bottles.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Wednesday, May 14

Guerlain tradition

Heritage and good old past is not a new story for Guerlain. This ad from 1903, the cover of a 3 perfume set - Le Bon Vieux Temps, Tsao Ko, Fleur qui meurt - realised by Boutet de Monvel as many other from the same year, speaks about Guerlain's past. The woman is dressed in 1830 fashion (when the company was founded) and the first perfume is a good example for the nostalgic approach (Le Bon Vieux Temps - good old days). The ad has a touch of japanese style, as had the old perfume Tsao Ko.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Guerlain 1902

This beautiful Art Nouveau ad was used by Guerlain 1902 and it was supposed to evoke a beautiful perfume and great success of 1900 - Voilà Pourquoi j'Aimais Rosine. This exquisite fragrance was a lily soliflore (with a lot of ylang-ylang) and the drawing made that subtle illusion. Another lost Guerlain fragrance.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Fragrance and racism?

In his book, Richard Stamelman speaks about the african trend in fragrance bottle design as "the elegance and beauty of perfume invention and design offer no guarantees against the insensitivity of cololonialist and racist images …as revealed by Golliwogg (1920)". He also insists later in a racist interpretation which is quite exagerated and false in the context of 1920's fashion.
I will give the example of Germany to explain how this kind of statements in perfume history are completely out of time and subject.
"The jazz and american imported dances became a craze in 1920's Germany and some reviewers said in that time" If only the Kaiser had danced jazz than all of that never would have come to pass!" A fascination of black performers also developed. Termed "Bewegungsidole", movement idols, black entertainers like Josephine Baker became symbols. A critic said about her performances "they have brought us our culture. Humanity has returned to its origins in the niggersteps, in the shaking and loosened bodies…It is the deepest expression of our innermost longing."
Soon, Das Biguine, the first "Negerbar" (negro bar) opened in Berlin. Whomen, who usually wore very pale face makeup smeared dark color on their faces in an attempt to transform themselves into Baker like offspring. They wanted to look like her, to dance like her, to move like her, to be as erotic as she was. The adulation peaked in 1926 when Josehine Baker was appointed juror for a contest to decide the most beautiful and most authentic "false Negro". "
Soon in 1930 all this will come to an end in Germany. (the refferences are in the book I previously mentioned).
Vogue Paris offered a Chanel evening gown model where the woman (white) had a hair cut similar to Josephine Baker.
Behind the french fashion magazine Vogue and Vigny (the producer of Golli Woog) was the same Michel de Brunhoff. "inherent racism" is the most stupid term I've ever heard about a fragrance bottle/presentation. Maybe in a 100 years we'll heard about Opium the same (an insult to chinese people as a drug addicted culture).

What will we think about Harajuku Lovers of Gwen Stefani in the next 100 years - that fashion today sees in Japan only dolls and mangas? I hope not. At least in both cases I don't think that there was any bad intention or a proof of anything. (fashion can be silly, I admit - I noticed in a 1935 french Vogue mentions about fascist trend, with refference to Italy - but I don't think there was something more than visual).

photo: Ragoarts

update: It seems that the first subject (Golliwogg) was presented before, but not in a perfume book:

- "Golliwog: innocent doll to symbol of racism" - papers presented at the Popular Culture Association's conferences in the Advertising Area held 1985-1989.

- and the other in Journal of Communication, Volume 46 Issue 2 Page 150-157, June 1996

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Tuesday, May 13

France & Deutschland

I am an avid reader of Berg Publishers and of their books on fashion/textile history, the most achieved academic studies in the field of dress. The book I read now is called "Nazi Chic" and it explores in depths the economics and mysteries of third Reich fashion business and propaganda. The beginning of the book is a good introduction in the very tight relation between France and Germany, the politics and the economy in the field of fashion in the days before 1915 (but starting with Napoleon wars). It shows how much of the actual "ready to wear" (before the term was invented - inexpensive clothes) sold in France before 1915 was in fact produced in Germany (after Parisian fashions, of course). The same old story of "made in France" / "made in Germany" (today is China)! I brought to you this story because there is a chapter in the history of perfumery that has not been yet written - the aromachemicals (and natural raw materials) produced in Germany by Schimmel (and others) and rebottled by many other French names, or even Swiss before 1930. But there is a lot of "french mystique" that even today wants you to believe that everything originated in Grasse. In the same story of dark relations between France and Germany WWII brings to us untold stories about brands. The success might rely on good fragrance/bottle/name but sometime the politics are not to be neglected in evaluating the rise or fall of a brand. I annalysed last week the period between 1939-1949 and I came to some surprises: a lot of new brands and new launches, interesting presentations and fragrances different from the lavender thought to be the only available material. More launches than after the war! Also great names before and during the war disapeared very soon after, other raised from almost nothing, while other brands almost did not exist (but were to be succesful 15 years after). There is also the Chanel / Guerlain story that no one told satisfactory, other than repeating what PR people attached on email. One great french perfumer told something not very comfortable about german perfumers before WWII. I have a different opinion: maybe they did not produce any masterpiece but their products were in many great Parisian creations. One of them went to USA and began what is called today "the american perfumery".
I still dig into this delicate subject.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Saturday, May 10

Chanel Ads from 1945 to 1947

Chanel 46 ad is from 1945 - very rare, yet beautiful fragrance, a variation around No5 idea.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Le Galion fragrances (1)

Founded previously by Prince Murat, Le Galion was acquired by the perfumer Paul Vacher in 1937, author of the majority of the fragrances, some of them great successes in their time. A few are recreated at l'Osmotheque (the most famous) but other had a very short life and very rare today, so hard to smell.

I had an opportunity to smell them again recently thanks to carmencanada from a very well preserved coffret of perfume extraits. Most of the fragrances are inspired by the great successes of those years and, in contrast with other vintage perfumes, seem kept prisoners in their time. They are a perfect reflection of "good taste" back in the 40's and 50's with that quality that today we call trendy to distinguish them from visionary (Piguet) or immortal style perfumes (Guerlain). Nevertheless their beauty has something of the french nonchalance.

Bourrasque (1937) is a chypre fruity perfume somewhere between Rumeur and Femme with an oriental opoponax note, sweet coumarine. How many trees gave their blood to compose this vegetal oratorio to enchant the nymphs in the dark hours? Bourrasque is a precious wood from a chypre island where roses are distilled over dried fruits.
Top: spicy and green - cardamom, pepper, bergamot, aldehydes.
Middle: floral - ylang, rose, carnation-orchid, cyclamen, orris.
Drydown: chypre oriental - oakmoss, patchouli, precious woods, sandalwood, vetiver, plum&peach, incense resinoid, opoponax, costus, arnica, vanilla.

Brumes (1938) is an amber floral spicy in the direction of l'Origan but lighter and with a distinct fresh aldehydic note. It has the solar quality of the mornings in Provence (with aromatic notes of thyme, dill, lavender), the sweet immensity of Les Landes and their ajoncs, plus a spicy accent of nutmeg and clove over a rose.
Top: aldehydic fresh aromatic - aldehydes, tarragon, bergamot, neroli-orange flower, coriander, pepper.
Middle: floral spicy - ylang-ylang, carnation (+ salycilates), violet, with rose, jasmin, clove, nutmeg, angelica, orris.
Drydown: sweet powdery woody - heliotrope, vanilla, sandalwood, musc, benzoin.

Snob (1952) is a flower bouquet rose-jasmine in the direction of Joy, with aldehydic top notes that are close to Arpège and a drydown sweet powdery like No5. 3 perfumes in one to reflect the snobbery of Paris in the 50's.
Top: aldehydic green - aldehydes, hyacinth, bergamot, lemon, neroli, tarragon.
Middle: classic floral - rose and jasmine with ylang, carnation, lily of the valley, tuberose, orris, lilac.
Drydown: floral woody - vetiver with sandalwood, cedar, tonka, musc, civet.
But the best of Snob, the ultimate Parisian chic portrayed in Dior can only be said in French:
"La rose de la nuit vacillante et le jasmin de l'aube ont des magnifiques accordailles, dont les pollens ensorcellent, malgré elles, les femmes qui prétendent ne s'étonner de rien et plantent leur snobisme, comme un cavalier maure, à l'entrée du désert."

Sortilège (1937) is a floral aldehydic in the direction of vintage No5, powdery and very rosy with a delicate woody and jasmine note.
Top: aldehydic - bergamot, aldehydes, hyacinth, neroli, fruity notes (peach-strawberry).
Middle: floral - rose-jasmine with ylang, lily of the valley, orris, lilac, sweet violets (like in Soir de Paris).
Drydown: woody balsamic sweet - vetiver and sandalwood with cedar, vanilla, coumarine (tonka), civet, musc, a delicate chypre note and ambery-opoponax.
L'incendie des jasmins et des roses qu'attise l'odeur farouche de la fourrure tandisque le muguet garde dans l'explosion aldéhydée son calme de fleur bien élevée... Ce n'est qu'au moment où leurs petites haleines se réfugient dans un iris d'ombre, entre deux seins qui sentent le sublime que le sortilège commence.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Thursday, May 8

Good Old Days of Guerlain

In 1902 it was time for violets and delicate smells. This ad from Guerlain has all the essence of l'Heure Bleue inside, 10 years in advande. Aroma di Heliotropio (the first one), Le Bon Vieux Temps (ambery, in the center) and Lotion Végétale à la Violette (the right).

A symbolic ad for Guerlain in the Belle Epoque era. Le Bon Vieux Temps is one of the most delicious old fragrance I've ever smelled, a fragrance that Marcel Proust knew for sure.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Chanel No5 extrait – vintage

No5 extrait is the incontestable proof that despite all the money in the world for the most famous perfume, all the great care and attention paid to quality, past and present cannot live within the same bottle. "Yesterday smells different that today". I compared by contrast 2 Chanel No5 extrait, vintage and modern (fresh from the shelf). The sealed vintage No5, in the tester like bottles, seemed to be from the early 50’s but the box and the logo graphics were typical 30’s (Chanel graphic style had some variations through time).
Maybe the written formula is the same (Chanel insists that the extract is the same) but the smell is not and it’s not the effect of the time. If the shape (to quote Roudnitska) is the same, the details are not, nor the time evolution. Both fragrances start different, after an hour they go in the same direction for a long time and in the end again they take 2 roads.
The first major difference is the animalic note. No5 vintage is animalic as any old, pre 50’s perfume used to be, while modern is not. There is almost a leather note, cuir de russie effect inside, which is not present in the modern version. This cuir note can be an effect from the civet, musc tincture (+nitromusk) + styrax+ jasmin/orris/cassie, but its presence is unmistakable and create what was often said about No5 – the smell of a woman. This is not true for the modern No5 which is more “artificial” without the depth often found in old perfumes.
The second main difference is the ylang. The modern extrait has a beautiful and very strong ylang-ylang Nosi bé note that is not so pushed in the old.
The vanilla. In the old one the depth of vanilla and the burnt, liqueur like (almost animalic) note of the natural tincture is of a tremendous beauty and complexity. The modern seems to focus more on the coumarine, almondy note.
The sandalwood. While in vintage sandalwood note is soft and tender, milky and gentle, combined with the orris, in the modern I am disturbed by a synthetic note (like Bacdanol or Sandalore), often present in fragrances from the 80’s.
The orris As I noticed last year and then in Rallet, the old Chanel has a distinct orris, powdery-buttery note that is not so obvious in the modern. You can smell the jasmine-orris effect while in the modern the ylang covers all that.
To conclude, the main differences are: animalic, ylang, vanilla, sandalwod, and orris. The modern seems a polished version and … modernized but the differences are obvious by contrast (otherwise it can be called the same perfume minus the animalic note).
The drydown of vintage No5 has an unmistakable beauty, soft, powdery, human that stays days on the blotter.
Why even the No5 extract smells different is not an easy subject.
I love both of them but still, I prefer the vintage No5. It has more life and history in it.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Wednesday, May 7

Guerlain & Art Nouveau

Guerlain ad in 1901: Fleurt qui meurt and Voilà pourquoi j'aimais Rosine

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Sunday, May 4

Haptic and olfactory design

"Haptic and olfactory design" is a 3 year project started in 2007 by romanian Madalina Diaconu, phd at University of Vienna, Institute of philosophy and author of a book on fragrances (a research on the aesthetics of the »secondary senses«. This project aims to offer an olfactive map of Vienna as a ressource for Vienna's Creative Industries.

More information on the entire project can be found here (but in german).

The first symposium in 2008 is called "The Skin of the CityUrban Tactile Design"

30. Mai 2008 - 31. Mai 2008

"The modern city has been mostly regarded as a visual space, its scenic buildings, window displays and light spectacle being contemplated by the flaneur as an uninvolved spectator. However, urban space is neither neutral nor empty, but an active environment which interacts with the residents immersed in it, (over)exposes them to multisensory stiimuli and is invested with meaning.The skin hosts all ogans of the senses; nevertheless, the symposium will focus on spaces, practices and materials of the tactile, kinaesthetic and thermal design of public spaces and on their potential to increase the quality of life. The symposium is addressed to researchers and practitioners in the field of design, architecture, urban planning, anthropology, philosophy and social sciences."

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Friday, May 2

Sycomore (2008)

The latest Chanel in their Exclusive line has nothing to do with the old Sycomore. And it’s not because it uses very modern molecules that did not exist 20 years ago, but because it’s different in shape/structure/smell!
With this modern Sycomore I have the feeling that Polge wanted to reinvent vetiver à la Chanel, pure and with no ornament as a Brincusi sculpture or as the little black dress from 1926. Nowadays we have quite a number of modern good vetiver notes from Lutens, Malle, Hermes and the classical Guerlain. If they are reinterpretation, Chanel did the reinvention of vetiver oil and worked as a jeweler sculpting the raw material millimeter by millimeter. Do not expect an original or new twist because there is none. Sycomore is like the little black dress we know all but this time worked in Haute Couture style. Everything that is crude, harsh, brutal, all the character notes in vetiver oil are softened.
There is also the modern grapefruit note, present in all masculine vetiver fragrances, the spicy peppery note, the green vegetable carrot, the dried fruits tobacco note, plus in a very delicate way a shade from other Exclusives (Coromandel + 31) – orris+ jasmine.
If Coromandel & Coco are the baroc side of Chanel, No5 the abstract … Sycomore is the purist steel side like the first box of No5 (the glass bottle in a metal case).
pSYC(h)O MORE !

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

Cruel Gardenia

Don’t expect a gardenia as you know it, don’t expect a flower that is cruel or lethal as Tubereuse Criminelle. Guerlain latest addition in the series inspired by precious raw materials is a soft floral like the touch of a white angora cat in the morning. It’s more the image of the immaculate white petals (and not their smell) wrapped in satin over a body delicately scented with Dove cream or Cashmere mist lotion.
The type of gardenia composition is a modern twist on a classic shape, not so familiar in the late 20 years. Most gardenias were built for decades around a green molecule – styralil acetate (from Chanel to Amarige), then with lactones (like jasmolactone and peach-coconut lactones for the Yves Rocher Gardenia) and with the very expensive mushroom like molecules called tiglates (Tom Ford) when the flower headspace was already known. Every historic period had its own gardenia interpretation and of course its own flower used as a reference (like lilacs or lily of the valley, there are many botanic variations with different smells that general public is not familiar as with the roses).
In the 20’s the other prototype (the first is the green pungent styralil in Chanel) was the milky, creamy, slightly powdery note that was present in Jean Patou’s soliflore. As a main fragrance shape imagine the very rosy (citronellol)-violet (ionones)-muguet note from Nivea cream transposed in a gardenia perfume.
Cruel Gardenia is that kind of flower, but in a modern way. The creamy rose-violet combination is present also in J.Lo Glow, Kenzo Flower and in many luxury creams or lotions (Dove) that were not inspired by J’adore.
After a certain time, the perfume shows a very shy mushroom note present in the natural flower, which is here to remind you its name. (+ other dirty white flower molecules that offer their perversion after several hours).
Almost linear and not contrasted, the perfume reflects 2 stereotypes about what American women like: the white flower and the creamy clean musk (+sandalwood).
It also reflects a modern direction in perfumery and in Guerlain tradition. Is perfume a work of art that wears you or it’s a very pleasant smell like your second skin.
Cruel Gardenia is not the first case. You don’t stare at it like any other classic Guerlain, to admire structure or an original twist. It’s a simple as the most irresistible body scent. Wear it but don’t talk about it.

Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art

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