Perfume

by Lizzie Ostrom

Overview

Join Lizzie Ostrom on an olfactory adventure as she explores the trends and crazes that have shaped the way we’ve spritzed. One hundred perfumes and scents in all their fragrant glory reveal a fascinating social history of the past century. From the belle epoque through the swinging sixties, to the naughty nineties and beyond, Ostrom brings intelligence and wit to this most ravishing of subjects.There was the patriotic impact of English Lavender during World War I and perfumes that captured the Egyptomania of the 1920s. Estee Lauder created "Youth Dew" and with it, distilled the essence of 1950's suburbia. Patchouli oil—the "anti-perfume" of the 1960s—was sure to keep money out of the hands of corporations and "the man." And who could forget the fervor created by the grunge androgyny of CK One? Scent is truly the passport to memory, making Perfume both a lush treat and an insightful examination of the twentieth century through the most mysterious of the five sense.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681772899
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	12/06/2016
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Lizzie Ostrom is one of today's most exciting commentators on all things perfume. A lifelong fragrance fan, she began hosting events for people to discover the world of scent in 2010, under her alter ego of Odette Toilette. She has worked with many fashion brands, as well as cultural and scientific institutions including the Tate, Royal Academy, Royal Institution, Royal Observatory Greenwich and The British Museum. She is also the co-host of the popular podcast Life in Scents. Lizzie lives in London and her favorite perfume changes far too often. Find out more on her website: www.odettetoilette.com.

Table of Contents

A Century of Scents: An Introduction 1

The Bountiful Belle Époque: 1900-1909 9

1 Le Parfum Idéal: The Queen-Bee Perfume 13

2 Le Trèfle Incarnat: The Artificial Perfume 16

3 Climax: The Mail-Order Perfume 19

4 Mouchoir de Monsieur: The Flâneur's Perfume 22

5 L'Origan: The Beauty-Hall Perfume 24

6 Shem-el-Nessim: The Arabian Nights Perfume 27

7 Après l'Ondée: The Purple Perfume 30

8 Pompeia: The Hoodoo Perfume 32

9 American Ideal: The Home-Grown Perfume 35

10 Peau d'Espagne: The Wanton Perfume 38

The Theatrical Teens: 1910-1919 41

11 Special N^° 127: The Society Perfume 45

12 Narcisse Noir: The Lawsuit Perfume 48

13 Poinsettia: The Theatrical Perfume 51

14 Nuit de Chine: The Fantastical Perfume 55

15 Ess Viotto: The Working Woman's Perfume 59

16 English Lavender: The Patriotic Perfume 62

17 Le Bouquet Préféré de l'Impératrice: The Revolutionised Perfume 65

18 Le Fruit Défendu: The Best-Named Perfume 68

19 Chypre: The Classical Perfume 70

20 Mitsouko: The Oblique Perfume 72

The Roaring Twenties: 1920-1929 75

21 Habanita: The Smoking Perfume 79

22 N^°: The Perfume 82

23 Nuit de Noël: The Festive Perfume 85

24 Bain de Champagne: The Prohibition Perfume 87

25 Le Dandy: The Gender-Bending Perfume 91

26 Gardenia: The Woozy Perfume 94

27 Amour Amour; Que Sais-Je?; Adieu Sagesse: The Hair-Colour Perfumes 97

28 Tutankhamon Pharaoh Scent: The Egyptomania Perfume 100

29 Huile de Chaldée: The Summer-Holiday Perfume 103

30 Zibeline: The Fur Perfume 107

The Threatening Thirties: 1930-1939 111

31 Skin Bracer: The Sergeant-Major Perfume 115

32 Scandal: The Animalic Perfume 117

33 Vol de Nuit: The High-Altitude Perfume 119

34 Tweed: The Outdoors Perfume 121

35 Blue Grass: The Equine Perfume 123

36 Fleurs de Rocaille: The Matinée Perfume 126

37 Shocking: The Technicolor Perfume 128

38 Old Spice: The Everyman Perfume 131

39 Colony: The Voyaging Perfume 133

40 Alpona: The Ski-Resort Perfume 136

The Insubordinate Forties: 1940-1949 139

41 Chantilly: The Romance Perfume 143

42 Dri-Perfume: The War-Effort Perfume 145

43 Femme: The Back-to-the-Source Perfume 149

44 White Shoulders: The Diaphanous Perfume 151

45 Black Satin: The Publicity-Stunt Perfume 154

46 Oh!: The French Lover Perfume 157

47 St Johns Bay Rum: The Adventurer's Perfume 160

48 Ma Griffe: The Proto-Teenage Perfume 163

49 L'Air du Temps: The Maternal Perfume 166

50 Fracas: The Noir Perfume 169

The Elegant Fifties: 1950-1959 173

51 Wind Song: The Prince Charming Perfume 177

52 Jolie Madame: The Uptown Perfume 179

53 Youth Dew: The Suburbia Perfume 182

54 Noa Noa: The Cocktail-Party Perfume 185

55 White Fire: The Provincial Perfume 188

56 Pino Silvestre: The Air-Fresh Perfume 190

57 Diorissimo: The Pedestal Perfume 193

58 Hypnotique: The Charm-Offensive Perfume 196

59 Tabac Original: The Just-for-Men Perfume 199

60 Vétiver: The Gentlemanly Perfume 202

The Swinging Sixties: 1960-1969 205

61 Bal à Versailles: The Maximalist Perfume 208

62 Brut: The Neanderthal Perfume 210

63 Zen: The Japonica Perfume 213

64 Pretty Peach: My First Perfume 216

65 Oh! de London: The Groovy Perfume 218

66 Eau Sauvage: The Playboy Perfume 220

67 Aramis: The Urbane Perfume 223

68 Hai Karate: The Self-Defence Fragrance 227

69 Patchouli Oil: The Wanderlust Perfume 229

70 Calandre: The Futuristic Perfume 233

The Spangly Seventies: 1970-1979 235

71 Rive Gauche: The Multitasking Perfume 239

72 Aromatics Elixir: The Holistic Perfume 241

73 No 19: The Ineffable Perfume 243

74 Musk Oil: The Love-Making Perfume 245

75 Diorella: The Joie-de-Vivre Perfume 247

76 Charlie: The Disco Perfume 249

77 Babe: The Prom-Night Perfume 252

78 Opium: The Me Perfume 254

79 Magie Noire: The Wiccan Perfume 256

80 Anais Anais: The Wistful Perfume 259

The Egotistical Eighties: 1980-1989 261

81 Kouros: The Action-Hero Perfume 266

82 Giorgio Beverly Hills: The Banned Perfume 268

83 White Musk: The Clean Perfume 271

84 Drakkar Noir: The Yuppie Perfume 274

Editorial Reviews

In this witty, entertaining new book, Ostrom surveys the 20th century by examining 10 key scents created in each decade. It turns out that a history of perfume is both wide-ranging and oddly intimate; after all, Ostrom writes, ‘a scent is as much about the people who wear it as the people who make it.’

Boston Globe

A wonderful, well-informed read. Charming and illuminating.

The Spectator

Rich and intriguing, this book explores the relationship between scents of the 20th century and their ties to politics, gender dynamics, fashion trends and the technologies of their time.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Readers with an interest in perfume and general history of the various time periods will enjoy Ostrom’s fragrant reminiscences.

Booklist

Beautifully written and sumptuous. Will make a perfect gift.

Styliset

Fragrance has always been wrapped in social and economic issues, controversy, memories and history as Lizzie Ostrom so persuasively shows in the lively Perfume: A Century of Scents. A sharply focused introduction to each chapter further puts the decade—and its fragrance fashion—in perspective.

Associated Press

A really enjoyable and fun book.

The BBC

An entertaining romp through a century of perfumes. This book is as delectable an artifact as the product it describes . . .the perfect accompaniment to a bottle of J’Adore.

The Independent

Rich and intriguing, this book explores the relationship between scents of the 20th century and their ties to politics, gender dynamics, fashion trends and the technologies of their time.

The Columbian

Readers with an interest in perfume and general history of the various time periods will enjoy Ostrom’s fragrant reminiscences.

Booklist

Fragrance has always been wrapped in social and economic issues, controversy, memories and history as Lizzie Ostrom so persuasively shows in the lively Perfume: A Century of Scents. A sharply focused introduction to each chapter further puts the decade—and its fragrance fashion—in perspective.

Associated Press Staff

★ 08/01/2016
British perfume blogger Ostrom (odettetoilette.com) does what many would say is impossible: she describes scents and perfumes in an accessible way. This title does so much more, though. It also glides through the 20th century, touching down on Paris in the Twenties, London in the Swinging Sixties, and the United States in the form-fitting Fifties, with historical tidbits sprinkled throughout. Charmingly and never cloyingly, the author presents 100 fragrance profiles, organized by decade, each with a brief historical overview of four to five pages. Each era is assigned exactly ten perfumes, but more often than not there are mentions of other smell-alikes of the times and knowledgeable references to certain scents' forebears. The entries are delightfully short, some poetic, some tongue-in-cheek, one a pastiche of a 1960s spy movie. Ostrom has nicknamed every elixir to perfect effect (a few favorites: "Poison, the pollutant perfume"; "Hai Karate, the self-defence fragrance"; "Joop!, the boyband perfume"), and her musings about celebrity scents (Céline Dion has 16!) and the online perfume community are on the nose. VERDICT Some Britishisms may sail over U.S. readers' heads, but this pleasantly illustrated scent sampler will send perfume lovers and fashion historians over the moon.—Liz French, Library Journal

Library Journal

2016-09-20
A British perfume aficionados breezy tour of some of the 20th centurys most popular scents.In her debut, Ostrom examines 100 years of fragrance history, dividing the text into 10 chapterseach of which discusses 10 different perfumesthat cover a single decade in the 20th century. The earliest decades saw a turn from all-natural floral scents to those like Le Trfle Incarnat, which incorporated such synthetic molecules as coumarin and vanillin. At the same time, perfume began to seep beyond its traditional home among royalty and the aristocracy and become a novelty for popular consumption. The 1920s and even the Depression-era 30s saw a dazzling profusion of scents. These perfumes were sold as part of an elegant and liberated (for women) lifestyle, of the kind suggested by Chanel No. 5, which was declared a classic from the moment it was unveiled in 1921. World War II brought with it a scarcity of production and shift away from France as the sole center of fragrance production. American perfumes like White Shoulders began to arrive on the scene. With the 50s came a return to elegance, but without the free-spiritedness of the 20s. Change and rebellion characterized the scents of the 60s, which ran the gamut from classics like Shalimar to the hippie favorite, patchouli oil. The 70s were an era of blockbuster perfumes intended for mass consumptione.g., Love's Baby Soft. In the decade that followed, scent grew in volume to become an extension of female and, increasingly, exposed and glorified male bodies. After the excesses of the 80s, the 90s brought a refreshing unisex simplicity and youthfulness, of the kind found in CK One, Tommy Girl and Joop! Homme. Witty and informative, Ostroms history reveals the way fragrance speaks for historical eras while also evoking them.Light, pleasant reading for both lovers of perfume and popular culture.

Kirkus Reviews