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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Guerlain

Posted by pece at 6:02 AM

Are you a fan of Shalimar?

Or Guerlain perfumes?

Over at Peter's Paris I spotted a story on the 68 Champs Elysées flagship store and I had to share with you. (These are Peter's photos of the facades by the way...)
The Champs Elysées is a natural home to what was a family owned business for 5 generations from 1828. Only in 1994 did Guerlain become a subsidiary of the luxury group LVMH. The founder, Pierre-François-Pascal Guerlain, initially studied chemistry in London. And in many ways the uniform apothecary-style presentations stayed true to the foundation of the business as a perfumeur vinaigrier (perfume and vinegar maker).
(The text is Peter's too)
I got a mad urge to paint Guerlain's facade...
Elfie at Guerlain, original watercolor, 9" x 11"
And Peter's daughter has a pup, Elfie, in dire need of a portrait at Guerlain. She's a frequent shopper...
By the way Peter stole this lovely shot inside Guerlain...shhhh
After breaking the bank at Sonia, I headed over to Bloomies to take a look at their Guerlains. No one seemed to mind my shooting or testing a few out.

I'm still deep in Chandler Burr's The Perfect Scent and there's quite a bit about this perfume house. This is a "touche" - those white paper strips salesgirls aggressively wave at you, as you try to mind your own business. It's a way to sample the perf, but is it the same effect as spritzing your wrist? Qui sait. Still there has to be some way you can test these things without smelling yourself up like a floral hothouse!

Getting back to The Perfect Scent, I shall quote Chandler ver batim because there's not a snowball's chance in hell I can say it as well except to mention that people are obsessed with anything natural and organic these days. Yet,

~

"The natural creates a much greater allergy potential...and naturals (we're talking perfume ingredients here) pose a sourcing challange. What all-natural people don't realize is that synthetics are better ecologically.

The sandalwood forests of India are being destroyed at a terrible rate, literally disappearing (!) and the price of sandalwood is skyrocketing. Most perfumers I know...refuse to support them and it's a purely eco question...

...The idea that synthetics (in perfumes) are "modern" and "American" and naturals are "classic" and "French" IS COMPLETELY WRONG (my caps) There's no Frenchier house than Guerlain, no more classic collection of perfumes, and not only were Guerlain perfumers at the forefront of the synthetic revolution with the 1889 Jicky...

Guerlain's classic L'Heure Bleue (1912) derives its beauty from methyl anthranilate, its elegant Mitsouko (1919) uses the very elegant synthetic aldehyde C-14 (which smells deliciously of delicate, ripe peach) and the immortal Shalimar (1925) has quinolines...

~
If you really want to understand about perfume and The French (because the French and perfume are synonymous are they not?)

read this book.

And if you're wondering what l'heure bleue is...?

This is it!

BONJOUR GUERLAIN!

And thanks to Laura for these excellent perfume links:

Bois de Jasmin
The Perfume Court

 

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