Ernest Beaux created Chanel No. 5 for Coco Chanel in 1921. It has a floral top note of ylang-ylang and neroli, with a heart of blends of jasmine and rose all above a woody base of sandalwood and vetiver. Chanel believed women should wear perfume wherever they hoped to be kissed. Today Chanel No.5 sells a bottle every 30 seconds. Recently it has been marketed as a spray with two refills in an effort to have it recognised as an essential everyday finishing touch rather than a precious scent to be used sparingly.
One of my favourites is Guerlain's Shalimar launched first in 1925 and relaunched in 2001. It's a refined oriental feminine fragrance with iris, vanilla, and rose. It has the wonderful Guerlain quality that never dates and always gets compliments. I still think it's one of the very best Guerlain perfumes. They are all particularly wonderful and each seems to develop with the individual. Maybe it really is because the secret ingredient called Guerlinade the X factor that is added to every new perfume bearing the Guerlain name, makes it smell like a truly sense hitting perfume unlike later unisex creations.
In 1932 Dana made the exotic Tabu, Worth made the memorable Je Reviens which remained popular in the 50s and 60s and in 1934 Elizabeth Arden developed Blue Grass. All are still sold today. Later Molyneux and Schiaparelli and other designers produced exotic perfumes in direct competition with Chanel. Jean Patou launched Joy in 1935 and it was voted Scent of the 20th Century at the Fragrance Foundation FiFi awards 2000.
1944 saw the introduction of Femme by Rochas. After the war lighter fresher perfumes by Dior and Balmain which could be worn easily by day became more and more popular with the middle classes. In 1947 Dior launched the ever popular Miss Dior. I still love these older perfumes such as Miss Dior and the wonderful lily Diorissimo. |
