Then and Now

I have always loved perfume. As a child I would make trips to the 5 and 10 cent store (the then equivalent of today's dollar stores) spending my change on 'perfumes' - they were little more than colored water, but nonetheless pretty. I would sit by my mother's vanity table as she got ready for her day, hoping for a tiny spritz of her signature Blue Grass. I would watch for the Avon lady to visit my grandmother, knowing there would be samples that she would dole out to me for 'being good'. And I'll never forget the joy I felt when I was given my first 'real' perfume, Nina Ricci's L'Air du Temps, a fragrance I still wear all these years later. New Year's day has just passed, and it's 2016. A great many things have changed in the fragrance world since I received that first Nina Ricci in 1964. Back then women wore light, sweet perfumes for daytime if they wore them at all, and the classics like Chanel No. 5, Guerlain's Vol de Nuit and Dana's Tabu were saved for evening wear, but this is generally true for those same fragrances today when I think about it! I believe it was about 1967 when I first met the fragrance love of my life, Dior's Diorissimo. Lily of the Valley was and still is my favorite flower, and it's a delight to find it no matter what season in that perfume. It was sold in the houndstooth bottle back then, and I agree with many others that the first formulation was the best. Body oils, particularly patchouli became popular around this same time, natural scents were now 'in' along with bell bottom jeans and long hair. Coty had their Sweet Earth line, solid perfume in compacts with three different scents in each one. I loved those, and despite much searching I've not been able to find it. Last but not least, no 60's perfume collection was complete without a bottle of Oh! de London, sold by Yardley at the time, and wildly popular. It exists under the Tuvache label today, but seems a bit different than the original. The 70's arrived, along with more perfume - Love's Lemon Fresh and Baby Soft were my favorites for casual wear.

The original Charlie by Revlon was launched, and I swear it seemed like the entire female population wore it! It was at the end of this decade that I purchased my second unisex fragrance ( the 1st was 4711), Eau d'Orange Vert by Hermes, and I judge all green/orange type fragrances based on this. The 80's brought Giorgio by Giorgio Beverly Hills, and Obession by Calvin Klein, popular of course, but I wasn't really enthralled by either one. My great fragrance from the 80's is Calyx by Prescriptives - of note is that my husband, who is maddeningly indifferent to almost all of my collection, absolutely loves this one! It was in the 90's that I began to forage farther into niche territory, to the delight of my nose and the ruination of my bank account. I'd known about Annick Goutal for awhile, and owned Eau d'Hadrien , Eau du Sud, and Eau de Camille, I added Grand Amour, Petite Cherie and others, but my favorite is the exquisite Eau de Ciel. I went further still as the new millennium came, discovering Sisley (Eau de Campagne), L'Artisan (La Chasse au Papillions, L'Ete en Douce), Atelier (Trefle Pur), Diptyque (Le Jardin Clos), Miller Harris (Le Petit Grain). These are some of my favorites from these houses, the actual list is, I'm almost ashamed to say, much longer. But if I could have only one fragrance, if I were somehow forced into this heartwrenching choice, I would choose Tilleul by D'Orsay - for me it's not only THE linden scent, but THE perfume, and it's become my signature. It's incredible how evocative fragrance is - as I've taken this trip down memory lane (forgive the cliché please) I have been amazed by the clarity and detail of people and places that recounting these fragrances has brought back to me. Yes, fragrance is a luxury, but for me at least it's also a necessity.