Perfume through the past
E.Knowles

Perfume the Past: A History (Part 2)

Hey Guys

So this week we are carrying on wards and upwards with our journey through the history of perfume. This week we are looking at perfume in France and then through to the modern era. (Check out Ancient and Medieval uses of perfume here)
Louis XV of France who brought perfume to versailles
Portrait of Louis XV of France (1710-1774). Artist: Maurice Quentin de La Tour. Date: 1748. Dimensions: 60 cm x 54 cm

100 years later in France, the first guild of perfumers was established in 1656 and when Louis XV came to the throne in 1715, he demanded every room in the palace of Versailles to be scented with a different fragrance every single day. Not only was perfume applied to the skin of courtiers, but to furniture, fabrics and fans (like an early version of Fe-breeze). Perfume became so popular in France it was even substituted for soap and water.

The real revolution in perfume however came in 18th Century with the introduction of the ‘eau de Cologne’. The idea of putting scents into water made perfume much more easy to apply and also more versatile to use. People started to put it on bath water so they could soak up the smell while bathing. it was even used in wine, as mouthwash, breath freshener and even in bandages.

The origin of the ‘eau de Cologne’ is widely debated and differs depending on where you look for your information (so I’m just going to do a brief overview of all of them).

One version is that the original ‘eau de Cologne’ was a spirit-citrus perfume launched by in 1709 by Giovanni Maria Farina (1685–1766), an Italian perfume maker from Santa Maria Maggiore Valle Vigezzo, Italy. Apparently Farina wrote to his brother Jean Baptiste saying “I have found a fragrance that reminds me of an Italian spring morning, of mountain daffodils and orange blossoms after the rain” (awww, it sounds lovely). Therefore he named his new creation after his new hometown Cologne.

Another version of the origins argues that the ‘eau de Cologne’ is that Farina never invented it but rather nicked it from another family, the Farine family and it should have been named ‘eau de Bologne’ instead.

In my opinion the most interesting version of this story is the one which involves Farina (the first guy mentioned) actually tried to seduce a mother superior at the convent in Santa Maria Novella in order to extract this amazing new recipe the nuns used. (If you believe this story, he clearly succeeded).

The oldest perfume known in the world ‘4711’ named after its location at Glockengasse No. 4711. It was created by Wilhelm Mülhens and can still be bought today.

The original 4711 and the 21st Century edition

At the turn of the century, perfume became much more popular with everyone rather than the wealthy, largely due to manufacturing improvements. Techniques such as increasing the alcohol content and the introduction of synthetic fragrance, coupled with greater advancement in communication and technology made perfume much easier to produce.

Well there you have it, a brief history of perfume. I guess the role of perfume in society has changed dramatically from its first use as an almost gift to gods. People wear it nowadays to mask unpleasant smells like Queen Elizabeth I, or to hide the smell of poison (I seriously hope that isn’t the case today). Perfume can also have an erotic effect depending on the smell (jasmine is thought to be an aphrodisiac) and huge company’s milk this concept, (think of Gorilla perfumes ‘Lust’, which is amazing!!. Or Dolce and Gabbana’s ‘The One Desire’). As world renowned perfume critic Luca Turin notes

“Nobody ever died from wearing Mitsouko, but lots of babies were born as a result of it.”

So guys, what is your favourite fragrance to wear and why? Leave you answer in the comments box below

And remember…..

Sources (because I don’t know everything):

Images – google

One comment

Leave a comment