A selection of quotes from Michael Edwards French Feminine Fragrances, part two

Following on from my first post a few weeks ago, I thought I'd share a few more quotes from this excellent fragrance book. These quotes cover a slightly later period of the 20th century, up to about 1976. While I could add a few more as a subsequent installment, I think I will stop here. I think these quotes serve to illustrate amply that perfumery is an art!

Guy Robert on Ernest Daltroff: "Today, when copycats make money, and perfumers are discouraged by lawyers and toxicologists from using some of nature's most fascinating products, Daltroff's creations are a reminder of what true perfumery is all about. He devoted his unique taste and sense of balance to a quest for fragrance perfection."

Elsa Maxwell, Jean Patou's press agent, on being told Joy could not be used commercially, as it contained too expensive ingredients (possibly apocryphal): "That's our angle. We'll promote it as the most expensive perfume in the world, a perfect peg for us. And I've got the perfect name for it, Joy. Joy, it conveys a meaning understood all over the world. Wherever perfume is sold, Joy will be the standard of excellence, just as the Rolls Royce is to cars." Hmm, I wonder if Clive Christian tried to take a leaf from this book?

Edmond Roudnitska on Rochas Femme: "The most intense emotion I have ever known was the day Femme was presented in the couturier's salon on Avenue Matignon. They had sprayed the models, the curtains, maybe even the carpets, with the perfume. It was all over, everywhere! The impact shocked me."

Marcel Carles on his father, Jean Carles, who created Ma Griffe for Carven: "He lost his sense of smell after the war. He had nasal polyps and was always catching colds. They cauterised his nose, but must have damaged his 'yellow spot', because he could no longer smell. He continued to create perfumes in his head without ever smelling them, just as Beethoven lost his hearing, yet continued to compose. I'd say he probably never smelt a lot of the great perfumes he made after the war (including Ma Griffe)".

Edmond Roudnitska on creating Diorissimo: "To me, simplicity is the consecration of an artist - any artist in any domain - be it painting, or sculpture, or perfume. Only when they reach the peak of their talent do artists begin to simplify their work."

Marcel Carles recalling Paco Rabanne's brief for what became Calandre: "Imagine its spring. A rich young man arrives in his E-type Jaguar to pick up his girlfriend. Imagine the scent of fast air, speed and leather seats. He takes the girl for a ride along the seaside. He stops in a forest. There he makes love to her on the bonnet of the car."

Philippe Guerlain: "Events such as this (Paris uprising 1968) influence a perfumer, because it is not an artificial creation from an artificial world. Perfume is a work of art, a work of creativity and inspiration, linked to something that has actually happened."

Roja Dove: "Perfumers still study Chamade because its evaporation curve is considered so exceptional."

Jean-Paul Guerlain: "For me, Chamade was Guerlain's first modern perfume after Shalimar and Mitsouko. I am still in love with it."

Jacque Polge on Chanel No. 19: "The key to No. 19 is a very special grade of iris selected by Henri Robert. It accounts for only 1% of the formula, but it makes No. 19."

Jean-Claude Ellena on Roudnitska: "His perfume breathes, has rhythm, and his unique fragrance notes arouse the desire in us to experience it again and again. Edmond Roudnitska thus proves that a perfume is not merely a mixture of fragrance materials, but a work of the human spirit."

Jean-Claude Ellena on First: "We did not test the submissions on the customer to see if they worked. The only test we did was to spray from time to time in the Van Cleef & Arpels shop on the Place Vendome - just spray, to see people's reactions. I believe that First was the last major perfume of this century which was developed in the classical manner, the last perfume not to use marketing. All our thinking was intuitive. Just two people who took responsibility for the fragrance, for everything, for the world! That's a risk no one takes today."

A selection of quotes from Michael Edwards French Feminine Fragrances, part one

Anyone who has followed my blog over the last few weeks will probably have realised that I've been enjoying Michael Edward's wonderful book, French Feminine Fragrances. While I've enjoyed reading about the perfumes and their history, I've possibly enjoyed even more some of the insights and comments by the legendary perfumers behind the fragrances.

I am hardly an expert, but for me, the true essence of art is conveyed through emotions, both of the creator and the receiver, or audience. While I'd obviously prefer to love a work of art, I'd still prefer to be moved, whether it be by attraction or repulsion, than by indifference. Perfume is no different for me; I don't love every great perfume I've encountered, but I have been moved or stimulated in some way, and left with an indelible impression.

What struck me most when reading this book is the emotions that flowed from the perfumers. Almost without exception, these perfumes (we're talking about close to fifty) were inspired and transcended the science and chemistry behind the creations. 

So in this first instalment, I will set out some quotes that really stood out for me from the early part of the book, dealing with Guerlain and its early 20th century perfumes. I can't take any credit for this of course; I am quoting verbatim from the book and stress that all credit is owed to Michael Edwards and his research.

"It endures, not because it was the first modern perfume, but because it is timeless. Jicky is emotion translated into perfume." Jean-Paul Guerlain.

"'I couldn't put it in words', he told me. 'I felt something so intense, I could only express it in a perfume.'" Jean-Paul Guerlain on what inspired Jacques Guerlain to create L'Heure Bleu.

"First you learn to smell,", says Roja Dove. "You learn the smell of your mother, the scent of home. Then, as you grow up, you start to learn about fragrances. When you become a little bit older, you learn about fine French fragrances, and then, hopefully, you learn about the Guerlain fragrances. When in the end, you appreciate L'Heure Bleu, then you know that you really love perfume."

Sylvaine Delacourte, assistant at the time to Jean-Paul Guerlain on Mitsouko: "A perfume is an emotion that men and women can share. Little girls and boys both enjoy smelling flowers and woods. Its only later that someone lays down the law 'this is for women and that is for men'. It is not always true. A great perfume appeals not just to women, or to men, but to all human beings." 

Ernest Beaux: "If I had used so much vanilla, I would have made only a creme anglaise, whereas Jacques Guerlain creates a Shalimar!"

"To this day, there are still customers who believe that Shalimar is the name of the House. They don't think of Shalimar by Guerlain. To them its Shalimar by Shalimar." Sylvaine Delacourte