Scent and Subversion

 
Scent and Subversion

Decoding a Century of Provocative Perfume

by Barbara Herman

Lyons Press

2013

 

 

Thank goodness for library renewals, because while Scent and Subversion isn't a particularly long book, the only way to read it is slowly, and I took about 3 months. Herman opens with an essay about her particular preference in perfume and concludes with profiles of two unconventional perfumers and two scent artists, plus a glossary of terms, but the heart of Scent and Subversion is a collection of about 300 reviews of perfumes, from the 1880s to 1990s.

 
The perfumes that Herman loves and writes about are a kind that aren't really made anymore, both because styles have changed, and because many of the key ingredients are no longer legal (due to concerns about either allergens, endangered status, or the treatment of animals.) Many of these perfumes mix floral, herbal, and animal scents, often with the more-or-less explicit intention of allowing the wearer to communicate sexual desire that she might not feel able to speak aloud. Coco Chanel famously said a woman wearing No 5 should 'smell like a woman, and not a rose,' which is a sentiment shared by many of the other perfumers Herman reviews.

 
One tidbit I learned, the 'indolic' scent is present in low concentrations in jasmine flowers and in high concentrations in feces. I'd thought my aversion to jasmine scented hand soap was idiosyncratic, but apparently some part of my brain recognized that the same smell had another possible source.

 
Based on my taste in scented candles, I think I would enjoy the now-extinct 'chypre' and 'fougere' perfume styles. Chypre is named for the island of Cyprus, and combines citrus top notes, floral heart notes, and base notes of moss. Fougere is named for ferns, and it's a style that is intended to smell like a perfumer's fantasy of a deep forest.

 
I'm kind of sold on the idea of liking 'difficult' vintage perfumes, but who knows if I would actually enjoy smelling them, even if I like the idea of them on paper. Also, it's the nature of perfume that you're never the only one smelling it, and I don't know where I could go where I'd want to be wearing prominent animalistic, bodily notes ... so I probably won't be hunting for vintage scents anytime soon.