One of the more baffling things, to a newbie, are all the discussions about whether to hunt down reformulations vs. vintage, EDT vs. parfum, discontinued and discontinuing gems. Perfumes from different decades have entirely different styles, and it's become an extremely common refrain to mourn the past, has it not? It's always about time: the time involved in wearing the juice, and the difference in stylistic treatments over time, the shift towards denuding compositions of their original vibrancy, and so forth. Even the structure of the composition itself, the way that the entire dance of notes is ordered, it's all about evaporation rates.
It's not like literature or music or art, which disseminate more easily thanks to innovations in technology, for which our understanding and appreciation only seems to mature over time. It seems it's easy to lose perfumes.
Lately, I've noticed a lot of criticism/mourning over the two most historic giants, Caron and Guerlain. Many people, much more knowledgeable than I, have discussed many of the pressures responsible for their diminishment, if it may be termed thus. But to cut this long preamble short, I wonder if we are not in the midst of seeing another timely phenomenon, the replacements. Because the needs of the public remain the same, even if we are being force-fed 750 fruity-florals a year and 50 more idiosyncratic possibilities. Perhaps people's tastes are being dumbed down by this process, but the surge of niche brands does signify something. So I was thinking, could we consider Serge Lutens as the emerging Guerlain, the opulence and artistic integrity and sweet "syrup" base, while Frederic Malle takes over the intelligent design of Caron? I'm not saying that they are equal or adequate replacements, because they have their own unique style, but they do seem to satisfy a certain niches, no pun intended.
I wonder a little if five decades from now Miel de Bois won't be reissued the way Djedi was, as a sort of limited-release curiosity?
Black hair, light golden-undertoned skin, dark brown eyes. Asian.
But it seems to me that fumeheads are more disposed to nostalgia than your average fandom (and I do think of fumeheads as belonging to a fandom; I've observed quite a number of fandoms). In a way I find this compelling; I've really loved smelling the older Guerlains, because even when they don't work on me (and even when they are reformulated), they're incredibly evocative. But I don't think that the way people wear perfume now is wrong or inferior; I think it's just different, it reflects a different social reality. So if SL and FM are better at creating interesting, complex scents that reflect that reality -- ingredients, social norms, etc. -- then it makes sense that they would be in some sense "replacements."
I'd like to know more about how people generally wore scent 50 or 75 years ago -- how many people wore the various classics and how much was "too much" perfume, etc.
Reddish brown hair, pale warm-toned skin with freckles, green eyes.
It is sad when a really great perfume is made into a pale shadow of itself, but that doesn't mean that people don't do great work now. I do favor classics, but I'm getting a little irritated by how militant people's attitudes are when it comes to fragrances. It's one of those things that are very open in terms of interpretation.
Black hair, light golden-undertoned skin, dark brown eyes. Asian.
I'm rather resistant to the idea that people were much different fifty or a hundred years ago -- classier, smarter, etc. I think the majority of people are just as vulgar, silly, nasty, etc., as we always were -- of course I do read Austen a lot.
I recently read a couple of articles at Basenotes deriding the idea that one can wear too much scent, and I was a bit put off. Of course one can! I ride crowded subways on a regular basis; it would be incredibly inconsiderate of me to overdo the perfume. I went to school with a woman who had asthma attacks when people wore strong fragrances around her; I saw her mid-attack once, and it was awful. I don't think the modern concern about personal space is unreasonable or silly at all. I'm exploring fragrances for my own enjoyment; I don't want people to be able to smell me until they get quite close. That may not be the way people wore perfume in decades past, but what of it?
My leather samples from TPC came today (finally!) and I'm trying out the extrait of Tabac Blond. Perhaps this is the reformulation? I love it, whatever it is.
Reddish brown hair, pale warm-toned skin with freckles, green eyes.
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This is not my area of expertise
