There are days that feel so perfect that I wish I could capture them somehow—in a sentence, in a drawing or in a drop of perfume.  It may just be a mild spring morning when I wake up by myself before the alarm clock and find that my husband has already made some tea for me and the whole room smells of jasmine petals and wet leaves. Or perhaps, I’m enjoying a cup of coffee at a sidewalk café, soaking in the sunshine and the perfume of dusty geraniums. None of these moments are great epiphanies, but they comprise the small pleasures that color my days the most.  When I read that a niche house A Lab on Fire launched a fragrance called Sweet Dreams 2003, I became tempted as much by its story as by the scent itself.

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by Suzanna

In the early 1980s, the late Annick Goutal created two fragrances for her young daughters, Camille and Charlotte.  Ivy and honeysuckle inspired Camille’s scent (Eau de Camille, 1983) while Charlotte’s scent (Eau de Charlotte, 1982) described a young girl smitten by blackcurrant jam and cocoa. Despite the foodie nomenclature of the notes, Eau de Charlotte is not a gourmand scent. The blackcurrant and cocoa notes belie Charlotte’s true nature as a lily of the valley scent.

I discovered Charlotte, or she me, on a scent strip in a magazine. It smelled so different—this was the mid-nineties—to anything else I’d smelled until that time.  I was a Jean Patou Joy wearer, and Eau de Charlotte seemed less mainstream and more creative. I wore it through a couple of bottles before finding Gardenia Passion from the same Goutal line (by way of the incredible soap, but that’s another story!)

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Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

The Muse

Elsa Schiaparelli was a designer who set lasting trends in fashion with her richly embroidered jackets, shoe shaped hats and lobster dresses, but I discovered her whimsical side through Shocking, a perfume she released in 1937. Shocking was a dazzling collaboration between Schiap, as she was known, Jean Carles, who created the perfume, and the Surrealist artists Marcel Vertes and Salvador Dali through whose drawings the sultry fragrance came to life.

This month, the Metropolitan Museum in New York opened the exhibit “Schiaparelli & Prada, Impossible Conversations.” Running until August 19th, the collection explores the work of two designers in a compare-and-contrast setting. It was the first time I’ve seen Schiaparelli’s work close up, and I was mesmerized. The clothes weren’t simply beautiful; they offered a glimpse into the designer’s vibrant imagination.

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Would you guess that this boy with a head full of tight curls is our Uncle Serge? At first, I had a hard time seeing the resemblance between this boy and the Serge Lutens I know from current photographs. But as I looked closer, I recognized the same intensity in his gaze. You can see more photographs of Lutens at different stages of his life in Le Monde’s feature La Vie en Images de Serge Lutens. The captions are in French, but the photos speak for themselves.

Thank you to Paola for the link!

Classical NYC subway shot

I usually keep several notebooks in my bag to jot down any thoughts or observations.  Smelling blooming black locust treea–its flowers smell like jasmine, Indian incense and coconut water–next to a bakery makes me wonder if a toasted hazelnut note would work with a creamy jasmine note and which perfume on the market has done it already. So, into my notebook it goes. I taste a tart juice made from beets, pineapple and lime and think that it would make a refreshing sorbet. I write it down. Lately, I’ve added my camera to the things I carry around with me–my arms are going to be nice and toned by the end of the year! Using a camera to see the world around reveals a whole new dimension, and I find it fun to capture the moment. So, I’ve decided to supplement my usual weekend scented observations and discoveries with my photographs.

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