My latest post on Now Smell This is a fragrance review of Jo Malone Rose Water & Vanilla. You can read it here.
The French fragrance house of Houbigant seems to have turned to the history of art even more than other houses of the mid-twentieth century. I’ve already written three posts about advertisements for Houbigant’s Chantilly. This ad is a general promotion for the brand, rather than any specific fragrance, and it illustrates the idea of “the Eternal Feminine” with a work of classical sculpture.
In 2003 I moved back to New York after living in other states for graduate school and work. Things had changed during the decade I was away. I’m nearing the ten-year anniversary of that return, and I’m remembering how surprised I was by certain things that women my age were suddenly saying and doing. They had made manicures a weekly routine, rather than a luxury for special occasions. They teetered through their daily commutes in stiletto heels. They freely discussed their Brazilian waxes on their cell phones in public. They wore 3-carat engagement rings. And they were reading novels from a sub-genre nicknamed “chick lit.”
When I saw this vintage magazine advertisement for Cashmere Bouquet (circa 1899-1900), I immediately knew that it had to be the work of artist Maxfield Parrish. The hyper-realism of the light and shadow on the distant mountains, the palette of mauve and periwinkle, the “exotic” setting—these are all Parrish hallmarks.
Colgate hasn’t produced anything as fantastic as this ad in a long time.
My latest post on Now Smell This is a review of the fragrance Frangipane e Cocco from i Profumi di Firenze. You can read it here.
