Category: Art and Perfume Advertising

Art history’s influence on perfume ads of the past and present.

Preview: Lipstick Queen Belle Epoque Nourishing Lip Balms, with an Art History Reference

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Lipstick Queen has just released a new product: a tinted lip balm named Belle Epoque, in a reference to the “beautiful era” of arts, fashion, and culture in fin de siècle France. Yes, a lip product named Belle Epoque; I can not resist. (As a girl, I went with my mother to see an exhibition titled “La Belle Epoque” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, and this era has never lost its fascination for me.)

I’m hoping to have an opportunity to try these balms soon, but in the meantime, let’s look closer that image and do a little art history “detective work”…

Continue reading “Preview: Lipstick Queen Belle Epoque Nourishing Lip Balms, with an Art History Reference” →

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Yoko Ono and Fragrance, Part 1: “One Woman Show”

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I recently attended the press preview for “Yoko Ono: One Woman Show, 1960-1971” at the Museum of Modern Art. I was preparing to write a short piece about the exhibition as a freelance assignment (see here!), but this visit ended up being pleasure as well as work.

I even picked up a few fragrance references that I’d like to share here. One came in connection with Ono’s 1971 “exhibition” at MoMA, which was actually a work of Conceptual art rather than a literal exhibition. Continue reading “Yoko Ono and Fragrance, Part 1: “One Woman Show”” →

“Helena Rubinstein: Beauty is Power” at The Jewish Museum

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Helena Rubinstein’s birthdate was December 25, 1872, so I thought I’d share this vintage advertisement (featuring Madame Rubinstein herself!) and a reminder that the Jewish Museum’s exhibition about Rubinstein continues through March 22. I highly recommend it—it gives a detailed and lively look at the career of this one-of-a-kind cosmetics entrepreneur, art collector, and philanthropist. You can read more of my thoughts on the exhibition here, at Biography.com.

For more information about the show, visit the Jewish Museum’s website.

Image via the Jewish Museum.

Just Because: Jean Paul Gaultier Perfume Advertisement (1993)

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Every Friday, Now Smell This hosts a “community project.” For today’s group post, everyone is wearing and naming the a “down the rabbit hole” scent—the fragrance that turned her/him into a perfume obsessive.

Mine? The original Jean Paul Gaultier perfume, now called Classique. It was launched in 1993, and I wore it regularly in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It’s not a niche fragrance, nor the creation of an independent perfumer, no—but thanks to this fragrance in its female-torso bottle, I started thinking about fragrance in a deeper and more detailed way. I realized that rose and vanilla were (and are!) two of my favorite notes to wear. I learned the difference between an Eau de Toilette and an Eau de Parfum, and I noticed the differences between these two formulations of Gaultier’s fragrance. I admired the bottle and learned that it was inspired by an earlier, iconic example: Schiaparelli’s Shocking (created in 1937). Personal taste, terminology, history, visual identity; all aspects of fragrance that I still ponder and research.

If you’re a NST reader, please do add your own gateway perfume to the community post today!