Quick Reads: Houbigant, Mucha, and La Rose France

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I came across this beautiful advertisement from 1909, in which Houbigant used an illustration by Alfonse Mucha to promote a fragrance named La Rose France, and wondered how it came to be. Then I found this post on a blog devoted to Houbigant’s perfumes and perfume bottles, which answered all my questions and then some. Do give it a read!

(To re-read my own take on a present-day Anna Sui perfume ad that pays homage to Mucha, see here.)

Image: H-Prints.

On the Street: The Plaza Hotel in Self-Camouflage

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A few days ago, I passed the Plaza Hotel on 5th Avenue. I did a double-take and then I took this picture. Look closely: on its front facade, the Plaza is wearing a cleverly fitted covering, designed and detailed to look like the building itself. Apparently the hotel is under construction; the side facing Central Park, visible at the right in this photo, has its own mesh-like cover to protect passersby from falling debris.

I don’t know what the view from inside the Plaza must be these days, with all this work going on, but the trompe l’oeil tarp is a nifty way to deal with the exterior.

CB I Hate Perfume’s Call for Benefactors

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I’ve admired perfumer Chrisopher Brosius since the mid-1990s, when his original Demeter line was first launched in New York. I’ve continued to follow his career and his work, collecting samples and a bottle or two for my own collection and—in recent years—making regular visits to his I Hate Perfume studio and gallery in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood.

(You can read a post I wrote last year about Brosius and I Hate Perfume here.)

For all these reasons, I was distressed to learn that Brosius and I Hate Perfume are being forced to leave their Williamsburg storefront. I don’t have the details, but everyone knows that New York City real estate, particularly in a neighborhood like Williamsburg that has recently seen an influx of high-end development, is a tough business… Continue reading “CB I Hate Perfume’s Call for Benefactors” →