Perfume

October 1, 2016
A British perfume aficionados breezy tour of some of the 20th centurys most popular scents.In her debut, Ostrom examines 100 years of fragrance history, dividing the text into 10 chapterseach of which discusses 10 different perfumesthat cover a single decade in the 20th century. The earliest decades saw a turn from all-natural floral scents to those like Le Trfle Incarnat, which incorporated such synthetic molecules as coumarin and vanillin. At the same time, perfume began to seep beyond its traditional home among royalty and the aristocracy and become a novelty for popular consumption. The 1920s and even the Depression-era 30s saw a dazzling profusion of scents. These perfumes were sold as part of an elegant and liberated (for women) lifestyle, of the kind suggested by Chanel No. 5, which was declared a classic from the moment it was unveiled in 1921. World War II brought with it a scarcity of production and shift away from France as the sole center of fragrance production. American perfumes like White Shoulders began to arrive on the scene. With the 50s came a return to elegance, but without the free-spiritedness of the 20s. Change and rebellion characterized the scents of the 60s, which ran the gamut from classics like Shalimar to the hippie favorite, patchouli oil. The 70s were an era of blockbuster perfumes intended for mass consumptione.g., Love's Baby Soft. In the decade that followed, scent grew in volume to become an extension of female and, increasingly, exposed and glorified male bodies. After the excesses of the 80s, the 90s brought a refreshing unisex simplicity and youthfulness, of the kind found in CK One, Tommy Girl and Joop! Homme. Witty and informative, Ostroms history reveals the way fragrance speaks for historical eras while also evoking them.Light, pleasant reading for both lovers of perfume and popular culture.

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Starred review from August 1, 2016

British perfume blogger Ostrom (odettetoilette.com) does what many would say is impossible: she describes scents and perfumes in an accessible way. This title does so much more, though. It also glides through the 20th century, touching down on Paris in the Twenties, London in the Swinging Sixties, and the United States in the form-fitting Fifties, with historical tidbits sprinkled throughout. Charmingly and never cloyingly, the author presents 100 fragrance profiles, organized by decade, each with a brief historical overview of four to five pages. Each era is assigned exactly ten perfumes, but more often than not there are mentions of other smell-alikes of the times and knowledgeable references to certain scents' forebears. The entries are delightfully short, some poetic, some tongue-in-cheek, one a pastiche of a 1960s spy movie. Ostrom has nicknamed every elixir to perfect effect (a few favorites: "Poison, the pollutant perfume"; "Hai Karate, the self-defence fragrance"; "Joop!, the boyband perfume"), and her musings about celebrity scents (Celine Dion has 16!) and the online perfume community are on the nose. VERDICT Some Britishisms may sail over U.S. readers' heads, but this pleasantly illustrated scent sampler will send perfume lovers and fashion historians over the moon.--Liz French, Library Journal

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