When I first dabbed on Tableau de Parfums Miriam Eau de Parfum, I couldn’t get the thought out of my head that it reminded me of something. Something vintage. What? I smelled my wrist and concentrated. Calm, snuffy aldehydes. Lots of violet. Creamy sandalwood. Then it hit me: Miriam smells an awful lot like Balenciaga Le Dix. Once I wore them side by side, I could see that Miriam and Le Dix differ distinctly. But besides major notes, they share a feeling of gentle femininity that isn’t fashionable these days.

Miriam is the first fragrance in Tableau de Parfums, a planned series of fragrances by Andy Tauer of Tauer Perfumes created to accompany film shorts from the Woman’s Picture film series by Brian Pera. During this ten-year project, Andy Tauer and Brian Pera will work together on three films — Miriam, Loretta, and Ingrid — and their accompanying fragrances. Miriam’s notes are bergamot, sweet orange, geranium, violet blossom, rose, jasmine, ylang, violet leaf, lavender, vanilla, orris root, and sandalwood.

In describing Miriam, Andy Tauer says he puzzled over creating a perfume that recalls another era yet is still modern…

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