Orient comes from a word meaning ‘East’. The question is, East of where? In this case, France, where the perfume genre was born. This vague, ever exoticized, mysterious Orient includes the Persian Iran of the carpets, the Taj Mahal of Shalimar, and what is sometimes called the Far East. It’s far from France, at least. China and Iran have little in common except their East-ness from Europe.
— Tania Sanchez on the use of the term "oriental" to describe the fragrance family. Read more in Why Are We Still Describing Perfumes as Oriental? at Harper's Bazaar.
