During early spring, while I was reading Michael Edwards’ Perfume Legends, I was struck by the number of ‘landmark’ perfumes of the early 20th century I had not smelled. I hadn’t bothered to seek out many of the old Guerlain, Caron or Patou perfumes because they were for women and I would not be wearing them — so why bother? My interest in these vintage perfumes was ignited by Perfume Legends; in the book, Sylvaine Delacourte, artistic director at Guerlain and one-time assistant to Jean-Paul Guerlain, was quoted as saying great perfumes, especially chypres, could be worn and enjoyed by women and men: “A great perfume appeals…to all human beings.”

Today, men are more open to floral and fruit notes in their colognes. Fragrance houses like Serge Lutens do not categorize scents as “masculine” or “feminine” but encourage people to wear the scents they appreciate. In Robin’s recent article Notes on perfume and context, she suggested perhaps the best way to try fragrances would be to put perfumes in plain glass bottles — that way, no information on the perfume name, perfumer, ingredients, design/perfume house, packaging or “inspiration” would influence our judgment of fragrances. To take away such “markers” would also take away gender clues.

I began my remedial perfume studies with Guerlain. I ordered samples of classic Guerlain scents (in Eau de Parfum and Eau de Toilette strengths); when I received the fragrances, I immediately covered their names with white tape and I began to wear the “unknown” perfumes one by one…

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