My father owned a bottle of Guerlain’s Habit Rouge Eau de Cologne when I was in the fifth grade. I’d sometimes put on a drop or two of the fragrance, but I was mortified if someone noticed my scent. (I did not like attention directed at my person — especially anything to do with grooming — when I was a pre-teen; the words:“Somebody smells good!” and the accompanying sniffing sounds made me cringe, and fear I was about to be sullied by a pair of unclean nostrils aimed at my perfumed skin.) I outgrew my skittishness around the time I left home for New York City and college life; I often doused myself with Habit Rouge Eau de Cologne (a going-away gift) and welcomed every bit of attention that came my way. Ten years later, older, wiser and less concerned with my effect on others, I bought Habit Rouge Eau de Toilette for the first time (the original Eau de Cologne formulation had been phased out). Three years ago at the Venice airport, on my way home from vacation in Naples, Italy, I couldn’t resist a bottle of Habit Rouge Eau de Toilette Légère¹ — a “lighter,” limited edition of Habit Rouge, now discontinued. This past winter, a friend gave me a bottle of “classic” Habit Rouge Eau de Toilette for my birthday. Habit Rouge and I — we go way back.

Habit Rouge was created by Jean-Paul Guerlain and released in 1965; the original, rather baroque, list of ingredients (lemon, bergamot, basil, pimento, cinnamon, carnation, rose, rosewood, sandalwood, patchouli, cedar, amber, vanilla, moss, leather, benzoin, labdanum, olibanum) bears little relation to the Habit Rouge you’ll smell today…

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