Barbara Herman, author of Scent & Subversion: Decoding a Century of Provocative Perfume, talks to NPR's All Things Considered about vintage fragrances:
Blogger Barbara Herman has spent the better part of the past six years taking a deep nosedive into the world of vintage fragrances. Her quest? To find the bold, the sexy and the downright odd smells that have defined women over the decades.
The segment is a little over 5 minutes long.
Michael Edwards has released the latest version of his “fragrance bible”, Fragrances of the World 2014. The reference book celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. The 2014 edition lists over 8,000 fragrances grouped by fragrance family, and includes over 1,200 new releases. The book is used by numerous retailers to help customers find fragrances they might like based on the scent(s) they already know and enjoy…
The format of the 2007 book 22 Perfumers: a creative process (also published in French as 22 Parfumeurs) is simple: interviews with 22 perfumers, presented in a coffee table format with lots of pictures. The book was the brainchild of Clara Molloy, who founded the niche perfume brand Memo the same year that the book came out.
As the subtitle suggests, the book focuses on the creative aspect of perfume development, but you’ll learn other things about the perfumers in question as well — Michel Almairac loves to cook, Alberto Morillas has “organized his life around a garden”. Each perfumer is presented with different questions, but overall, you’ll get a glimpse into what it’s like to work as a perfumer…
Three more upcoming perfume books for 2014: The Collector of Dying Breaths by MJ Rose, Rare Perfumes / Parfums Rare by Sabine Chabbert & Laurence Férat, and Past Scents: Historical Perspectives on Smell by Jonathan Reinarz.
A novel of suspense from MJ Rose, author of The Book of Lost Fragrances…
No. 5 Culture Chanel by Jean-Louis Froment, Chanel: Livre d’Artistes by Irma Boom, Chemistry and the Sense of Smell by Charles Sell, Complete Abandon by Norman Isaacson, La Note Verte by Jean-Claude Ellena.
Also, Kathleen Tessaro’s The Perfume Collector comes out in paperback next month, and a new (US?) edition of Roja Dove’s The Essence of Perfume comes out in June.
Published last November, No. 5 Culture Chanel by Jean-Louis Froment was released in conjunction with the No. 5 Culture Chanel exhibition…