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FRAGRANCES

Brian Moeran

A history of fragrances BRIAN MOERAN Institut for Interkulturel Kommunikation og Ledelse Copenhagen Business School Porcelænshaven 7 (Rosenvilla) Frederiksberg, DK-2000, Denmark

Over several millennia, has been put to religious, ABSTRACT: While we think of fragrance primarily in terms of practical, symbolic and medical uses. It was burned in modern , smell itself is a crucial component in the religious rites in Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, make-up of our social and cultural world. It is used to Hebrew, Maya, Minoan Cretan, Parthian, Phoenician, discriminate between gods and humans, men and women, Roman, Shang Dynasty Chinese, even - eventually - in high and low classes, and different races. Old habits die Christian rites of worship. Its smoke has given to the word hard. The practice of burning incense in ancient China is (from the Latin per fumum): fragrant burned replicated in the practice of letting smoke inform the world “through smoke”, creating a physical pathway between that a new Pope has been selected; modern perfume heaven and earth to communicate with the gods above. advertising promises repeat performances of Cleopatra’s Incense has thus had a symbolical relationship to prayer (7). seduction of Mark Antony by means of fragrant . This Is it any surprise, then, that the assembly of cardinals, article looks at the role of famous people in the formation of gathered to elect a new Pope, should signal agreement on the history of fragrances. their choice by lighting a fire and sending out smoke through a chimney in the Vatican for all outside to see? The Pope, like the kings of ancient Assyria, is an intermediary Smell lies at the very heart of culture and civilization. It between people and gods, separated from each by “holy affects us physically and emotionally, activating memory, fire”. aiding social bonding, and warning us of danger (primarily From ancient times, the gods have smelled “sweet” and with regard to food and diseases). Above all, however, smell incense was seen to be the very sweat of the gods that had is cultural. It underpins cosmologies, social hierarchies and fallen to earth, a “divine odour”. The words of Buddha were political structures all over the world (1). Those who smell believed to be fragrant; Mohammed prized incense and good are by definition “good”, and those who smell bad perfume above all else; and the gifts brought to Christ at his are “inferior”. The history of fragrances, then, is in large part birth included two of the most precious incense materials: a history of the practices of elites. This is as true of Egyptian and (signifying divinity and persecution pharaohs, the Heian court in Japan, and French kings and respectively). Until the mid-18th century, these two emperors, as it is of contemporary society with its celebrity were presented by the sovereign of England, and later perfumes. Putting on a fragrance is still a magical act (2). by two of the Lord Chamberlain’s officials, on Twelfth Day at Fragrance is so volatile, fleeting and impermanent in form the Chapel Royal in St. James’s Palace (8). that it cannot be captured adequately by language – other This “odour of sanctity” extended to humans. The Egyptians than in terms of its cause (the smell of , dung, or myrrh) believed that a cadaver would only pass on to the next life or effect (a smell that is romantic, dangerous, or mysterious) if it were richly fragrant, although this belief was probably (3). Indeed, its very elusiveness tells a story of the transience stimulated by a practical need to prevent it from putrefying of humanity. And yet it is used to classify and fix socio- in a warm climate. In the Middle Ages in Europe, if a sweet cultural categories of all kinds: the sacred and profane, life smell issued forth from a corpse when a tomb was opened, and death, , appearance, aesthetics, sexuality, it was held to be proof of sainthood. Saint Theresa of Ávila is gender, class, race, and morality, as well as social status (4). said to have emitted four different odours of sanctity. Any history of fragrances has to start with incense, the But a sweet fragrance also had its place in this-worldly earliest recorded use of which seems to have been in activities, as advertising and the modern use of perfume ancient China in about 8,000 B.C.. From there it spread to attest: A declaration of independence (9); all out glam (10); India, and thence - in the Hindus’ search for frankincense - Sheer sensuality (11). Most famously, when it comes to the to Egypt in about 3,600 B.C. These three ancient civilizations fragrance of love (12), Cleopatra had her body massaged made prolific use of incense whose ingredients were also with fragrant oils, and her ship’s sails doused in water used to make the body smell fragrantly (5). Their (and other and myrrh, before meeting - and seducing - Mark Anthony. civilizations’) search for the aromatic materials used in Most infamously, the English Parliament passed an act in incense and later in perfumes spawned the discovery of 1770 annulling any marriage into which a man had been new lands and the development of routes beyond the “seduced” and “betrayed” by “scents, paints, cosmetic horizons of the known world (6). Here the history of washes, articificial teeth, false hair, Spanish wool, iron stays, fragrances becomes an exploration of, and continued hoops, high heeled shoes, bolstered hips” (13). resort to, the exotic. The separation of perfume from incense occurred with the

6 FRAGRANCES - Supplement to Household and TODAY - n 1/2010 FRAGRANCES development of , evaporation and filtration various kinds - a passion that led to the emergence of the techniques towards the end of the first millennium. first major perfume houses in Paris: Houbigant and L.T. Piver. An Arab , , pioneered the distillation of Although perfumes and other luxury goods were frowned , which was used on the body, as well as for upon during the French Revolution, attitudes changed perfuming rooms and interior gardens (14). This led to again when Napoleon Bonaparte became the first Emperor fragrance playing a more significant role in people’s of France in 1804. Famous for his addiction to eau de everyday lives. Arab set up business in Granada - he is said to have consumed sixty half-gallon when the Moors took over the south of Spain and, from the bottles a month (16) - he imposed its use on his family and eleventh century, the crusaders brought back knowledge of court and so instigated a renewed for fragrances, Oriental fragrances and their use to Europe. which now extended to the newly emergent bourgeoisie. With the refinement of alcohol from around the turn of the The refreshing blend of , ( ), 14th century, it became possible to distil light, floral bergamot and that makes up was perfumes. The first alcohol-based , l’Eau de la used in numerous ways: diluted in bath water, mixed with Reine de Hongrie, was manufactured from around 1390 in wine, taken as a mouthwash, and even eaten on a sugar Montpellier in southern France. While Venice was then the lump in times of stress. Napoleon’s first wife, Josephine, was major trading port for spices and other fragrance materials, herself fond of heavy, animal scents and spent a fortune Montpellier - and later - gradually became a major every year at her favourite perfume makers. When production centre of both materials and perfumes. summarily dismissed, in an act of olfactory revenge she Originally known for its gloves - which were perfumed in drenched the walls of her dressing room with so much , order to overcome the smell of urine in which the leather civet, and (smells that the Emperor was softened - Grasse benefited from a climate that disliked) that their combined fragrance still hung in the air of enabled the cultivation of exotic like jasmine, the château de Malmaison seventy years later. orange and tuberose used in perfume making. The twin Napoleon’s influence extended well beyond fashion, professions of glove making and perfumery did not become however. He encouraged the break-up of the old guild of separate until 1724 (15). glove-makers and perfumers, so that perfumers could In many ways, the history of fragrances is the history of independently create any scent or perfumed product they famous personages. Louis XIV was responsible for the wished (17). His edict led to a rapid increase in the number popularity of eau de cologne when it became fashionable of new perfume makers in France. Some were located in for courtiers at the “perfumed court” to change their Paris, but many others set themselves up in the town of fragrance every day. Marie Antoinette, known as the Grasse (the “city of perfumes”) in , where they “Queen of Flowers”, also had a passion for perfumes of could have direct access to the materials they required. The

FRAGRANCES - Supplement to Household and Personal Care TODAY - n 1/2010 7 FRAGRANCES

development of an irrigation system around Grasse in the enough for them to feel imbued with a sense of luxury and 1850s enabled extended cultivation of flowers like rose, exclusive social status. Once they have taken this first step, it jasmine, and lavender used in perfume manufacture. is reasoned, they will purchase accessories (belts, Upgrading of facilities at the port of Cannes also allowed handbags, scarves) by the same fashion houses and then, increased imports of other important perfume ingredients finally, the expensive clothes that they produce and such as , , vetiver and ylang ylang, reproduce every season. In this respect, even though the and a railway link between Grasse and Paris enabled the quality of any one perfume is measured by its longevity, commercial distribution of finished perfumes throughout the fragrance - embodying the transience of our - country. As family-run, craft-based concerns of earlier times is subject to the transience of fashion. developed into full-scale industries during the mid- 19th century, some fragrance companies set up their own plantations in foreign lands in order to standardize and REFERENCES AND NOTES control the cultivation of flowers essential to perfumes (18). Napoleon also encouraged research into organic , 1. C. Classen, D. Howes et al., Aroma: The cultural history of smell. a scientific field that was to revolutionise perfume creation Routledge, London, p.3 (1994). and the perfume in the latter half of the 19th 2. A. Gell, Symbols and Sentiments: cross-cultural studies in symbolism. Academic Press, London, pp. 25-37 (1977). century. Prior to this, perfumes were composed of high 3. D. Sperber, Rethinking Symbolism. Cambridge University Press, quality natural raw materials, but from 1830 onwards, Cambridge, pp. 115-119 (1975). chemists began to isolate some of the more interesting 4. B. Moeran, Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale, 15(2), molecules in oils. One of these was , extracted pp.153-168 (2007). from the essence of citronella, but with the scent of a rose; 5. M. Stoddart, The Scented Ape: The biology and culture of another was , crystallised from essence of mint. human odour. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 168- After their success with these isolates, chemists then tried to 169 (1990). recreate fragrances, using fossil materials like and coal. 6. N. Groom, Frankincense and Myrrh: A study of the Arabian This they achieved through synthesis and discovered that incense trade. Longman, London, pp.22-37 (1981); J. Keay, The phenyl ethyl alcohol, a derivative of benzene, for example, Route. John Murray, London (2005). 7. N. Groom, Frankincense and Myrrh, p. 2. replicated the subtle scent of a rose; and benzyl acetate, 8. G.W. Septimus Piesse, The Art of Perfumery, Lindsay and derived from tuolene, that of jasmine. They then invented Blakiston, Philadelphia, p.21 (1867). artificial fragrant molecules - like with its scents of 9. Advertisement for tommy girl by Tommy Hilfiger. leather and smoke, and ionine with its scent of violets. It is 10. Advertisement for Live Luxe by Jennifer Lopez. such new molecules that have revolutionised 20th century 11. Advertisement for by Yves Saint Laurent. perfumery and given rise to a new profession: that of the 12. Advertisement for Deep Night by Ghost. perfume blender, who no longer combines plain, simple 13. George William Septimus Piesse, The Art of Perfumery, p.30 scents, but orchestrates fragrances into symphonic chords (1879). and harmonies (19). 14. F. Weighardt, Household and Personal Care Today, 1, p.1 (2009). While synthetic products were revolutionizing perfume 15. F. Pavia, The World of Perfume, Knickerbocker Press, New York, pp.22-23 (1995). blending and changing our way of smelling things, the 16. R. Stamelman, Perfume: , Obsession, Scandal, Sin. Rizzoli, fragrance industry itself was turned upside down by the New York, p. 53 (2006). arrival of a new breed of perfume-maker, the couturier. Paul 17. R. Stamelman, Perfume, pp. 57-58. Poiret was the first to market a fragrance as a complement 18. R. Stamelman, Perfume, p. 96. to his lines of clothing, in 1911, although he failed to put his 19. R. Stamelman, Perfume, name on the bottle label. pp. 97-98. Gabrielle “Coco” pushed this idea to its logical 20. F. Pavia, The World commercial conclusion when she launched Chanel No 5 in of Perfume, 1921 (20). pp.28-29. Forever since the link between fashion and fragrance has been inseparable. The purpose of couturier-inspired perfumes is to give consumers a “whiff” of . Fragrance is the first step along the consumer catwalk of fashion - cheap enough for most women to buy, expensive

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