It’s been hot here. It’s pushing 100 degrees, and like most people in my neighborhood I don’t have an air conditioner. When night comes, neighbors sit in boxer shorts under their porch lights drinking cold, cheap beer and swatting mosquitoes. Even feral cats move slowly. What’s a girl to do? Descend to the basement with a martini and a stack of film noir DVDs, that’s what. Here in the light of an old swag lamp with the chest freezer kicking in now and then I immerse myself in the black and white world of femme fatales, private eyes, and gangsters. And of course I think, what perfume would they wear?
Let’s start with something easy: the femme fatale. Think of Ava Gardner as Kitty Collins in The Killers. She’s beautiful, unattainable, and just when you think she’s yours she double crosses you. Frédéric Malle Carnal Flower and Robert Piguet Fracas come to mind right away. Lanvin My Sin or Caron Narcisse Noir might be good choices, too. The “corrupt flower” of Penhaligon’s Amaranthine would be a good bet when the femme fatale is settled in a humid, exotic location like Jane Russell in Macao or Bette Davis in The Letter. Rita Hayworth in Gilda is more of a Guerlain Shalimar. Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity calls for something seductive but cheap — maybe Coty Sand ‘N Sable. Same with Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice.
Sometimes, though, the femme fatale doesn’t quite earn the stars of these bombshell perfumes. For instance, Mary Astor as Brigid O’Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon falls flat, in my opinion. She comes off as more maternal than dangerous and might rate Dana Tabu, but that’s it.
Not all film noir female leads are femmes fatales. Gene Tierney, as the title character in Laura, is elegant, kind, and a businesswoman. As she makes a point of telling the detective investigating her supposed murder, she cooks, too. Sure, everyone wants her, but she’s not out to break hearts. I’d scent this type of film noir lead with Christian Dior Diorissimo or one of the lighter Annick Goutals. Jean Patou Joy would suit her, too. Closely related to this category is the spurned lover, usually a good girl who mistakenly takes up with a hoodlum then turns herself around. Lilly in The Killers (played by Virginia Christine) is a good example. I might put her in Caron Fleurs de Rocailles.
How about the detective (or insurance investigator or worried relative)? I see him in a classic, no nonsense cologne, a stiff fougère, or maybe a leather chypre. Aramis, Guerlain Eau de Cologne Impériale, or Caron Le 3ème Homme might work. And the gangsters? The thugs could wear Brut. The mastermind — the top gangster — would wear something expensive, alluring, and not assertively masculine. Dior Homme, Parfums MDCI Invasion Barbare, Chanel Egoïste, or Chanel Sycomore would do the trick.
What we really need, though, is a perfume called The Blue Dahlia or The Blue Gardenia.
What fragrances say “film noir” to you?
Note: top image is Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity; bottom image is Ava Gardner and Burt Lancaster in The Killers.
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Definitely the older versions of Femme, and maybe its successor, Jubilation 25. I think Guerlain’s 180 Ans has that vibe as does Vol de Nuit vintage extrait.
Great article, Angela!
That’s so funny that you chose Femme and Jub 25–I thought of both of those as perfect Femme Fatale fragrances once I’d sent in the post!
Jub 25 really is a successor to Femme, isn’t it? Femme edc is really one of my favorite vintage acquisitions.
I agree–and a worthy successor, at that.
Something that smells like cigarette smoke and leather. Maybe Caron Tabac Blond. I’d put it on Lauren Bacall in The Big Sleep.
Jasmine et Cigarette?
Good one!
Tabac Blond would be great for Marlene Dietrich, too.
Great article!
I’m waiting to try vintage Tabac Blond extrait and hoping that’ll be a little film noir.
I bet you’ll love it! There’s definitely some film noir happening in it.
Its been unBEARably hot in eastern PA (100+ degrees, 3 days) and do you know what I’ve been wearing? Cuir de Russie EDT, which for me has worn better in the heat than in cooler weather!
Leather, stank, rose and jasmine. Who’d a thunk? Though truth be told, this smells more like an adult movie than film noir. Great!
I’ll have to try it in our heat! Of course, this morning is refreshingly cool for a change.
What a fun article, Angela! I recently watched “Double Indemnity” and of course found myself wondering what perfume Barbara Stanwyck would be wearing in that. I think you nailed it with “seductive but cheap” Sand & Sable! (I had been thinking My Sin but it didn’t seem quite right.)
Good luck with the heat! Going to the basement to watch film noir is a terrific way to beat it.
I watched “Lady in the Lake” last night and loved it. It’s a Philip Marlowe movie with lame acting but a great plot.
Haven’t seen that one — I’ll see if Netflix has it!
It’s a classic. I bet they have it. The whole thing is shot as if you’re looking directly through Marlowe’s eyes.
Great post! I love noirs and I mostly agree, but I think Lana Turner would sport Arpege much better. That was cheap too.
The old Arpege? Seemingly romantic and innocent, but underneath it all…
I love noir! How about Faye Dunaway in Chinatown?…. That would be something like Habanita….
Recently I’ve been enchanted by this 60s noir /noir-light TV show that comes on a retro TV channel we have over here. The show is called “Crisis” (Kraft Suspense Theatre/Suspense Theatre) and it goes from suburban agony light to some really gritty stuff. A young Gena Rowlands is just gorgeous as a woman about to be caught cheating on her husband….. I am thinking something cool on the outside and agitated on the inside??? Maybe Climat with that civet base???
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm446208000/nm0001687
My fav noir fragrances would be AG Ce Soir ou Jamais b/c it *is* a dark rose with a hidden skank base; the new Parfum Sacre edp Intense b/c it is just dark and gorgeous like all femme fatales, and then SSS Tabac Aurea, b/c it smells like something sensuous you’d snatch out of a man’s cabinet after a long night to wear home.
Chinatown is my all time favorite movie! But I never could put a scent to Mrs. Mulwray… she seems like she would have some bespoke scent, that no one else has…
I’ve never seen Chinatown. Must remedy that ASAP!
Yes! You do need to remedy that. I have an old VHS copy of it that we drag out every once in a while. I was very lucky the first time I saw it was on the full screen – that movie theater on NW 21st was doing some noir thing years ago when I lived up there. In the California tradition, my next fav noir film is LA Confidential. I wonder what fragrance Veronica Lake wore… that Kim Bassinger would have then worn?
I swear, I get the best advice from people on this site. I will see Chinatown before the week is out!
LA Confidential must be the ne plus ultra of noir! Carnal Flower all the way, I’d guess.
She’s such an interesting character. I think she would scent herself opposite of what she really is – she would scent herself what she wants the world to believe. A rose scent, perhaps. Although her character is really a chypre.
adding to above – thinking maybe Amouge Lyric for her…
Maybe a rose chypre, then?
Sure. Can you name a couple?
L’Arte di Gucci is a good one. Diva, Parure, Agent Provocateur, and Folie de Rose are a few others.
Yeah – MJ Daisy for day and then pure agony at night, lol. Is there a fragrance called “tortured soul”? Maybe Cristalle edt if it were around then? All that super brigh citrus sunshine and then the almost bitter dark chypre base.
I’m dying to see this movie now!
The show with Gena Rowlands sounds terrific! I can see you like your Femme Fatale perfumes deep, smooth, and dark.
I suppose I do – smooth and dark that way they never see it coming (or going), lol!!!
oh! great question on Chinatown! I’m thinking something heavy with nitro musks.
I just love the name “nitro musks”–sounds so dangerous.
ooh – no – this pix is even better!
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1184534016/nm0001687
Gorgeous! Full of mood. And she’s such a great actress.
He’s not a femme fatale, but I feel compelled to point out that Peter Lorre’s character in The Maltese Falcon wears Gardenia (Chanel, peut-etre?).
Brilliant!
Oh, interesting. In the book they refer to his character as wearing chypre.
I didn’t know Hammett was so knowledgeable about fragrance. Now I want to dig the book out and read it again.
Fascinating–I also find it intriguing that Sam Spade is the one who recognizes the fragrance, indicating that he has more knowledge of perfume than most straight men of his era (at least that is the case in the film–I confess I haven’t read the book).
That is very cool. The book is terrific, although I admit it’s probably been 10 years since I read it.
I found a Maltese Falcon at Goodwill a few weeks ago! Black, plaster, and ugly, just like the original. It’s staring at my back right now.
Peter Lorre is “kind of* a femme fatale, no? lol
I guess if you ask the right person…
What a great article Angela! I love to play “what does that character smell like.”
In the noir-ish but not quite vein, I always liked to imagine what Grace Kelly would be wearing in Rear Window, since she looks so FABULOUS in that movie. Maybe Guerlain L’Heure Bleue, a classic princess that’s on the cool side? Though not sure that’s perfect for the sweltering heat they suffer through in that flick…
Luca Turin compared the beauty of 31 Rue Cambon to Grace Kelly in Rear Window which, I suppose, fits quite well. I think Jolie Madame might work too, though.
Or maybe even Vent Vert, especially with the heat and humidity.
Luca also compares Bacall’s presence in The Big Sleep to Aromatics Elixir. Which can have something menacing about it. I don’t know many American films noirs. One of my favourite French ones is called : La mariee etait en noir. The female lead is portrayed to perfection by Jeanne Moreau. Who I think of in Mitsouko. ( vintage extrait) She is a very enigmatic actress in a very enigmatic role. A leather might also do, but I don’t personally know that many.
I will absolutely find that DVD to watch. It sounds really good, and I adore Moreau.
Isn’t Moreau the female lead in ‘Elevator to the Gallows’? Amazing, amazing film. I’m not sure how I’d scent her, but Fracas could be appropriate.
Also, Aromatics Elixir has been on my mind many times since I first smelled it last Christmas.
I have the soundtrack to that movie! It’s fabulous. Sultry, mysterious Miles Davis.
She is in L’ ascenseur pour l’echafaud. She is an amazing actress. Excellent in portraying aloof, smouldering and mysterious women. I find Fracas too cheerful for her for some reason.
L’ ascenseur is by Louis Malle, uncle to Frederic Malle. So maybe we should scent her with something from that house. All the same I still picture her in Mitsouko.
I can’t think of a good smolderer from Malle for the moment. Musc Ravageur and Carnal Flower might be too obvious. Perhaps Une Rose? Or even a dab of Vetiver Extraordinaire?
I think Noir Epices is a bit smoldering and I could imagine that.
I have been thinking about this on and off the whole day. I haven’t smelled the entire Malle range and am unfamiliar with Noir Epices. The one that kept coming back to me is Thérèse. It’s got something melancholy that to me is quintessentially French and would fit Moreau in both films.
Did you happen to see Les Amants by Malle? Another great Moreau performance. Not as dark and menacing as L’ascenseur, but very good. It’s a brilliant idea by the way; linking film with perfume.
Amant goes on the list, thanks!
Parfum de Therese does have a moodiness about it I can see relating to Moreau. It’s such a wonderful perfume.
L’H B would be brutal in that heat, but I definitely get the idea: romantic, hidden depths, correct.
I love Rear Window! Grace Kelly is just so beautiful and sophisticated!
So true!
I just love that little overnight case she opens to reveal a silk negligee bursting out of it. I can kind of see her in Joy, actually.
I love that scene, too! For years I’ve wanted a bracelet with a large, dangling charm like she has in an earlier scene in the apartment.
I love Rear Window! Grace Kelly is just so beautiful and sophisticated!
True enough to say twice! (I know these comment fields can act up sometimes.)
Angela,
Great piece. I loved Burt Lancaster. He was still sexy when he was old.
Modern day film noir perfumes to me would be DelRae Amoureuse, TF Black Orchid and FM Musc Ravageur.
Burt Lancaster was A-1, that’s for sure. Great choices on fragrances!
Well….If this is just dreaming…
My film would be Key Largo, with Bogart and Bacall.
The perfumes may not have been available during the actual filming… but this is just a product of my imagination.
For Bogie I say Gucci Nobile (a green citrus chypre pre-IFRA oakmoss restrictions) Sharp, effective, unapologetic. (and sadly discontinued!)
For Ms Bacall, I´ll surprise myself by suggesting Lauren by Raplh Lauren.. of course the name may have prompted the association, but I always believed that Lauren (the perfume) was classy, powerful, sexy and a bit mature just like Lauren the woman.
If I could I would relaunch Lauren with a picture of Bacall givin her infamous “look”
I think your ad campaign for Lauren would have sold millions!
Oh, I love Key Largo! I think something that sould be suffocating and tropical in that heat… maybe AG Songes or Amaranthine with their super rich tropical vibes and slight indolic skank…. all that tension and sweat!!
Oh yes, those are perfect choices!
This article DELIGHTS ME. I picture brunette femme fatales in Black Orchid and blonde femme fatales in Fracas. Hair color is an important distinction when it comes to femme fatales, dontcha know.
Black Orchid is suitable for its name alone! I’m glad you liked the article.
What about redheads? There must a femme fatale scent for them, too.
Awesome article Angela, but I can’t imagine life without AC!
This isn’t film noir per se, but I’ve always loved Auntie Mame. I see her in something a bit scandelous for it’s time; perhaps Tabac Blond or My Sin.
I love love love Auntie Mame, especially the one with Rosalind Russell. I think in the book they say she wears Nuit de Noel.
Really??? I adore Mame; I have to say the Lucille Ball version is my sentimental favorite, since I saw that one first and I love Ms. Ball, but I recognize that Ms. Russell’s really is the better one!
I am just so jazzed about the Nuit de Noel, which is one of my HGs! I loved the Mame books as a kid, and do not remember the fragrance being referenced….I am off to re-read it again.
That’s what I love about this blog…y’all seem to touch everything I love!
I do have the book, but it was a commenter who told me about the Nuit de Noel a long time ago. The book is worth a reread, anyway! My screen saver at work right now is a still of Mame’s first living room (the one with the Asian theme.)
I didn’t know there were books! How cool! I will search them out!
They are terribly fun – I read them all in high school.
Share the love of Mame! Gosh, Iv’e loved her for years. Ms. Russell version…Admittedly she’s the last thing that would be noirish, but who cares. I picture her having a vanity covered in perfume. And that she splashes around the most expensive juice on her letters, bed linens, and pet. I can even picture her dear little nephew being instructed on the proper use of perfume. Just what every young man needs to know-along with how to mix the perfect martini…
I don’t have kids, but I warned my sister years ago that I intended to be the Auntie Mame in my nephew and niece’s life. She still hasn’t seen the movie, so she can’t claim I didn’t warn her.
Excellent plan! Everyone needs an Auntie Mame. You’re doing your nieces and nephews a great service.
I know there’s at least one, the original Auntie Mame, but I didn’t know there were others. Sounds like good summer reading!
Ava Luxe Madame X seems very film noir to me…dark, mysterious leather. It also happens to be one of my favorite perfumes.
Perfect! Madame X sounds very mysterious.
Is Bandit too obvious? Not really femme fatale per se, but the first time I sniffed it, I got an immediate Bette Davis vibe….ditto Bvlgari Black!
I can definitely see Bandit on a jailbait sort of femme fatale especially. There’s something youthful about it, I think. Bette Davis is always worth watching!
Gee, I think Estee Lauder’s Youth Dew belongs in there somewhere. And what about DelRae’s Amouruese?
Someone else mentioned Amoureuse, too! And you’re right about Youth Dew. Maybe for a film noir set during a rainy winter.
How about Key Largo?
I love that movie. Perfect.
…and I’ve been wearing Lubin’s Idole for two days, it feels rather Noir to me…
It’s so spicy and rum-y. It would be good for a tropical film noir, especially.
Okay – not noir, but Ava Gardner and Richard Burton in Tennessee William’s Night of the Iguana. I don’t know which character would wear it, though.
Wow! That’s a fabulous movie and so, so intense.
How about Voleur de Roses for the brunettes?
I would also suggest the vintage films of Tennesse Williams stories,
for next time, if there ever is a next time, of over 100 degree days, such as The Fugitive Kind.
Lots of deep Southern sweat with no AC…
I saw a fabulous Tennessee Williams play-cum-movie not long ago that took place in Rome. It featured a middle-aged woman who took up with a young Warren Beatty (who played an Italian gigolo.) It was good–and sad. Some sweat in that one, too!
I’d say Tom Ford Noir de Noir would fit the bill for Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity.
With that name, how could it lose? What intrigues me about her character in that movie is how she obviously married up and never quite shook her cheap roots. She makes what could have been a flat character really interesting.
Have you seen Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction? Great femme fatale role. I see her wearing a dark, seductive incense scent – sort of Opium without the sweetness. Sorry, don’t know what that would be!
Maybe Black Cashmere?
That might work…
No, I haven’t seen it, but it goes on the list! Maybe Jubilation XXV (the masculine) would be an intriguing choice.
All these movies just reminded me (my memory is terrible these days with the heat) about this movie my husband brought home to watch, “Kafka” directed by Steven Soderberg and starring Jeremy Irons (who plays Kafka). It was super tense, and of course Irons is always amazing no matter what he is in. I can’t even imagine the smell of grinding teeth and cold sweat! Set in Prague too… maybe something cold yet oppressive with incense???
Wow, that sounds like an intense film to watch. Irons is so good. The perfume that would go with that might be hard to wear, too! Maybe Nu for its metallic edge?
My husband and I are fans of old-time radio shows, many of which are now available on CD. I heard one once–unfortunately, I don’t remember what show it was, except that it was a detective show (Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe, perhaps)–that dealt with some jewels (diamonds, I think) that turned out to be hidden in a bottle of L’Heure Bleue.
In the 1965 version of Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians, Shirley Eaton’s character wears Mitsouko.
BTW, as for what NOT to do when it is hot w/ no AC–one time, our AC was broken, and I was lying on the sofa in the living room melting in the 100 degree heat waiting for the repairman, and my husband decided to watch a movie about the French Foreign Legion in the Sahara Desert!
Those FFL-desert movies always make me think of Abbot & Costello!!
I love it that the jewels were hidden in L’HB! Great detail.
I can’t think of any films about Eskimos right off the top of my head, but it sure sounds better in the heat than movies about the French Foreign Legion!
Well, there is Nanook of the North. I told my husband I would have preferred that or Ice Station Zebra or a documentary about Antarctica or something.
Even a beach movie would be better than a desert!
The penguin movie! The papa penguins enduring winter on the ice while cradling their eggs on their feet. . . that would cool anyone down.
That would be perfect!
I’m not sure why, but Donna Karan Black Cashmere reminds me of Kathleen Turner in Body Heat… the shadowed look and slippery heat of the film call to mind aromas of dark incense, woods, and cinnamon.
Nice visual on that one!
Miller Harris Vetiver Bourbon to play up Humphrey Bogart’s nicotine voice (Lauder for Men may play the part too) and Corps et Ames for a steely-eyed seductress are the first things that come to mind. And Bandit, of course, no film noir can ever be noir enough without a spray or two of Bandit.
I love those choices–especially Corps et Ames, which I feel doesn’t get enough love.
It’s great to see you again! I’ve missed you.
Missed you too, Angie
Hi all! Angela, I enjoyed the article and will take note of the film noir fest idea for winter, I think. I haven’t seen much from this genre and thinking about the heavy fragrances is making me feel hot!
Good point about the heavy fragrances! Still, it’s a genre well worth getting to know, I think. It feels easy and light, but still fascinating to watch. The clothes are fabulous, too.
As soon as I read the header for this, I tried to think of what Gene Tierney in Laura would wear. And then Angela hit her with Joy, which is of course absolutely appropriate for a really nice business woman to wear. Hey, it’s one thing when your friends and men friends (who all want benefits) think you’re terrific. But when your household help agrees, obviously she’s a real fine lady (and she’s smart too).
I was trying to think of what Dana Andrews would wear, but the thought sidetracked me, and I never actually got to the perfume part. Back in the day, I had a horrible crush on him. Alas, when you’re 12 and your friends are squeeing over Leif Erickson or Donny Osmond, there’s just no way to share your love- unless you ‘fess up to your grandmother, who definitely understands.
But anyways, the thought that lingers is, just what would Miss Tierney wear in “Leave Her to Heaven”? Is there a perfume that screams “beautiful, sexy, but evil and crazy to the core”? Although maye if she wore tons of Poison, someone might throw her down the stairs and then drown her.
You had a crush on Dana Andrews? You were so sophisticated! I wonder if his character in Laura might have worn Old Spice. It strikes me that he must have come from a working class background and wasn’t overly natty.
The Old Spice does seem appropriate, doesn’t it? Sort of the thing a cop would throw on his face, thinking of it as aftershave, and not “boy don’t I smell great today?”
But just to be subversive, I point out that he promptly tried to buy the painting of Laura, which even for an enamored detective seems a bit non-working class. It must have cost a pretty penny, and where can he hang it without being razzed by his buddies? Unless like the Duke of Buckingham and Anne of Austria, he is planning on constructing a secret room where he can worship her. Which would require an incense type perfume for him.
Yes I had it bad for him. Lots of 1940′s movies with him in a uniform. Just pick the service. He looked pretty on land, air, and sea.
He could have put the portrait under his bed, or hung it inside his closet. It would have been out of place among his truly bachelor things. It seems like he was a man of few words, that one.
Lanvin Scandal. Knize Ten.
Great topic – although it makes me want to pull a mystery off the shelf and stay up all night reading it. MUST RESIST!
Great choices.
Why resist? Why not just give in?
That work thing that supports my perfume habit, I mean hobby.
I haven’t watched it yet, but there is an Orson Welles film set in Vienna, and Knize Ten is from Vienna, so that might be a potential match.
Oh yes, work. Well, darn it.
Knize Ten would be a good choice for just about any film noir, I think.
Fun piece, Angela. Two films come to mind:
Niagara with Marilyn Monroe, who I imagine doused in something voluptuous like Velvet Gardenia.
Second, though I always think of Angelique Encens for Marlene Dietrich herself, that’s not the case for one of my favorite roles of hers, the fortune teller (Maria?) in ‘Touch of Evil.’ I love the line she delivers to Orson Welles, “Your future’s all used up.” In any case, I imagine the fortune teller in something heavy, exotic, and bohemian… a generous application of Le Maroc pour Elle for that Mexican desert bordertown heat.
Not “Maria,” of course: “Tana.”
Oh, I love that: “your future is all used up” !!! Wow. I’ll have to look up that movie now!! And yes, Maroc – smouldering and intense for sure!
Oh, Niagra! Great movie, and one I’d forgotten about. I think Velvet Gardenia is perfect for her. Touch of Evil is genius, too, and I totally see Marlene Dietrich in Le Maroc or Angelique Encens.
OMG! One of my favorite scenes and lines ever!
Let’s try to use that line tomorrow! I’m going to see if I can somehow work it into conversation.
Real, truly evil Femmes Fatale would wear Tubereuse Criminelle, I think.
Jungle Gardenia for Ava Gardner in just about any film. It’s been years since I smelled that stuff, but I have the Long Lost Perfumes version and it’s great.
Jolie Madame for Barbara Stanwyck in the films where she is not really evil.
Miss Balmain for the cold, heartless types like Joan Crawford’s portrayals of evil.
All excellent choices! I can see Jungle Gardenia working for the Stanwyck character in double indemnity, too.
I wonder what “The Three Faces of Eve” would wear?
Should there be a perfume called “The BLACK Dahlia”? Have you seen the movie with Scarlett Johannson?
I haven’t seen The Black Dahlia, but it’s a great name for a film noir perfume!
Oooh, can I come over and drink martinis and watch films noirs with you? I love your picksfor the ladies. In addition, for Gene Tierney in “Laura”, I’m thinking a chypre – Bandit, Femme, Replique, and Vol de Nuit are a few that were around in 1944 when the film was made. And Bandit would be perfect for my favorite film noir dame, Barbara Stanwyck, in “Double Indemnity”.
Of course! I’d love your company. I read somewhere that Replique was a favorite of Rita Hayworth.
Great topic, Angela. I’m jotting down several suggestions for later sniffing. It’s been fun to see the substantial overlap between “femme fatale” perfumes and “dame” perfumes, btw.
I guess film noirs have their share of dames!