Posted by Robin
on
22 August 2006
As previously reported, Sillage de la Reine, a Marie Antoinette fragrance, was recently recreated by perfumer Francis Kurkdjian. It is now available for sale at Versailles:
Indulging in a work of reinterpretation, Francis Kurkdijan [sic] has created a “ghost of a perfume” using only one hundred percent natural products. We discover the intensity of rose, iris, cut jasmine, tuberose and orange blossom. This fragrance is modulated by fine woody touches of cedar and sandalwood. To perfect the composition, two magnificent base notes were added…
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Posted by Robin
on
7 August 2006
Elisabeth de Feydeau's biography of Marie Antoinette's perfumer, A Scented Palace, inspired Hannah Betts of the UK Times Online to pay a visit to Versailles:
…And, most evocatively, a powder-blue cabinet room, festooned with peacocks (an emblem of motherhood), with chair handles carved in the image of her favourite dog. This was the queen’s refuge, her powder room, in effect, and one still holds one’s breath in anticipation of its rouged, fragrant occupant. It was here that Marie Antoinette sought solace from stifling palace etiquette. As with today’s celebrities, chief among her confidants were her fellow image-makers: her couturière, Rose Bertin, her hairdresser, Léonard, and her perfumer, Jean-Louis Fargeon.
Read the rest of the article here, and many thanks to Ruth for the link.
The UK's Daily Record has an interesting article on some of the more unusual fragrance releases this year…
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Posted by Robin
on
21 May 2006
Elisabeth de Feydeau, author of A Scented Palace, on Marie Antoinette's daily bathing habits:
Each day, she dipped in a tub laced with a confection of blanched sweet almonds, pine nuts, linseed, marshmallow root and lily bulb, then rubbed her body clean with a sachet of bran.
A Scented Palace is about Marie Antoinette’s perfumer, Jean-Louis Fargeon. You may remember that last year Francis Kurkdjian recreated Sillage de la Reine, one of the perfumes Fargeon developed for the Queen, after Feydeau discovered the recipe in the French National Archives…
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Posted by Robin
on
13 March 2005
Thank you to Karen for pointing out this great article in today's New York Times Sunday Magazine. The author describes attending a party at Versailles to celebrate the new biography of Marie Antoinette's perfumer, Jean-Louis Fargeon. Each of the party guests received a bottle of Sillage de la Reine, one of Marie Antoinette's perfumes that was recreated by Francis Kurkdjian from a formula found in the French national archives. Why wasn't I invited?
You can see a detailed list of the notes used in Sillage de la Reine in my post from February 25. The NYT article also mentions one other replica of a historical perfume: the Caterina de Medici fragrance made by i Profumi di Firenze.
