I thought I was doing pretty well at the thrift store this weekend. I'd already scored a sapphire blue quilted bathrobe from the 1950s with a full skirt and black passementerie and I'd snagged a 1960s soap dish made of laminate with tiny shells suspended in it, but my big find was around the corner: a bottle of Schiaparelli Shocking “Eau de Parfum Mist” for two bucks. “Shocking” was scrawled across its hot pink label in the same kind of font that came out of the back of Samantha's broom in the opening credits of Bewitched. Even better, it still smelled all right.
That night before I settled in to watch an old movie (in my new robe, naturally) I sprayed the vintage Shocking on one arm and the new Shocking on my other arm. “Shocking” is right! They were two different fragrances with only a vague family resemblance, more like cousins than sisters. Charming cousins, for sure, but you wouldn't mistake one for the other.
Schiaparelli Shocking was released in 1937 and was developed by perfumer Jean Carles, one of the creators of Christian Dior Miss Dior and the nose behind Dana Tabu and many of the Lucien Lelong fragrances. Shocking was packaged in a bottle shaped like a torso, and supposedly modeled after a dress form of Mae West that Schiaparelli had in storage…
