The Modern Masters Emerge

1917 – Chypre by Coty.  Originally created as an individual fragrance by master perfumer, Rene Coty, this unique blend of moss and spices also came to describe a an entire category of fragrances like it in years to come.

1921 – Chanel #5.  The first perfume that can truly be called modern  After World War I, aldehydes, the first aroma chemicals, become available. Clean and ozone-like, aldehydes were unlike anything nature created.  The very modern Coco Chanel endorsed them for all time by including them in her famous Chanel # 5.  Hundreds of aroma chemicals have followed since Chanel’s innovation, lending excitement, complexity and stability to modern fragrances.  Today’s vast array of different scents would be impossible without them.

Fragrance Oil, the exquisite scent of beautiful aromas

Sacred and rare . . .  Fragrance made for the gods

B.C./A.D. – Frankincense & Myrrh.  Fragrance is as old as mankind, but let’s start here, with that famous biblical combo. Up till now and for 1000 years to come, fragrance ingredients were limited to aromatic plant resins, woods, spices and herbs.  Brought by boat and caravan from the Middle and Far East, these items were precious and costly.  They were offered as gifts and tributes to gods, emperors and tyrants (often one and the same). The 3 Wise Men brought gold, frankincense and myrrh.  Today, we’d still thrill over the gold but who wants tree sap!

1500’s – France Emerges. Closely linked to the leather industry (because gloves and other items were treated with fragrant oils to clean) and the soap industry in Marseilles, perfumery prospered in the south of France. Grasse had the ideal climate for growing the flowers, herbs and citruses brought originally from India and Persia.  Tuberose, jasmin, cloves, and lavender grew wild. Today. these, and many other fragrance products, are still grown and processed in the region.  Although methods have improved, the basic processes of distillation, expression, and extraction are still practiced today at Grasse.  The pomp and splendor at the French courts of the 16^th, 17^th and 18^th centuries advanced perfumery with constant demands for new and unusual scents. Fragrances were also a social necessity since hygiene was still  primitive and bathing considered dangerous to the health.

In Eastern Europe, an intoxicating idea

1600’s – Hungarian Water.  Perhaps the idea came from a clever monk, an old herb woman, or an alchemist in his attic. Whoever it was, he/she combined, for the first time, a rosemary extract with distilled alcohol for stability– and the forerunner of today’s eau de cologne was born.

From Cologne . . . cologne

1792 – The First Eau de Cologne. The ancient German city of Cologne is the birthplace of the first true cologne. Stablized with alcohol, a crisp, citrus blend was created, called 4711. An  eternally fresh classic that is still worn today by men and women everywhere.