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Travel Piece  by Ida Nasatir

Letter from Paris,  by Ida Nasatir, December 1, 1950

December 1, 1950—Ida Nasatir, "A Letter from Paris," Southwestern Jewish Press, page 16:  November 8, 1950, Dear Julia and Mac: Everyone knows that perfume and Paris are synonymous. But not until you have seen whole sections of every department store, not to mention hundreds of smaller perfume shops, display their wares, do you realize how great is man's desire for personal adornment. During our first weeks here I was almost engulfed by the sight of so MUCH perfume. Cologne (including the best known names) are sold in quart and gallon sizes. I used to think they were bottles filled with wine until I came to know better.  The perfume industry, one of the most important in France today, occupies a top place on the products this country exports. In fact, it is third on the list, with wines, aperitfs, and brandies ahead of it. Great and small perfumers are turning out products worthy of their own name and the label "Made in France." French producers say that American women, like their French sisters, know that perfume is a woman's way of expressing her personality, and that if a woman is at all interested in her appearance it lends the finishing touch to any costume. Many women (and this goes back many centuries) have always considered perfume as a legitimate feminine weapon...In Fact, the House of Houbigant, one of the oldest perfume houses in the world, is now celebrating its 174th anniversary at No. 19 Fabourg Saint-Honore, the exact address where it first opened in 1775, during the reign of Louis 16th.  Houbigant ledgers show that Mme. de Pompadour ran up bills for $100,000 a year for perfume alone. It also has a letter from Queen Marie Antoinette sent on the day of her ill-fated flight from Paris requesting her "favorite perfume."  In line with these past century ladies, the modern woman makes no bones about the lure of perfume either.  She has been told that certain perfumes suit certain women better than others, that some scents wear long and better on one person, and less on another. A certain brand will suit a blonde and not register at all on a brunette, or vice versa. Finally, all perfumes smell different on most people. French perfume may rock the room if used too lavishly, but it is fragrant, fresh, often light, with an "outdoor" flavor. The grand dames of Mme du Barry's generation selected the heavy, voluptuous and languorous fragrance. Woman's psychology has changed with our time. Perfume is rarely heavy because the modern woman, by and large, is too busy for all that. The flower scents for the young girls, and the more mellow scents for the older women are quite popular in Paris...In shopping for perfumes (and who can resist?), the salepeople are more than generous in spraying you with various scents to "help you decide." Each day I come home smelling differently. One day I have a delicate aroma of garden heliotrope, another, I have the exotic scent of oriental flowers, of the iris and jasmine, then again the emphasis will concentrate on the wonderful odors of the forest—its wild flowers, fallen leaves and trees...Yesterday, the elegante salesperson at Guerlain's (they have their own special shops; their perfumes cannot be bought in other stores) "scented" me with something most difficult to describe. She said it is often called a musical perfume because of its ability to change its odor with the temperature of the skin...she must be correct, for as I gaily sallied forth in mid morning I sniffed the fragrance of mixed flowers, in the afternoon I was sure there was the prevailing odor of fruits, and when night had fallen I was positive of a fragrance like a breeze blowing fresh and cool... Anyone like a gallon of Channel?  Fondly, Ida Nasatir.

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