Dear Friends
A Friday trip to the archives as we peruse some of the delicate, delectable and sometimes slightly deranged images that have been used to promote the perfumes of the House of Caron for over a century.
Have fun…
Narcisse Noir (1911)
N’Aimez Que Moi (1916)
Tabac Blond (1919)
Nuit de Noel (1922)
Acaciosa (1924)
Bellodgia (1927)
En Avion (1932)
French Can Can (1934)
Fleurs de Rocaille (1934)
Pour Une Femme De Caron (1934)
Alpona (1939)
Royal Bain de Caron (1941)
Farnesiana (1947)
Or Et Noir (1949)
Le Muguet Du Bonheur (1952)
Poivre (1954)
Infini (1970)
Aimez Moi (1996)
Montaigne (2007)
Parfum Sacre Intense (2010)
The House of Caron (from 1904)
The Dandy does hope that you enjoyed our skip through the past as much as he did!
Do let me know which ones are your favourites…
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy.
The Perfumed Dandy. 
Oh nice, Mr. Dandy! What an interesting selection! I could look at those all day. I definitely recall that faceted crystal stopper bottle from the dim past. My mother must have had one. The image jarred my memory. I can smell it. It must have been Bellodgia. “Lead him down the garden path and lock the gate behind”, and “On y succombe au premier regard!” :-O But next we’re reassured that “Aimex Moi” is just the name of her perfume. I like Farnesiana lady. Is she Eleanor of Acquitaine? And I love the last one. It reminds me a little bit of the Schiaparelli perfume ads I’ve been looking at online. Have you seen those?
Dearest Lily
I have seen the Schiaparellis and they are really rather splendid.
There is so much to love in perfume promotionals of years gone by… my particular favourites are some of the lovely work done for Lancome… perhaps one day I will get to review one of the fragrances that boast these fine line drawings.
Gruau’s work for Dior is divine, it almost goes without saying.
Trawling through the hundreds of images, it looks as though Caron have gone through several periods of standard flacons, so it was not just Bellodgia that came in that wonderful bottle.
There can only be one way to discover what your mother was wearing… to try them all!
As for that cheeky advertising copy. Oooop-la as our Gallic cousins would say!
And how did you know the Dandy has a special place in his heart for Eleanor of Acquitaine?
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
I didn’t know you had a special place in your heart for Eleanor of Acquitaine, but I’m glad to know it because so do I. I have been looking at vintage perfume labels and ads, including a lovely Lancome one, for a small decoupage project (waiting for the weather to become less humid before I begin). There is so much great artwork from the past, it’s too difficult to choose. Today’s post was timely. 🙂
Dearest Lily
How wonderful.
I recently saw a large what we would call a ‘Welsh dresser’ entirely covered on very finely done decoupage of impressionist or, more precisely, pointilist, works.
The effect was quite spectacular, a little surreal and very theatrical but rather beautiful too.
What will your work be, or is that still subject to mulling over?
As for the splendours of commercial art from the last century, they are quite simply so numerous as to render The Dandy silent with admiration.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
In all seriousness, you’ve awakened my interest in Caron fragrances. There are so many I look forward to exploring.
Dearest Lily
I’m so delighted to hear that!
If this week or so in celebration of Caron gets just one more person to give their fine works another try before they get shuffled off the shelves forever this will be one happy Dandy!
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
***I*LOVE*THEM*ALL***
Dearest Maggie
SO. DO. I!!!
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
They’re all so lovely! I think the first Nuit de Noel one is my favourite, though.
Dearest Nena
Yes, that rather lovely rendering of the original, subtle and decidedly un-Christmassy green is quite delightful.
I must confess a very large soft spot the sales materials for Muguet du Bonheur. So sumptuous for such a subtle scent.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Wonderful 🙂
Nuit de Noel has the most beautiful early Art Deco bottle. And the Pour Une Femme ad -oh làlà!
My favorite is the Infini, I have always loved that particular bottle and placing it on an airfield without any further adornment is pure perfection.
Dearest Miss Misty
Yes! There is a still optimistic embracing, celebration even of technology and engineering in the Infini advertising. Something of the aesthetic of all those art house science fiction films of the 1970s. Severely and scientifically stunning.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Oh yes… and Pour Une Femme: an early blow for post-feminist advertising!!
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
No more “reply” buttons above. It is just a humble unfinished wooden stool, Mr. Dandy, to slide under a bathroom vanity top, which I’m going to paint ballet slipper pink, and decoupage a few vintage perfume labels, or possible ads like those above (♥♥♥). I’ve never done decoupage before, but my aunts did many years ago. I remember it took them forever to build up layers of varnish until the images were flush underneath with no edges on the surface. They had the patience of angels, but I do not. No Welsh dressers for me, but that sounds fantastic! I want to do a perfume cabinet, sort of a shrine, I suppose. Let’s see if I get through a stool first. 😉
Oh dear, I think I probably seem loony when I read my posts. ^^^ Always too much info. Poor Mr. Dandy, you’ve got a loon here as a reader.
Heavens, probably easier to list the ones I don’t care for, because they are so few! I own several of the above. Fleurs de Rocaille and Infini don’t do anything for me. Acasiosa was a “fail” (I got comments that it smelled like potpourri or bathroom cleaner). That’s about it! Haven’t tried Or et Noir, Alpona, or En Avion, but will remedy that soon I hope.
I could gaze at all these ads all day long – they don’t make most of them like they used to. When I was an English school teacher, we used to touch on the Middle Ages – Eleanor of Aquitaine is quite a fascinating woman! =)