A Washington Post Article About M.A. Sillage de la Reine {Fragrant Reading} {Fragrance News}

The Washington Post has published an article about the details of the creation or rather re-creation of M.A. Sillage de la Reine (please see my review of the fragrance), the perfume of Marie Antoinette, by Francis Kukrdjian, an enterprise conducted together with historian Elisabeth de Feydeau:

"When Francis Kurkdjian, one of France's premier perfumers, set out to re-create a fragrance of Marie Antoinette, his greatest fear was that it would stink.

After all, he reasoned, the 21st-century nose might have little tolerance for the potent potions that the famous queen and her royal court used to mask the smells of their opulent but odiferous 18th-century environs at the Chateau de Versailles.....

I just wanted to point out that although the article lays stress on the idea that Marie Antoinette wore heavy perfumes, she is also often credited for introducing a fashion for light or perhaps, if we were to be cautious, lighter floral perfumes given the cultural context of that time. Also, Marie Antoinette did not introduce bathrooms at Versailles. Louis XIV had already one built in 1665 although he preferred to use cologne rather than water to clean himself.  

Traces of Marie Antoinette, Caught in a Phial of Perfume 

Photo: Jean-Marc Manai