I thought I'd share a morsel of info with you I found in Stamelman's Cultural History of (French) Perfume:
He points out that the 1890s saw a paradigmatic shift in the perfume market, initiated partly by the shift from soliflores to complex perfumes made possible by synthetics (he doesn't discuss sociodemographic shifts creating new consumer classes). This lead to the industry as we know it: the creation of product lines built around a perfume (Roger & Gallet had 16 beauty products related to Vera Violetta) and increasingly short life spans for products which were hyped heavily based on exotic imagery and a catchy name only to be rapidly replaced by new supposedly more enticing products to keep the buying public hungry. Sound familiar?
By 1900 there were 300 perfume manufacturers in France employing 2000 retailers and securing 20000 jobs. Most of their products were ephemeral and not particularly original. Thus the house of Guerlain released, between 1890 and 1900, the amazing number of ten perfumes a year!!! The Hugo Boss of its day and age
! As Stameleman point out this underlines the exceptionality of classics such as Coty's L'Origan (1905) and Jicky (1889) which survived for decades. Jicky lives until today, but it was rejected by consumers at the time for over two decades, becoming an acclaimed success only around 1912.
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose
He points out that the 1890s saw a paradigmatic shift in the perfume market, initiated partly by the shift from soliflores to complex perfumes made possible by synthetics (he doesn't discuss sociodemographic shifts creating new consumer classes). This lead to the industry as we know it: the creation of product lines built around a perfume (Roger & Gallet had 16 beauty products related to Vera Violetta) and increasingly short life spans for products which were hyped heavily based on exotic imagery and a catchy name only to be rapidly replaced by new supposedly more enticing products to keep the buying public hungry. Sound familiar?
By 1900 there were 300 perfume manufacturers in France employing 2000 retailers and securing 20000 jobs. Most of their products were ephemeral and not particularly original. Thus the house of Guerlain released, between 1890 and 1900, the amazing number of ten perfumes a year!!! The Hugo Boss of its day and age
! As Stameleman point out this underlines the exceptionality of classics such as Coty's L'Origan (1905) and Jicky (1889) which survived for decades. Jicky lives until today, but it was rejected by consumers at the time for over two decades, becoming an acclaimed success only around 1912.Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose
