What perfume would a mistress wear?

In particular, what would a dandy's mistress wear? (A am posting this forum after a thread in the men's forum on "What is a dandy's scent?" The suggestions depended on one's definition of a dandy: prissy fop or the groomed-and-perfumed man of fashion in his impeccable suit.)

Many of these mistresses were the sex goddesses of their day, either beauty queens or divas of the stage (actresses, opera singers and prima ballerinas.)

Would she be the love of a man's life (esp. a man forced by his family into a marriage of convenience) or would she be the status arm candy and good-time-girl of a man of fashion, a confection in the form of a woman to strike envy into the hearts of other men?

What would such a woman smell like? Flowery? Oriental? Vampy and animalic? I guess this also depends on our definitions of a "mistress."

I am thinking that such perfume should have an oh-la-la allure with londonienne/parisienne appeal. Ylang-ylang, jasmine, rose, muguet--are some notes that come to mind.

I thought of five scents:

1. Fifi Chachnil (after the eponymous lingerie line)

2. Maitresse (after the Agent Provocateur lingerie line)

3. Courtesan by Worth (a fashion deisgner who WAS couturier to some real courtesans.)

4. Boudoir by Vivienne Westwood

5. Pavlova by Payot (after the 20th century ballet dancer)

What oozes sex appeal of bygone times?

FYI, here is a pic of the Comte d'Orsay's mistress (c. 1833-1834) Fanny Ellsler, the Austrian ballerina and diva who stole the hearts of three continents. She was known for her sexy Spanish dance, the cachucha. On her North American tour, the U.S. Congress had to be adjourned because they had no quorum (great name for a scent, BTW!) because they all turned out to the theatre to see her perform. John Van Buren, the president's son, if memory serves, escorted her to dinner. (FYI, the Comte's wife--his countess-was the mistress of the Crown Prince of France!)

http://libweb5.princeton.edu/visual_...Prints/036.jpg

It looks like Shalimar is ahead...and one suggestion on where it should be applied!

Thank you all for the responses.

nwatts, yes, Mata Hari was an original seductress who was aware of her power over men. Sad about the firing squad, however.

Mysticknot, I love the link. It looks like *black* is the colour of the seductress:

http://www2.victoriassecret.com/comm...ZZZ&rfnbr=5699

The boudoir dressing table atomiser must be in vogue! I guess I was off-target with Courtesan, Boudoir, Pavlova and Fifi Chachnil--who use the colour pink. (Fanny Ellsler's signature dance was in a pink and black costume, BTW. Any woman showing her legs up past the knee on stage would turn men's heads; a beautiful woman doing this would make then stare mesmerised. She was stringing along three men at one point, one of whom was the Comte--the other two were her stage co-star and another French nobleman. The Comte was still rumoured to have fathered her daughter even though the paternity of the child was later established...as the dancer.)

Hmmm. The original Agent Provocateur scent was in pink with black lettering. Maitresse is in the gold bottle.

BTW, I like the Caron v. Guerlain observations. I wonder why that is so...

Interesting that the notes suggested are vanilla and floral with Shalimar and Carnal Flower. I guess violet--that ultimate Victorian flower--is a very good suggestion!

Does any of this call to mind a sweat-soaked ballerina--her bosom heaving from a vigourous dance routine, perspiration dripping from her face and into her costume cleavage--thundering applause from the audience as she exits the stage amid a deluge of flowers from her fans--for a tryst with her lover in her dressing room?

Yes, Fanny was beautiful, 3xasif!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Elssler_Cachucha.jpg

Redneck, I think the mistress in question would not give a hoot for marrying her lover, nor what his wife thought of her...the courtesan in the 19th century sense, then again our responses on the word "mistress" are touched with perception...such as modern athletes and the media! My perception is an independent woman in charge of her power and beauty and her ability to have men lining up just to kiss her hand! LOL!

It seems Shalimar is far ahead now. Does anyone have the note for Bal a Versailles or Femme de Rochas?

This from a book on dance, the 1924 Golden Age of Dancing--it seems that Fanny must have been a match for the muscular and athletic Comte: "Ellsler's natural endowment contained almost everything the gods in a generous mood can give. The perfection of proportion of hands, feet, wrists and ankles were hers, as well as a Greek perfection of figure. Though her legs were of steel, and her strength in general that of an athlete, not a line suffered in sculptural grace nor a movement in freedom. Her face had a beauty that captivated an audience at the moment of her entrance on the stage, and a range of expression covering the moods of the human mind...
Ellsler's art consisted of a romantic glorification of life's physique...she used her hips and her smile, and menmore than womenwent into rhapsodies."

Redneck, the mistress at the start of this thread went from one lover (lovers?) to another without skipping a beat. This is not just some nameless chorus girl or backstage pick-up intended for a a singular tryst in an alcove under the stage. This woman would know her worth and desirability--and be financially independent, not living off her lover as a "kept woman." (I think of the term "lorette," or a lower-class mistress.)


Ken, thank you for the great description of your reasoning! As for royal mistresses, I think I mentioned the Comtesse d'Orsay was the mistress of a prince. Parfums D'Orsay released a scent in the 1930s called "Comtesse d'Orsay," and I thought it odd because her marriage was unhappy, and she and her sexy man-about-town husband both had very public adulterous affairs. One wonders: is the "royal mistress" theme what the marketing was after, or did they just name the scent without even looking at history/biography?


3xasif, thank you for the scent notes. I am truly intrigued now! "Enlevement au Serail" just has a sexy oriental name: abduction, seduction and things of the hareem...or shades of the Mozart opera...

And Mysticknot and Brielle, thank you for the suggestions and explanations. I would like to try Habanita some day. (I think of Carmen's "habanera" in the eponymous opera; gypsy women were considered sexy in the mid-1800s. They appear everywhere...)

Alicka61, odd that the scent of Mistress does not match the name. I can't see something very airy and citrusy being the expected scent of a mistress.

I LOVE the jewellery scents, Antaeus! But of course! I am sure those dandies showered their mistresses with fabulous jewels or even the jewels of their grandmothers.

BTW, Coco Chanel, the great courtesan-turned-couturiere, literally wore her lovers' clothes right out of their closets!

Another scent that I had not thought of: Parure by none other than Guerlain!! What courtesan would not be without her diamond necklace, ring, earrings and tiara studded with bouchons de carafes (nickname for gems like crystal wine carafe stoppers) displayed on her body?

I am sure many a besotted dandy found himself compelled to give away the parure that had been in his family for generations!


I am also looking to wear my "mistress-y" scents...

Thank you, and, yes, 3xasif, this is all in good fun--as in a character in a book. "What type of perfume would Madame Bovary wear? Or Daisy Buchanan in 'The Great Gatsby,' etc." There were similar threads on the men's forum on various scents for "dandies" and "rakes." Dandies and rakes are things of the past, but their spirits live on in many ways...in men's clothing, fragrance and lifestyle. (Sean Combs, AKA Diddy, is considered by some to be a modern equivalent, and even has his own fragrances!)

We are not talking about simple adultresses, hoping their lovers will divorce their wives and marry them in turn. Perhaps I should have said "courtesan" instead from the first post...women who were "professional" mistresses.

Many of these were stage women (dancers, actresses and opera singers) and had wealthy, aristocratic lovers--sometimes more than one at a time. The young courtesan Marie du Plessis (who was not a stage woman), was called the "lady of the camellias." Her life was the basis for a book, which became the famous opera "La Traviata," the films "Camille" (with the great Garbo), "Pretty Woman" (with Julia Roberts) and "Moulin Rouge" (with Nicole Kidman). In the novel, the young courtesan gives up all her weathy lovers for the pure love of one young man who adores her. In actuality, in 1840 or so, this real-life young man was named Agenor, the young Duc de Guiche, who later became the Duc de Gramont and Prince de Bidache. Sadly, the family forces the lovers apart and the woman dies of tuberculosis. The young man was none other than the godson and nephew...of the Comte d'Orsay! Why do you think the young tenor lover in "La Traviata" is named Alfredo Germont (after his dandy uncle Alfred), and his baritone father named Giorgio Germont? Too close, eh?

Perhaps the concept of the mistress, as Redneck earlier pointed out in post #18, is such a different concept in modern times, so some people get offended...as the public is outraged at pro athletes' strings of secret mistresses betrayed by phone calls.

We need to keep in mind that the professional "mistresses" of bygone times were fashion and public idols, not your average streetwalker or a woman-on-the-side. The tabloids then (much like in the tabloid papers and television) followed their every change of dress and hairstyle, keeping tabs on their public appearances and who was escorting them on the arm or in carriages.

In the sense of "mistress," I imagine the perfume she would wear as a courtesan would be immensely deep, sensual and rare, something that would turn people's heads...just as people would leave buildings to run outside to see these famous beauties pass. (I still have yet to try Worth's Courtesan, which is discontinued. I understand that it is an oriental.)

And, yes, again, 3xasif, these women called their own shots! Fanny retired very comfortably when she was about 40, caring for a son and a daughter from her famous liaisons; she never married.

In some cases, these women became noblewomen when their lovers married them, much to the dismay of the man's family, to be sure!

Yes, Nick, that is a very romantic response! The rose is a symbol of love. A woman who is a courtesan is a grande courtesan and all the money and jewels that entails, but the woman who lives for love alone is the grande amoureuse (the great love).


3xasif, I agree! A woman unafraid to forge her own path would wear a perfume unlike that of other women...head-turning. She would turn heads and provoke desire in men without apology.

Yes, you are right about marrying young--or even having love affairs. I think Marie du Plessis was 17 when she had her affair with Agenor--who was all of 19 or so. Ah, young love!

OTOH, the Comte at 26 married his bride of 15. His sister, at 16, married her husband of 29.

The most beautiful woman in 19th century Europe, Elizabeth, the Empress of Austria, married at 16. She was breath-taking!

http://entertainment.webshots.com/ph...01748121iviGef

Yes, the Empress Elizabeth was so very beautiful, but she became obsessed with her beauty and feared aging. She almost became neurotic about it. After she was stabbed and assassinated by an anarchist, an autopsy revealed she suffered from starvation edema--she was an anorexic!

Didn't she have a perfume made supposedly by Creed? I know all kinds of claims come from old perfume houses and even "faux" perfume houses. I see some scents named after Empress Eugenie (wife of Napoleon III) and also Empress Josephine (wife of Napoleon I), who were beauty icons of the day.

Elizabeth (or "Sisi," as she was known) had the *tiniest* waist imaginable and was an active rider and hiker. (She was self-conscious, I understand, about her large feet--in an age when tiny feet were desirable.)

Here is a nice "chart" on courtesans v. common prostitutes of the 19th century. Technically, a prostitute is a "professional mistress" of sorts--even if only for an hour.

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rsc...s/reasons.html

The courtesan defined. I should have posted this in my first post:

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rsc...-courtesan.htm

You should see the chart showing that one reason women turned to prostitution or courtesanry was being a servant and seduced by a master, and then dismissed!

This seems to be a fansite for Elizabeth, but it shows how beautiful she was with that long hair and serene face.

http://www.angelfire.com/ma/mayerling/sisibio.html

I would agree that the dandy's mistress would wear something expensive, as showing off on his arm in the fine perfume and clothes her bought her would be one of his reasons for having her as a kept woman.

And he might even appropriate a dab of her perfume for himself from time to time...

The great Garbo played the courtesan Marguerite with Robert Taylor playing her lover Armand in the film "Camille," based on a book by Alexandre Dumas the Younger called, "The Lady of the Camellias." This was a movie made after the true story (like the opera "La Traviata") of Agenor, the young Duke de Guiche (real-life nephew of the Comte d'Orsay), and the courtesan Marie du Plessis, which is mentioned earlier in the thread.

In light of the film being made in the 1930s, perhaps the character Marguerite's perfume would indeed by something by D'Orsay!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028683/plotsummary