Basenotes › Basenotes Forums › Fragrance Discussion › Male Fragrance Discussion › MFD Archive › Jean Claude Ellena Says Paris Smells Like...
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Jean Claude Ellena Says Paris Smells Like...

post #1 of 15
5/21/10 at 7:44pm
Thread Starter 
I meet a girl today, one of my company's outsourced hires and through some random conversation with her, she spoke about studying in Paris for a year and told me about a perfumery she visited as part of a sociology of fashion course, while she was studying as an exchange student. I engaged interest and she told me that she had a presentation by the head "le nez" of Hermes. I asked if it was Jean Claude Ellena but she didn't know. Just said it was a really good looking old guy. Said he spoke about finding oils, etc.. in India and then said Paris smells like rotisserie chicken.

I tried googling Jean Claude Ellena and chicken but didn't find anything anywhere or even in an interview. Thought it was kind of cool and wanted to share though don't know if there's much truth to this. Since I was so interested, she said she still had notes on the presentation and might forward them to me.
Reply
Reply

Features on Basenotes

Greatest Hits: Annick Menardo
Petals Falling From The Sky - A Report From The Cote d'Azur's Bataille De Fleurs
Basenotes Reader Awards 2013 - Finalists Announced.
post #2 of 15
5/21/10 at 8:27pm
LOLs...

I'll have to ask my coworker if he thinks Paris smells like rotisserie chicken!
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 15
5/21/10 at 8:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by actiasluna View Post

LOLs...

I'll have to ask my coworker if he thinks Paris smells like rotisserie chicken!

Maybe fried potatoes?

LOL! I know buying food from the rotissier in the 19th century was common, a chicken roasted and wrapped up in newspaper. Fried potatoes were also common.

One famous rake, Agenor, the Duc de Guiche (later Duc de Gramont, nephew of the Comte d'Orsay), picked up a mistress when she was starving as a common whore on a street corner, buying her fried potatoes. She later became the grande courtesane Marie Duplessis, the real life woman on which the opera La Traviata was based. "Pretty Woman" and "Moulin Rouge" were films based on the this love story. She *did* die of tuberculosis.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 15
5/21/10 at 9:02pm
Paris always has certain food aromas perfuming the air, it just depends where you are and what is sold around there. I know in winter all the streets smell of roasted chestnuts. And, near Laduree the air outside always smells sweet and inviting. I guess it is where you go most often in the city that colours your impression, scent wise. Near one of my favorite bistros in the Marais the air always seems to invite me in with the scent of Onion soup.
Now I am in the mood for Onion soup.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 15
5/21/10 at 9:03pm
Thanks to Primrose my world is now richer! Never again will I hear La Traviata without simultaneously experiencing the sense memory of fried potatoes and rotisserie chicken!
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 15
5/21/10 at 10:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by actiasluna View Post

Thanks to Primrose my world is now richer! Never again will I hear La Traviata without simultaneously experiencing the sense memory of fried potatoes and rotisserie chicken!

This sounds like you are confusing Violetta - Germont with Musetta - Marcello...!

Although I always thought Las Ramblas (Barcelona) smell of the countless chicken grills around, Ellena could have said that about Paris, too. Some men from Grasse still have a chip on their shoulder...
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 15
5/22/10 at 7:18am
I got what everybody told me I was going to get when telling I was going to Paris in August: strong whiffs of stark body odour when in packed public places or transportatin.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 15
5/22/10 at 7:52am
How interesting! This certainly brings back the memories! I remember very well the rotisserie chicken I had when we were on honeymoon in Paris 11 years ago. It was in a quaint but grand looking establishment around Champs-Elysees iirc. But I wasn't into fragrances then... though I wish I was.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 15
5/22/10 at 7:55am
Ooh, nsamadi... if only we could have attended that lecture...!

And hypercool backstory, Primrose. Thanks!

For me, apart from the obvious (Gauloises/Gitanes/coffee/BO), Paris always smells of diesel fumes. You know, what serious buses and trucks used to belch. I always associate it with a major urban vibe. Very exciting. Come to think of it, I haven't smelled that in a while... guess emissions regulations did *something*.

And for some reason, I'm always in Paris in late autumn, so wet leaves factor in along with the roasted chestnuts Brielle mentioned. And now I want onion soup, too. Heavy on the cheese topping. And crusty bread. And... what time is it? Oh! Just an hour to dinner.
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 15
5/22/10 at 7:55am
  • RHM
  • offline
  • Gender:
I want to visit. That's all I'm sayin'.
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 15
5/22/10 at 8:03am
Hmm, wouldn't it be safe to say that any large metropolis is going to have an air of food to it? I mean, NYC smells like roasted nuts almost everywhere I go. And Pollux, though I've never been to France, thank you for validating exactly how I envisioned it smelling!
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 15
5/22/10 at 2:12pm
Both Violetta and Mimi were in Paris!! What a romantic place and to think it smells of something as wonderful as chicken and french fries!!!
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 15
5/22/10 at 3:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by actiasluna View Post

Thanks to Primrose my world is now richer! Never again will I hear La Traviata without simultaneously experiencing the sense memory of fried potatoes and rotisserie chicken!

LOL! Luna, I hope they can include some food along with that drinking song...

Quote:
Originally Posted by narcus View Post

This sounds like you are confusing Violetta - Germont with Musetta - Marcello...! Although I always thought Las Ramblas (Barcelona) smell of the countless chicken grills around, Ellena could have said that about Paris, too. Some men from Grasse still have a chip on their shoulder...

Violetta was the opera character based on the character Marguerite in the novel "La Dame aux Camellias," by Dumas, fils, and Marie Duplessis, the real courtesan, was actually a lover of Dumas. The character "Germont" is from the Duc de Gramont, Antoine, the Comte d'Orsay's brother-in-law. BTW, the young lover in "Traviata" was Alfredo--as the real Agenor's godfather was his sexy uncle, Alfred, the Comte d'Orsay.

Anyone for fried potatoes wrapped in newspaper purchased from a street vendor?
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 15
5/22/10 at 3:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by fraddicted View Post

Both Violetta and Mimi were in Paris!! What a romantic place and to think it smells of something as wonderful as chicken and french fries!!!

Alas, both died young. The ideal pale and tragic 19th century heroine.

I have friends in Paris and I would love to go to Guerlain on the Champs-Elysees, and Caron!
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 15
5/22/10 at 6:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mtgprox05 View Post

Hmm, wouldn't it be safe to say that any large metropolis is going to have an air of food to it? I mean, NYC smells like roasted nuts almost everywhere I go.

It's a fair point, but Parisian rotisserie probably tastes a hell of a lot better than Nuts4Nuts do.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: MFD Archive

Features on Basenotes

Greatest Hits: Annick Menardo
Petals Falling From The Sky - A Report From The Cote d'Azur's Bataille De Fleurs
Basenotes Reader Awards 2013 - Finalists Announced.
Basenotes › Basenotes Forums › Fragrance Discussion › Male Fragrance Discussion › MFD Archive › Jean Claude Ellena Says Paris Smells Like...