When I read on Basenotes the announcement for a forthcoming London Perfume Lovers meetup whose theme was to be ‘leather’, there was really no question: I was going! And so it was that last night I found myself climbing the staircase at the swanky New Cavendish Club in Marble Arch. Any anxiety I may have had about walking into a room full of strangers was quickly allayed as Lila Das Gupta greeted me with a warm smile and the magic words: "Would you like a drink ?"
Glass in hand, I soon fell into conversation, the hot topic being the twenty or so bottles of perfume neatly arranged on the mantelpiece: Whilst many were familiar, some I knew by name only. As the last of the attendees (including Katie Puckrik) arrived for the sell-out event, we took our seats. Aided by her glamorous, iPad toting assistant Grant, Lila began her presentation with a brief history of leather perfumes, linking their development with the more archaic practice of scenting leather itself.
Our olfactory journey proper however, began in the ‘20s, with classics such as Knize 10 and Chanel’s Cuir de Russie. Leather is a notoriously polarising note, and reactions to the mouillettes being passed around encompassed the nostalgic (“it reminds me of my grandmother”) as well as the downright erotic (“oh my god, this is ssoooo seeexxxy”). Progressing through the decades, Lila was keen to demonstrate how shifts in the public’s perception of leather could be charted through the kinds of advertising used to promote such scents.
A blind-sniff, facing-off L.T.Piver’s Cuir against Dana’s English Leather marked the transition from a chronological to a thematic based approach to categorising leather fragrances: Leather-florals such as P.G.'s Cuir d'Iris in one camp, skanky, butch leathers such as Dior’s Leather Oud in another.
One of the real highlights for me however, was having the opportunity to smell some of the more common ingredients used in leather perfumes. These included natural birch-tar alongside synthetic aromachemicals like suederol.
The evening also included a Basenotes Fragrance Awards ceremony, hosted by Grant (replete with gold envelopes). With much hilarity, nominations for Creeds and Dior Homme were met with such questions as “Which batch code of GIT are you talking about?”. A poignant moment came when Mona di Orio was named as last year’s top perfumer, and Lila read out a message from Mona’s partner which spoke of her legacy. All the perfumes up for awards were laid out to sniff, and with the formal presentations finished, we were free to sniff till our noses could take no more.
A huge thanks to Grant and Lila for organising such a friendly, fun and informative evening. May there be many more to come!
Glass in hand, I soon fell into conversation, the hot topic being the twenty or so bottles of perfume neatly arranged on the mantelpiece: Whilst many were familiar, some I knew by name only. As the last of the attendees (including Katie Puckrik) arrived for the sell-out event, we took our seats. Aided by her glamorous, iPad toting assistant Grant, Lila began her presentation with a brief history of leather perfumes, linking their development with the more archaic practice of scenting leather itself.
Our olfactory journey proper however, began in the ‘20s, with classics such as Knize 10 and Chanel’s Cuir de Russie. Leather is a notoriously polarising note, and reactions to the mouillettes being passed around encompassed the nostalgic (“it reminds me of my grandmother”) as well as the downright erotic (“oh my god, this is ssoooo seeexxxy”). Progressing through the decades, Lila was keen to demonstrate how shifts in the public’s perception of leather could be charted through the kinds of advertising used to promote such scents.
A blind-sniff, facing-off L.T.Piver’s Cuir against Dana’s English Leather marked the transition from a chronological to a thematic based approach to categorising leather fragrances: Leather-florals such as P.G.'s Cuir d'Iris in one camp, skanky, butch leathers such as Dior’s Leather Oud in another.
One of the real highlights for me however, was having the opportunity to smell some of the more common ingredients used in leather perfumes. These included natural birch-tar alongside synthetic aromachemicals like suederol.
The evening also included a Basenotes Fragrance Awards ceremony, hosted by Grant (replete with gold envelopes). With much hilarity, nominations for Creeds and Dior Homme were met with such questions as “Which batch code of GIT are you talking about?”. A poignant moment came when Mona di Orio was named as last year’s top perfumer, and Lila read out a message from Mona’s partner which spoke of her legacy. All the perfumes up for awards were laid out to sniff, and with the formal presentations finished, we were free to sniff till our noses could take no more.
A huge thanks to Grant and Lila for organising such a friendly, fun and informative evening. May there be many more to come!
these things are always fun, it's great meeting real live human beings that you only knew from here.
. Thanks for a highly entertaining read - thoroughly enjoyed every word.
