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NATURE VS NURTURE<\/strong><\/p>\n According to Olivia Jezler, the CEO of Future of Smell \u2013 a New York-based innovation consulting agency that uses emerging technologies to create future scenarios which will impact the way we use, purchase and experience scent \u2013 \u201cEnjoying scent is learned. If there\u2019s food associated with fun, we will automatically be programmed to have positive associations with those flavours,\u201d says Jezler. \u201cIt\u2019s similar to scent. It\u2019s a process of learning and what you\u2019re exposed to in your surroundings growing up \u2013\u00a0 <\/span>a really comforting scent memory for you from childhood and whether your mother wears perfume point me towards your first interactions and associations with fragrance and smells.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, it was discovering this mother-child bond that inspired Japanese olfactory artist Maki Ueda to start her sensory journey. \u201cI observed my baby\u2019s development and realised how much of our communication relied on smell,\u201d Ueda says. \u201cI smelt him, he smelt me, and we could find each other quickly. Our most primitive sense plays a big part of our behaviour, but it\u2019s been totally forgotten. I thought it was interesting to give a meaning to what we have forgotten. And that\u2019s the moment I started searching for olfaction.\u201d<\/p>\n James Craven \u2013 perfume archivist at specialist London perfumery Les Senteurs \u2013 agrees. \u201cOf all our senses, smell is the only one which we have complete and totally functioning from the moment of birth because it is essentially the one that protects us and feeds us. It\u2019s our most basic sense,\u201d he says. \u201cWe use it to find nourishment, to perpetuate our species and to avoid danger. This said, too many of us ignore the sense of smell entirely. I was very, very lucky to have had parents who found smells interesting, important and rewarding. They talked about them: they encouraged their children to smell everything, and to discuss how we felt about scents of all kinds. The sooner we all get going with our noses the better: no one is too young to smell. Nor too old \u2013 except that with age, our senses start to diminish. Smells are so varied and so fascinating. The sooner you start the better. Miss nothing!\u201d<\/p>\n Building a compelling case for nature over nurture, Craven is convinced that, \u201cone way or another, we inherit our sense of smell. Perfumers seem to run in families so I think there\u2019s a genetic disposition,\u201d he observes. \u201cBut also, if a child is born into a sympathetic olfactory ambience, the upbringing is going to be as important as the biological wiring.\u201d However, there is hope for me yet. \u201cWe can all learn to smell\u00a0 <\/span>\u2013 and that\u2019s a vital part of a professional perfumer\u2019s training,\u201d Craven adds.<\/p>\n Enter The Perfume Society\u2019s Senior Writer and British fragrance expert, Suzy Nightingale, with a mini masterclass. \u201cAt The Perfume Society we ask people to spend a few minutes every day smelling a fragrance, then jotting down the very first words that come to mind,\u201d says Nightingale. \u201cTry not to be too literal. You\u2019re not trying to identify the ingredients here \u2013 just as you wouldn\u2019t judge a painting by naming the colours \u2013 but rather trying to connect an emotion or picture that comes to mind as you smell.\u201d<\/p>\n Nightingale concedes, \u201cThis can be difficult at first \u2013 smell has no language of its own, so we borrow associations from texture, temperature, taste, sound and vision. Ask yourself questions like: if this was a fabric, would it be velvety, crisp linen, soft cotton, smooth suede? Imagine the fragrance as music. Would it be high-pitched or low? What instrument would it be played on, and is it classical, rock, pop or something else? Where in the world would you be wearing this, and who are you with? Think of the air temperature and the view you might see.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThese may seem esoteric,\u201d she admits, \u201cbut this is how many perfumers train: they learn to associate smell with very personal associations. Furthermore, you can actually strengthen and rebuild neural pathways from your nose to your brain. The more often you smell, and take time to consider what it\u2019s making you feel, the more adept you\u2019ll become at plugging directly into your scent memories and feelings connected with fragrances you wear. It\u2019s like suddenly discovering you have a superpower, which our sense of smell truly is.\u201d<\/p>\n THE ORIGINS OF SCENT<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cSmell is not just perfume,\u201d insists Dutch Sensory Art Historian, Caro Verbeek \u2013 the newly appointed curator of the Mondrian & De Stijl permanent exhibition at Kunstmuseum Den Haag in the Netherlands. \u201cIt plays such an important role in spirituality, religion, medicine and social hierarchies.\u201d In her TEDx Talk: The Historical Significance of Smell<\/i>, Verbeek explains the word perfume comes from the Latin word per fumum<\/i> meaning \u2018through smoke\u2019. \u201cWhat is now a liquid in a bottle mostly meant for aesthetics, actually existed in ancient religious practices \u2013 and wasn\u2019t liquid, but smoke. Burning fragrant resins, such as frankincense and myrrh was considered a prayer to divine beings, it was thought to be the language of the gods. Smell was not just a manifestation of health, but also of divine presence. Health and religion were not disconnected, they were fully intertwined.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHistorically, perfume was used as medicine. There were health benefits \u2013 it was considered a tonic to make you feel good and ward away viruses \u2013 lavender was used to heal wounds, cloves and cinnamon were known to destroy viruses and bacteria,\u201d Jezler adds.<\/p>\n Sharing an insight that may surprise even the most ardent of aficionados, Verbeek reveals, \u201cWe now think of Grasse in France as the cradle of perfumery but there are English and Italian roots as well that we often forget about.\u201d This was due to lavender being grown and distilled in Mitcham in Surrey from the 1500s, and in the same century, the perfume the Queen of France Catherine de\u2019 Medici had blended for her by a Florentine pharmacy before she took the throne. \u201cIt was called Acqua della Regina \u2013 the Queen\u2019s Water, and that was the predecessor of what we now know as Eau de Cologne,\u201d Verbeek explains. \u201cEau de Cologne is actually a highly Italian perfume. It contains citric notes and rosemary, and was actually considered medicinal to protect yourself from diseases, but also to lift your spirits \u2013 it was rubbed on the temples to relieve headaches, it was used for women in labour to relieve pain.\u201d<\/p>\n In Greek antiquity, the teachings of Hippocrates \u2013 who\u2019s regarded as the founder of modern medicine \u2013 encouraged the sniffing out of illnesses, \u201cUntil the 19th <\/sup>century at least, doctors diagnosed patients through all their senses including sense of smell \u2013 in fact, bad smells were thought to be the cause of pandemics, of the spread of diseases, which makes sense \u2013 where do diseases spread?\u201d asks Verbeek. \u201cIn unhygienic circumstances. Open sewers, where the water is polluted, are also often the sources of infection, the epicentres of the outbreak of disease. As long as you get rid of the bad smells, it was believed circumstances become more hygienic.\u201d<\/p>\n The shift came in the 1860s when French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur \u2013 who incidentally we also have to thank for inventing the first human vaccine \u2013 established the relationship between germs and disease. \u201cSo fragrance knows its history, not in aesthetics but in medicine, because the bad smells were fought with perfumes,\u201d confirms Verbeek.<\/p>\n The prohibitive cost and rarity \u2013 coupled with the fact that fragrance was considered the domain of royalty and divinity \u2013 priced perfume out of the reach of most, creating a class divide based on smells. The democratisation of fragrance only arrived with the dawn of industrialisation. The mass production of perfume and the introduction of synthetic molecules made perfume accessible. \u201cBy the 19th<\/sup> century, there were so many molecules being produced that were so much cheaper than real rose and jasmine,\u201d says Verbeek. \u201cAnd rather than bringing your own perfume bottle to the pharmacy to be filled, for the first time they were sold in pr\u00eat-\u00e0-porter bottles.\u201d<\/p>\n French perfumer Fran\u00e7ois Coty was essential in these developments. \u201cThanks to Fran\u00e7ois Coty, everyone could wear perfume,\u201d Verbeek continues. \u201cHe became a multi-millionaire during the First World War because he made perfume affordable. He bought huge supplies from Grasse and blended them in a way that was revolutionary. Perfumes in the 19th<\/sup> century were traditionally very modest, very floral but Coty mixed ingredients in such a way that almost clashed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo just like painting \u2013 Kandinsky and the Expressionists and the Futurists \u2013 it was exciting, it was dynamic, it was colourful, it was expressive,\u201d continues Verbeek, drawing parallels to the art movements of the time. \u201cThat\u2019s what Coty did in perfumery. Modern women all wanted to smell like that and they could afford it.\u201d<\/p>\n EAST VS WEST<\/strong><\/p>\n In the East, the culture of incense far supersedes the history of perfumery. \u201cThe first fragrance arrived in Japan together with Buddhism 1,500 years ago. The craftsmanship of the incense masters \u2013 known as a K\u014dju \u2013 is handed down through the generations, like family secrets, with many hidden details,\u201d reveals Ueda. \u201cFrom a professional point of view, incense is more an indirect way of smelling. When it\u2019s lit, it emits an aroma but, of course, it\u2019s diffused in the space and then I smell that diffused scent. That means that the scent is very subtle, and it\u2019s very difficult to identify which brand it came from. And if someone comes in wearing a very strong cologne, of course it disturbs that very subtle scent of the space.\u201d<\/p>\n In the realm of religion, Ueda explains, \u201cIn Shinto, smell is gifted from above, from nature, that we are allowed to use for our pleasure. About a thousand years ago, the aristocracy developed a game called K\u014dd\u014d, which is a memory game with smell. People weren\u2019t using fragrance for the experience, but just for amusement, or just for fun.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cToday, very few Japanese people wear fragrance. In Japan, we respect the common space between you and me,\u201d continues Ueda. \u201cAnd if I wear a fragrance, it means that I\u2019m pushing my perfume onto the people around me, I\u2019m stating, \u2018This is my domain.\u2019 In the Japanese society, we don\u2019t like that. We have to respect each other.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s this space in between that Ueda occupies with her art. \u201cI like observing my olfaction and that becomes the trigger for creating artwork. My work is about olfaction and not about smell, so in order to share that experience with my audience, I create installations in the form of an environment where they can navigate themselves freely in the space, find out about their own olfaction, and use their sense of smell in different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n Another point of difference between the East and West dates back to the notions around body odour. \u201cUp until the 19th<\/sup> century, there was this huge class division based on smells. Among farmers, the smell of sweat had been considered a sign of health and labour,\u201d says Verbeek. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere was a huge shift in ideas about smell in the 19th<\/sup> century,\u201d she continues. \u201cThe bourgeoisie, the higher classes, no longer perfumed themselves so heavily, they began to deodorise instead, and that becomes a sign of elitism. Then the lower classes were distinguished by their scent because they smelled stronger \u2013 and in their eyes \u2013 uncivilised. At the beginning of the 20th<\/sup> century, the taboo about body odour among all classes, not just the higher classes, became omnipresent, and very much masterminded by the industry for commercial purposes.\u201d However, as Ueda declares, \u201cIn Japan, we don\u2019t use smell as a deodorant, we deodorise ourselves by taking baths every day, we don\u2019t use fragrance for that.\u201d<\/p>\n In contrast, China boasts a rich fragrance culture entwined with Taoism, with its roots both in medicine, and in the Imperial Courts, immortalised in literature, poetry and even the wisdom of Confucius. However, in 1966, as a pillar of the Cultural Revolution that would last ten years, Mao Zedong, the founder of the People\u2019s Republic of China and chairman of the Communist Party, purged the country of all cultural, capitalist, intellectual, and traditional practices, including perfume which was considered a symbol of Western femininity, leaving an imprint on our mothers and grandmothers that\u2019s rarely discussed. This discovery, that my ambivalence to aromas could be generational trauma, is both a revelation and a relief. My struggle is real.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in 1977, Yves Saint Laurent released Opium, a perfume of dizzying complexity and dazzling insensitivity inspired by China, with top notes of cloves, pepper, coriander, West Indian bay, plum, jasmine, mandarin orange, bergamot and citruses; heart notes of carnation, cinnamon, sandalwood, patchouli, orris root, rose, peach and lily-of-the-valley; and base notes including incense, myrrh, sandalwood, tolu balsam, amber, opoponax, vanilla, musk, cedar, vetiver and coconut. \u201cIt\u2019s a very typical Oriental perfume which was launched in the \u201970s and \u201980s,\u201d Ueda observes. \u201cI think it\u2019s influenced by flower power, the hippy movement and Orientalism.\u201d<\/p>\n In 1989, Guerlain\u2019s Samsara followed composing of top notes of ylang-ylang, peach, bergamot, lemon; heart notes of iris, jasmine, narcissus, orris root, rose and violet; and base notes of sandalwood, vanilla, iris, amber, tonka bean and musk, accompanied by a TV ad with a Madame Butterfly<\/i>-inspired pseudo-operatic soundtrack. For perspective, Ueda notes, \u201cJapanese people think these are Western perfumes.\u201d<\/p>\n Perhaps I\u2019m yearning for the purity and simplicity of the scent of fresh lemongrass in the jungle, because I grew up with fetishisation and commercialisation of Far-Eastern fragrance culture presented as beauty ideals which were not only considered problematic at the time (Chinese-Americans demanded an apology from Yves Saint Laurent in 1977 for launching Opium) but would be condemned as cultural appropriation today.<\/p>\n THE PURPOSE OF PERFUME<\/strong><\/p>\n The purpose of perfume varies depending on who you ask. For Craven, it\u2019s a poem in itself serving \u201cabove all to enhance our sense of well-being and the perception of our own individuality, to expand our emotions, our imaginations and to transport us to other worlds, to excite, soothe and scintillate,\u201d he effuses.<\/span><\/p>\n As far as Nightingale\u2019s concerned, it\u2019s a personal decision. \u201cYou first of all need to take a deep dive into what you\u2019re looking for in a fragrance. Is it to make you feel uplifted? Nostalgic? Comforted? Invincible? More like \u2018you\u2019 or to borrow a scented disguise for a few hours? Perhaps these requirements change depending on how you feel that day, or what you\u2019re doing?\u201d<\/p>\n For Jezler, there\u2019s a metaphysical quality to its existence. \u201cToday, for me, it\u2019s adornment and a means of self-expression \u2013 like jewellery but also increasingly is being used for self-care. What we have with fragrance is it\u2019s a much deeper and a more emotional extension of ourselves that can influence others and also influence ourselves,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n My entire career is built on understanding the impact our fashion choices have on the world, but I had never ascribed the same power to perfume. \u201cIt\u2019s similar to clothing,\u201d Jezler muses. \u201cBut I feel it\u2019s so much deeper and more nuanced so you have to pay attention. It\u2019s a listening process. You actually have a moment with a person when you\u2019re smelling and experiencing a scent that they have chosen to put on to express themselves beyond their physical body. It also leaves trails. You can smell something even when a person has gone, so the purpose being a form of extension of ourselves in the world.\u201d An idea that transforms the role of fragrance from a frippery into an expression of humanity and a conduit that helps you form connections in the real world? Now you have my attention.<\/p>\n MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cPerfume is an escape; an addiction; a substitute. The desire to purchase a magic spell lies behind many people\u2019s quest; a talisman; a love potion; a bottled genie to solve all problems,\u201d observes Craven, distilling the matter to what he believes is its absolute essence.<\/p>\n As an experiment, I reacquaint myself with all the long-forgotten fragrances I\u2019d discarded to search for similarities. Time and time again, the results revealed a penchant for bergamot, lemon, and mandarin orange with sprinklings of cedar and patchouli, presented in either maximal, imperious, self-aggrandising weighty gold flacons or minimal, anonymous, unassuming apothecary-inspired bottles. I gleefully conclude that these conflicting profiles play into the duality of my performing introvert personality, but Jezler disagrees. \u201cThe problem is we get so distracted by the bottle and the brand,\u201d she says with a sigh. \u201cWho cares about the bottle and the brand? We have unfortunately adapted to the world in this way, we give more value to what we see than what we hear, and what we taste and smell. A beautiful plate of food will make us think the food tastes better. We do the same with fragrance.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet, can you really separate the branding and design away from the experience? \u201cWhich experience?\u201d Jezler questions. \u201cThere\u2019s the buying experience, which is about the brand, but the wearing? It\u2019s invisible. It\u2019s really about if you\u2019re willing to break it down, and realise you\u2019re being manipulated.\u201d Elaborating further, she continues, \u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate that it\u2019s so disconnected, because there\u2019s the perfumer who creates the scent, then there\u2019s the bottle design, then there\u2019s the advertising campaign. These are all different parts. It depends on your willingness to say, \u2018OK, let me actually smell this.\u2019 Everything is multisensory. The weight of the bottle will make us think it\u2019s worth more, the satisfaction with the way it sprays. We can<\/i> separate it, but it\u2019s a choice. The average person walking into a department store isn\u2019t making that choice. They\u2019re there to purchase a perfume that makes them feel great and looks expensive on their dressing table.\u201d<\/p>\n Jezler also takes issue with conflating cost with compatibility. \u201cWhat if you closed your eyes and smelled fragrances and scents across various categories?\u201d she challenges. \u201cIs the $400 bottle still the one you\u2019re going to like? Probably not. People want this piece they can put on display or show the world on Instagram. So that\u2019s another aspect that\u2019s distracting for people in general from finding their own fragrance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Furthermore, like perfumery, fragrance advertising has become an art in itself and has developed an entire visual vocabulary of its own. \u201cIt\u2019s so complicated,\u201d Verbeek questions. \u201cHow can we convey something olfactory through a visual and audiovisual medium? So you have to highlight all kinds of other factors: status, femininity, masculinity. How weird is it to buy a perfume on visuals? You have to smell it before you buy it.\u201d<\/p>\n Opium notwithstanding, there has also been a problematic backwards step in the way women in particular are portrayed. \u201cFrom a historical perspective, I am very intrigued by perfume ads from the \u201920s, <\/span>\u201930s, <\/span>\u201940s, and <\/span>\u201950s, in which perfume was promoted to use during sports,\u201d Verbeek continues. \u201cYou see people rowing, running, climbing, playing tennis. I don\u2019t see those kinds of ads anymore. The implication was, \u2018This perfume will lift your spirits and energise you.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cToday, it\u2019s always about attractiveness, why not effectiveness? You also see a lot of ads in the \u201930s of working women using eau de cologne,\u201d she adds. \u201cThey\u2019re at the office, they\u2019re emancipated women, using eau de cologne, because it keeps them energetic at work. Why don\u2019t we have ads that promote other skills and sides of our personalities? Like being a good mother and being a successful businesswoman? It\u2019s always about being the object of the olfactory gaze.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n In fact, if perfume advertising had met me in my multifaceted reality, and not in some imagined fantasy, perhaps there\u2019d be more common ground? Verbeek concurs. \u201cYou\u2019re an ambitious woman. You\u2019re not waiting for people to smell you.\u201d<\/p>\n As a consumer, Verbeek seeks to be similarly disruptive when it comes to her purchasing decisions. \u201cI\u2019m more of a scent historian than a perfume historian,\u201d she emphasises. \u201cI often find perfumes too sweet, too obtrusive, too eager to please.\u201d So much so that her favourite fragrance is the wonderfully unselfconscious In The Library from a niche New York brand called CB I Hate Perfume \u2013 described by its nose Christopher Brosius as a warm blend of English novel, Russian and Moroccan leather bindings and a hint of wood polish. And more than a whiff of irony, I assume.<\/p>\n ANIMAL NITRATE<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWe all have our own olfactory aura which is unique and a reflection of your diet, with your genes, with your habits, even with your emotional state,\u201d Verbeek explains. \u201cWhen we\u2019re depressed, happy, or anxious, the entire chemical composition of our sweat changes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Like me, Verbeek tends to avoid being heavily scented in her everyday life, although not for the same reasons I do. \u201cOne is because I have to smell a lot of things as part of my job, so I don\u2019t want perfume to interfere with the things that I smell. Another reason was that I\u2019d been looking for the father of my child for a long time, and I didn\u2019t want to wear perfume because I wanted him to connect to me because of my own smell. I wanted our chemical communication to do the job subconsciously, I didn\u2019t want to mask my smells,\u201d she says. \u201cI found him two years ago, and our son is two years old now. I thought it was a good way to find my partner, to smell of myself.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Should you wish to try this experiment yourself, Jezler explains why it works. \u201cOur sense of smell plays a critical role in forming attraction. It\u2019s linked to the genes responsible for our immune system. FOLLOW THE FRAGRANCE TRAIL<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cTechnology, in my view, will be the enabler of this kind of personalised scent journey,\u201d predicts Jezler citing a partnership between a fragrance company and IBM Watson \u2013 which uses AI to calibrate fragrance formulas with our personal data \u2013 as an early example. \u201cIt will help us capture scent memories, build a database of the scents we like, replay them and in general, help us navigate the fragrance market as well as our own emotional worlds and memories,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n For those, like me, wishing to explore their personal experience of fragrance more authentically and less algorithmically, Craven has this advice: \u201cMake sure you please yourself. Follow your instincts. Listen to your body, not your friends. Don\u2019t let anyone dictate to you. Be patient. Never rush. It is the adventure of a lifetime. Let your imagination run free. Begin by ruminating on the smells that you love; the fragrances that intrigue you; or the smells you would like to discover. Think of woods, flowers, leaves, fruits, people, memories, school days, smells that are gone.\u201d The perfume archivist notes, \u201cAt this stage don\u2019t analyse or agonise: just meditate on what might take your fancy. Then go try, see what happens, try again, taking pleasure in piecing the whole tapestry together.\u201d<\/p>\n Verbeek encourages me to take one step further: \u201cDo a smell walk. Go out, pay attention to the smells. Ask yourself, \u2018How do I feel right now? Maybe it has to do something with the smell instead of what I see?\u2019 Smell, even when you\u2019re not into perfumery, always influences you all the time but subconsciously, silently. When you go out in the streets or you visit somewhere with a familiar smell and you think, \u2018Ah I feel at home,\u2019 and maybe you believe, \u2018I feel so comfortable here because it looks so beautiful,\u2019 but in fact, subconsciously it\u2019s the smell making you feel a certain way.\u201d<\/p>\n The sensory art historian suggests, \u201cRemember the essential turning points in your life, or places you\u2019ve lived, and think of which smell characterised that transition or period. Don\u2019t just think about those smells, try to get those smells. Reacquaint yourself with them because it\u2019s a different part of your brain that starts working. It\u2019s the limbic system. It\u2019s our reptilian brain. It just opens drawers that you cannot open with language or conscious thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Ueda\u2019s method is far simpler. \u201cCome to Japan. Then you can appreciate being yourself.\u201d Until then, I find myself clutching a handful of freshly cut lemongrass to honour my ancestors \u2013 stalks crushed to release their essential oils \u2013 while drawing a bath in the Dubai desert, about to embark on an olfactory experience that\u2019s entirely my own. Yet now I\u2019ve learned that these elixirs have the potential to become both mating calls and cloaks of invisibility, and uncovered startling cultural complexities along the way, it occurs to me that perhaps starting a lifelong romance with perfume is not my path? And maybe I\u2019m not seeking a scent in search of myself after all, but in fact to reawaken my sense of smell as a desire to connect more deeply to the universe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":217,"featured_media":25030,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/me\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2022\/07\/Grazia-44_11734282_11735058.jpeg?w=683\")
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\nW<\/span>e will find people attractive who have a complementary immune system to ours. This is biological, so we can form the healthiest and most resilient offspring.\u201d She also points out, \u201cWhen women are taking the contraceptive pill, their scent and their ability to smell their ideal complementary partner also changes.\u201d<\/p>\n