On a large wooden table, the ten perfume bottles are displayed under elegant glass domes. The introductory rooms presents a few masterpieces from modern perfumery, not necessarily the most famous but amongst the most representative and iconic perfumes of each decade of the 20th century. Co-curator Lizzie Ostrom, aka Odette Toilette, author of Perfume: A Century of Scents (2015), sees this exhibition as a way to challenge our preconceptions and enlighten the current changes in perfumery: from the original and bold choices of raw materials (of which a list opens the exhibition, mixing indiscriminately oris, creosote, chlorine or blood) to the innovative creative intentions of perfumers, who nowadays come not only from specialized schools but are also sometimes completely self-taught. “If books and movies can make us travel in that way, why couldn’t perfumes do the same ?” she asks as an introduction. Her idea for this exhibition ? Offering an olfactory journey through space, time and the emotions created by scents. Until September 17th, you will be able to discover there the specificities of contemporary perfumery through several senses.Īccording to Claire Catterall, senior curator at Somerset House and initiator of this project, “perfume is the art of the 21st century”. This issue is available on for North America and on the Auparfum Shop for other countries.If this summer the sides of the river Thames appeal to you, don’t miss out on the new multisensory exhibition on view at Somerset House : “Perfume: A sensory journey through contemporary scent”. This review has been published in Nez, the olfactory magazine – #03 – The Sex of Scent. Perfume – a Century of Scents, Lizzie Ostrom, Pegasus Books Editions, December 2016, 384 pages, $26.95 Whether you read it cover to cover or flutter around from Aromatics Elixir to Vol de Nuit, Jovan’s Musk Oil or Cool Water, it remains as well written and richly documented as it is fun and entertaining. Not quite an olfactory read – most compositions are merely evoked – this book brilliantly demonstrates that perfumes are so much more than what’s in the bottle. Some are legendary, others most of us have never even heard of some epitomize luxury, others are supermarket hallmarks. Through the pages of this original book, Lizzie Ostrom, also known as Odette Toilette, takes us on a very pleasant tour of the 20th century: ten decades unfold through the prism of 100 perfumes. As artefacts, they can tell us about a historical and social context, about the people who made them and those who wore them. Perfumes have a lot to say about the time they were created in.

Perfume by Lizzie Ostrom