Jayne Mansfield starred in this episode as Marion, a girl the protagonist (advertising man Hadley Purvis) has taken home with him. He doesn’t remember anything about it because he is an alcoholic, so he has to reconstruct the events of the night before.
Mansfield, sporting a short hairstyle, posed for some on-set pictures in a bathroom. There are two intriguing bottles on the marble shelf behind her.
The tall ribbed bottle is Lanvin Eau de Lanvin. The prop masters replaced the original black bakelite stopper with an ordinary one.
The other bottle is by Lucien Lelong. Since the label usually wrapping the bottle neck is missing, we can make an assumption from the stopper: I think it contained Opening Night cologne.
Countess Sveva della Rocca Croce (Elisabetta De Palo) is sitting at her dressing table, getting ready for meeting Samurai at a luxury hotel in Rome. There are lots of products on it, but three bottles in particular have attracted my attention.
On the far left side of the table there’s L’Occitane Verveine Agrumeseau de toilette, launched in 2015.
The tall bottle with rounded silver stopper nearby is Estée Lauder Pleasures, created by Annie Buzantian and Alberto Morillas and launched in 1995.
Even if I appreciate both perfumes, I can’t really imagine the countess wearing them.
But there’s a bottle that saves the day, something the Countess could actually wear. The red round flacon with the clear flower-shaped stopper is Cartier Delices de Cartier, a floral fragrance with fruity (cherry!) notes created by Christine Nagel and launched in 2006.
Spadino (Giacomo Ferrara) is a young member of a Sinti family which controls part of the illegal activities in Rome. Even if he’s homosexual (his mother knows but she’s not supportive), there’s an arranged wedding for him: he’s to marry Angelica, from another Sinti family.
His brother Manfredi (Adamo Dionisi) forces him to spend some time with his fiancé and he reluctantly accepts.
His bedroom is very flashy – arabesque wallpaper, animalier bed cover, a Thug Life poster, gold and purple furniture and a LED screen above the bed. The objects on his dresser, though, reveal a very different side of him.
There’s a brown box with yellow lettering from the Collezione Barbiere by Acqua di Parma. Such a choice contrasts with the image this character has created for himself.
But the real shock comes from the factice bottle with wicker decoration sitting on the same purple dresser.
This bottle is shown in another episode, just before the wedding ceremony. Spadino’s mother, Adelaide (Paola Sotgiu), is giving him a very important heirloom as gift – his late father’s switchblade.
I have no idea how a Revillon splash bottle ended up on that dresser, but I think it’s incredibly exciting. Unfortunately, the back of the bottle is shown, so I don’t know if the one in the TV show contains Detchemaor Carnet de Bal (the wicker bottle was used for both).
Now the question is: is this a totally casual prop or was it specifically chosen for Spadino? Is he a lover of vintage perfumes? I hope I’ll see more in the second season (I’ve almost finished watching the first one).
Several bottles of perfume can be seen on a tray. Most of them are decorative, but one is real: it’s California perfume by Avon.
This is the 1976 Anniversary Keepsake edition, the front sticker decorated with a beautiful floral design and a Gibson girl. The perfume was originally produced in 1905 by California Perfume Company [1] with the name California Bouquet.
[1] The company would change its name to Avon Products Inc. in 1939.
Thanks to my friend Maurizio for the id and screencaps.
Mildred (Sarah Paulson) is about to meet the private detective Charles Wainwright in her room again. On her dressing table we see an old acquaintance and a new bottle.
The other bottle is the Lanvin boule, a special one: it’s made of colourless glass (and not of the more ordinary black glass) and its gold stopper has got a raspberry shape (and not the more ordinary ribbed ball shape) [1]. This bottle was used to house Mon péché (My Sin), originally launched in 1924, and Arpège, launched in 1927. I like to think My Sin is sitting on Mildred’s vanity: she’s a character full of contrasts, who is definitely hiding many secrets and sins.
[1] Later, the ribbed stoppers would replace the raspberry ones. The change didn’t happen before the 1960s, as shown by this 1964 advert for My Sin
The outfit of the Hollywood star Barbara Stanwyck on the cover of Picturegoer Film Weekly magazine [1] serves as source of inspiration for Mildred Ratched. When it comes to perfumes, though, the nurse has got her own taste.
The large splash bottle on the left is Platino / Platinum / Platine by Dana, a fragrance launched in 1934.
The tall fluted bottle with black stopper is Moment Suprême eau de cologne by Jean Patou, The eau de parfum version was launched in 1929.
Half-hidden on a black tray in Natalia’s bedroom there’s a bottle of Ralph Lauren Blue, a perfume created by David Apel and Pierre Negrin and launched in 2005.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the large bottle with green stopper on the same tray, but no results. I know it looks like Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gioia, but I don’t think it is. Any ideas?
Thanks to the ever-helpful Fragrantica forum for the Ralph Lauren id.
Arabella (Michaela Coel) and her friend Terry are back to Ego Death, the London bar where the protagonist’s story starts. The scene above is set in the bar toilet; right behind Arabella there’s a table with some perfume bottles on it. Unfortunately there’s not a clear shot of it, because it would have been interesting to see what perfumes were selected and made available to the customers for a quick spraying.
Two bottles (the first and second from the left) can be identified, though. The first is Dior Fahrenheit, the creation by Jean-Louis Sieuzac and Michel Almairac that has become a unisex favourite since its launch in 1988. The second is Alien by Thierry Mugler, a white floral (jasmine!) perfume created by Laurent Bruyère and Dominique Ropion and launched in 2005.
A growing archive of beauty products and perfumes in movies and tv shows
