There are two interesting products on Isabelle’s dresser.
One is Cacharel Anais Anais, even though just the box is visible. This floral fragrance, created by Roger Pellegrino, Robert Gonnon, Paul Leger and Raymond Chaillan, was launched in 1978 and gained huge popularity in the following decade.
The other is a Clinique classic – Dramatically Different moisturising lotion.
When the protagonist Mary-Jane visits her parents in London, we can see a very peculiar sighting – a bottle of Cacharel Anais Anais.
This fragrance, created in 1978 by Roger Pellegrino, Robert Gonnon, Paul Leger and Raymond Chaillan, was still very successful one decade later. I guess it’s the eau de toilette of choice of Mary-Jane’s mother.
Many years ago a reader of this blog left a comment on this post mentioning an article from the 1990s where Courtney Love spoke about her love for fragrances. Since then, many people have told me about it, always in elusive terms, as if the article existed but they were not quite sure about that.
Thanks to the endless mine of vintage material that is Instagram [1] and thanks to Edward who sent it to me, now we can finally read the aforementioned article! It was published on Mademoiselle Magazine in May 1993. As Lydia explained in her comment, it’s truly a monologue about the complex and very personal connection between memories and perfumes.
This is the first time I write a post about an article, instead of analysing a picture, but the subject is so intriguing that I hope you will appreciate the change. Let’s see the fragrances Courtney mentioned.
1_ “Hippie oils” from Body Scent in Seattle [2]: she wore them on stage because they mixed “well with sweat”.
2_ Chanel No. 5: she said all boys loved it because it reminded them of their mothers.
3_ Fracas by Robert Piguet. Courtney’s love for this tuberose triumph, created by Germaine Cellier and launched in 1948, is well-known and well-documented. In the article she defined it her “number-one perfume”, a fragrance she always managed to wear even when she was poor and on food stamps.
4_ Christian Dior Diorissimo and Tuvaché Jungle Gardenia are mentioned along with Fracas. Courtney said Diorissimo was “great to wear in L. A.” because “it’s jarring and pink and very feminine, but also wintry”. On the other hand, she established a parallel between Jungle Gardenia and Fracas: “it’s loud and insane but really rare – no one wears it.”
In conclusion she said Fracas is “genius no matter where you go”, a perfume Joan Crawford or 1920s singer Libby Holman could have worn.
5_ According to Courtney, Kat Bjelland, the frontwoman of Babes in Toyland, wore hippie oil almost exclusively. On the other hand, Jennifer Finch, the bassist of L7, sometimes wore Cacharel Anaïs Anaïs, “the ultimate femme smell”, after Courtney had given it to her for Christmas. This Cacharel white floral fragrance was created by Roger Pellegrino, Robert Gonnon, Paul Leger and Raymond Chaillan, and launched in 1978.
6_ As opposed to the worst smells (those in rock vans), Courtney lists her favourite smells: “Fracas, lilacs, fresh baby head, the way my husband smells like waffles and daphne, a North-West flower that comes out in early spring and is overwhelming“, adding “fresh gardenias” to the list.
7_ The article ends with another long list of great smells: Courtney mentions some places (gas stations, thrift stores, the Seattle Public Library and Portland’s rose garden), human smells (“female milk vapor”), drinks (“cappuccino on a slushy day”) and many beauty products/toiletries.
The “Spanish baby cologne” she mentions is too vague to identify.
The “baby bee talc” that follows was possibly Burt’s Bees dusting powder. I am not 100% sure this specific item was already on the market in 1993, but at the time the brand had already been established, so it could be a good guess.
Weleda iris soap is mentioned, too.
Dana Love’s Baby Soft bath gel is a product that comes with a nostalgic aura [3]. The original musky rose perfume was created by Ron Winnegrad and launched in 1974.
In the 1980s and 1990s make-up items had very distinctive smells. Courtney mentions Chanel make-up, Dana Tabu lipstick (it reminded her of Ireland, where she briefly lived in the 1980s) and Cover Girl make-up.
Johnson’s Baby shampoo and powder have very distinctive smells, too. I think you noticed that Courtney often mentioned baby products, which is understandable: she had given birth to her daughter Frances Bean in August 1992, so when the article was published Frances was only nine months old. Living with a newborn baby affects your sense of smell and introduces new smells into your life, not only from toiletries but also from the baby’s and your own bodies.
The last product is Carmex lip balm, with its peculiar menthol smell.
[1] Savana posted the article on Instagram in July 2022.
[2] According to my research, this shop doesn’t exist anymore.
[3] Another fan of Love’s Baby Soft is Sarah Jessica Parker. The Dana fragrance inspired SJP’s first eau de toilette, Lovely, created by Clement Gavarry and Laurent Le Guernec and launched in 2005.
Wyatt (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) and Gary (Anthony Michael Hall) are sampling perfumes at L. Magnin.
The refillable atomiser Gary is holding is Eau de Joy by Jean Patou, launched in the 1960s.
Wyatt is holding Cacharel Anais Anais, the romantic white floral scent created in 1978 by Roger Pellegrino, Robert Gonnon, Paul Leger and Raymond Chaillan.
The perfume counter displays other Patou perfumes – Eau de Joy in a splash bottle, 1000 in two sizes and a factice bottle of Joy in a black bottle with coral stopper. 1000, housed in a beautiful jade bottle, is a floral chypre perfume created by Jean Kerleo and launched in 1972. Joy, the “costliest perfume in the world”, was created by Henri Almeras and launched in 1930.
When the camera moves to the other side of the counter, other perfume bottles make their appearance. Right in front of the boys there are two Dior bottles.
The atomiser without stopper contains the eau de cologne version of Miss Dior, created by Paul Vacher and Jean Carles and launched in 1947.
The crystal bottle with brass stopper is kind of confusing: the front label looks white with dove grey details but it looks kind of pink, too. In any case, it’s the travel flacon containing the eau de parfum of Miss Dior (if we assume the front label is white) or Diorissimo (if we think it’s pink).
There’s also Pierre Balmain Ivoire de Balmain, another floral chypre fragrance: it was created by Francis Camail and Michel Hy, and launched in 1980. The white bottle was designed by Pierre Dinand.
Half hidden in one corner, there’s also Halston, housed in the Elsa Peretti-designed bottle. This creation by Bernard Chant was launched in 1975.
Thanks to Le Petit Civet who first wrote about perfumes in this scene.
When Johnny visits the woman in the window (Deborah MacLaren), we can see some beauty products on glass shelf. The brown spray bottle is Vidal Sassoon blow styling lotion. The bottle next to it looks like a talcum powder bottle; it reminds me of Crabtree & Evelyn old packaging, but not sure about it.
The floral bottle with silver stopper surely stirs some nostalgia: it’s the Cacharel best seller Anais Anais, a romantic white floral scent created in 1978 by Roger Pellegrino, Robert Gonnon, Paul Leger and Raymond Chaillan.
The perfume sitting on Julie’s bedside table is Cacharel Anais Anais, a romantic white floral scent created in 1978 by Roger Pellegrino, Robert Gonnon, Paul Leger and Raymond Chaillan
Julie, the film’s protagonist, is an only child but she’s hardly ever alone: she spends most of her time with her friends. Stacey (Heidi Holicker) is one of her closest friends: she often visits Julie at home, where they spend time together. In this scene, Stacey is painting her nails on a clear acrylic paint station which also works as organiser. It contains nail polish bottles and two perfumes.
There’s a miniature of Cacharel Anais Anais, which Julie owns in full size, too. It’s a lovely choice for someone trendy like Julie: the first Cacharel perfume, launched in 1978, was very popular in the 1980s.
On the other hand, the second perfume is quite surprising: it’s the now-discontinued Inoui by Shiseido, launched in 1976, described by Elena Vosnaki as a fragrance where “the alliance of juniper, with its gin-like background, with galbanum and pine, gives the initial jolt of seemingly frozen nostrils, icicles growing up your brain, which becomes the prelude for the harmony of peachy florals in the heart with a classic chypre base.” It sounds appealing, doesn’t it? That’s why finding it in the bedroom of a Valley Girl, someone who’s stereotypically interested in shopping, partying and dating, is so unusual.
Thanks to concepteaux for the Shiseido id.
Nancy has spent the night with Jonathan and she’s in a hurry to get to work. When the camera quickly pans over a dresser in Jonathan’s bedroom, we can see a perfume bottle that definitely belongs to Nancy: it’s Cacharel Anais Anais eau de parfum, a romantic white floral scent created in 1978 by Roger Pellegrino, Robert Gonnon, Paul Leger and Raymond Chaillan.
There’s a bottle of Cacharel Anais Anais perfume in the bathroom where Karen (Gage Golightly) is crying, not sure whether to marry Barry or not. It’s unclear if the girl is wearing this perfume, but it would be perfect for her. I personally see this white floral, created in 1978 by Roger Pellegrino, Robert Gonnon, Paul Leger and Raymond Chaillan, as one of the most romantic fragrances ever.
There is a display of Cacharel Anais Anais in a mall visited by Samantha (Kelli Maroney) and Regina Belmont. The bottles shown include the stopper version, the splash and the spray ones.
World Wide Aura 