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.
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.
[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.
I’ve always loved bathrooms and I’ve seen many beautiful ones in my life, but very few of them can equal the poetic atmosphere in Kate Moss’ bathroom in her London house. The bespoke wallpaper with anemone pattern by de Gournay is its strongest point, but charming additions are the vintage crystal chandelier from James Worrall, a Drummonds claw-foot tub and framed black-and-white photographs.
On the marble washbasin there are several products – two bath oils, one fragrance and a skincare item.
The bottles with colourful ribbons are Penhaligon’s bath oils. The one on the left is Victorian Posy, a chypre floral fragrance launched in 1979 and now sadly discontinued; the one on the right is Vanities, another discontinued fragrance.
The white jar is Cosme Decorté AQ Meliority repair cleansing cream.
The bottle with ball-shaped stopper is Balenciaga L’Essence eau de parfum, a green floral fragrance created by Olivier Polge and launched in 2011.
There are lots of bottles in the mirrored cabinets above the washbasin.
On the top shelf on the left there’s a factice bottle of Prada Infusion d’Iris eau de toilette, created by Daniela Andrier and launched in 2010.
On the middle shelf on the left there’s Fracas by Robert Piguet, created by Germaine Cellier and launched in 1948.
The bottle with peach pink ribbon is Penhaligon’s Ellenisia, a discontinued floral eau de parfum launched in 2005.
The massive green bottle in the mid shelf in the central section is Sommerso, a beautiful Murano glass creation by Michele Onesto.
On the bottom shelf in the central section there’s Christian Dior Dune, an amber woody fragrance created by Jean-Louis Sieuzac, Nejla Barbir and Dominique Ropion and launched in 1991.
On the same shelf there are a flacon bouchon coeur by Guerlain and two bottles of Chanel No. 5 eau de parfum.
On the middle shelf on the right there are some Etro bottles, possibly Heliotrope eau de cologne (old packaging), and two fragrances by Byredo.
In June 2019 Madonna released God Control, a music video directed by Jonas Åkerlund which is a ferocious attack against the violence that characterises American society and its strenuous defense of the Second Amendment.
In the screenshot above the singer is getting ready to spend a night out. On her mirrored vanity there are two interesting perfume bottles.
The bottle with clear stopper on the far left is Robert Piguet Fracas extrait de parfum, one of Madonna’s favourite fragrances, a white floral (tuberose and jasmine) triumph created by Germaine Cellier and launched in 1948.
Behind Fracas there’s Jean Patou Moment Suprêmehoused in the Vacances bottle – rounded stopper and three gadroons. This amber floral fragrance, created by Henri Almeras, was launched in 1929.
The passion of Courtney Love for cosmetics and perfumes has been documented since the beginning of her career [1]. In 1992 Alan Levenson took this picture in the bathroom of a Los Angeles apartment [2] she had rented with Kurt Cobain. Let’s start with the products on the washbasin.
The shaving cream is by Edge, while the soap bar with green plastic dish is by Clinique. On the left side of the washbasin there’s a pale green tube (a concealer?) and in the toothbrush holder there’s a cleansing facial brush: if memory serves me right, they are both by Clinique (old packaging).
The black bottle with gold spray nozzle is Robert Piguet Fracas, her favourite perfume. As she explained in 2017: “My perfume history is checkered, but I found Fracas in 1985 via an agent I shared with Uma [Thurman]. It was so white-floral and heady […] I always come back to Fracas. I love it the most and it’s my go-to. It makes me so happy. My daughter also wears it. No one can ignore you when you’re wearing it, yet it’s not annoying. It smells to me like a baby’s head, a field of dreamy white meadow flowers, and a touch of sex.” Intriguing description, right?
The jar and glass bottle with white caps are Clarins products. Again, I remember Clarins skincare items had the brand name etched on their caps. I have no idea what these contained, but I guess they were a face cream and serum.
Last, the black tube with gold accents is the Lancôme mascara Définicils.
[1] Her Top Shelf is the best ever published on Into the Gloss.
I am not surprised to see a big bottle of Robert Piguet Fracas eau de toilette on Myrtle Gordon’s dressing table. The troubled actress has a strong personality, what it takes to wear a larger-than-life white floral triumph like Fracas, created in 1948 by Germaine Cellier. The bottle has a white stopper, instead of the traditional black one.
The passion of Courtney Love for cosmetics and perfumes has been documented since the beginning of her career [1]. In 1992 Alan Levenson took this picture in the bathroom of a Los Angeles apartment [2] she had rented with Kurt Cobain. Let’s start with the products on the washbasin.
Now the dresser: the pump bottle is Rave 
The black bottle with gold spray nozzle is Robert Piguet Fracas, her favourite perfume. 
The jar and glass bottle with white caps are 
Last, the black tube with gold accents is the Lancôme mascara Définicils.
I am not surprised to see a 
World Wide Aura 
