The Most Powerful Perfume as Literature

We love a classic novel, one that stands the test of time. It may have universal themes like love, death, life lessons and family issues; it could also be beautifully crafted and have a gripping story. But we know it’s not just about the story. Like any good recipe, several key ingredients make a book a classic. The same can be said of a perfect scent, the layers and ingredients that come together in union are perfectly crafted too. Sometimes these two crafts meet and create dancing joyous harmony. Find out more in The Most Powerful Perfume as Literature

Once upon a time a gentleman lawyer and of course, heir of one of New York City’s most illustrious families, (this is a fairy story after all) happily anticipates his highly desirable marriage to the sheltered and beautiful May Welland. Of course, since his childhood, his life has been shaped by the customs and expectations of upper-class New York City society.

But we know in all stories troubles brew. After the appearance of Countess Ellen Olenska, May’s exotic and beautiful cousin, allegedly leaving her cruel and abusive husband, Ellen strikes Archer as the opposite of the innocent and ignorant May. Ok, it’s not a children’s fairy story after all.

At first, Ellen’s arrival and its potential effect on his bride-to-be family’s reputation disturb Newland. Still, he becomes intrigued by Ellen, who brazenly flouts New York society’s fastidious rules.

Dealing with innocence, love, and society’s rules via acceptable niceties divorce and shame, the book The Age of Innocence by Edith Warton covers a mass of uncomfortable emotions.

“He tried to analyse the trick to find a clue to it in the way the chairs and tables were grouped, in the fact that only two Jacqueminot roses (of which nobody ever bought less than a dozen) had been placed in the slender vase at his elbow, and in the vague pervading perfume that was not what one put on handkerchiefs, but rather like the scent of some far-off bazaar, a smell made up of Turkish coffee and ambergris and dried roses.”

Edith Wharton, Age of Innocence

A classic book that brilliantly articulates cosmopolitan themes, it offers revelatory insight and clarity into an era. Universal and influential in many ways, it is also the subject of the latest fragrance from Miller Harris.

Meet Staccato, but how do these themes work themselves into a scent and what notes hit at these emotions and human fragilities?

Well, the scent opens with a spicy expression, after all this is a book about hot emotions that manifest in notes of spicy wood of Cinnamon Leaves, warm, sweet and spice from Cardamom Co2, fizzy and firey Organic Ginger, peppery warmth from Clove Buds and finally earthy, and leathery Saffron.

The heart here at its most significant brings florals fused with slightly darker notes. Starting out with the most enigmatic flower fresh fruity honeyed Rose, followed by the sweet, musky, and sultry scent with green, and sunny notes of regal Jasmine, sweet richness from Honey and a darker animalic facet from Leather giving an edge of danger to the centre.

The finale? finds depth from smoky, spicy, and woody elements from Tobacco, rich, and musky-marine and animalic notes of Ambergris alongside the distinct smoky, woody, and leathery, tar-like Cade resinous yet vanilla-like and woody tones of Benzoin Siamm with a flourish of slightly spicy scent with notes of resins, camphor, and citrus via magnificent Cedarwood.

Developed by perfumer Karine Vinchon-Spehner taking inspiration from the New York location of the book. Given only one paragraph as a brief for the fragrance to be created. The passage describes the two main characters meeting in her apartment and despite his engagement to another woman, there is an attraction.

So the scent is about forbidden love, and Karine searched for something between politeness and desire. This new perfume Staccato explores the dynamic relationship between what is considered decent and how desire plays against it.

The innocence of rose, sweet love of Honey against Leather and spice of seduction and attraction that may not be appropriate. This scent has a complexity and depth, which like the book enables it to transcend time

Were that not enough scented-literally excitement, Miller Harris has a second fragrance inspired by great writing; To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. A novel that explores the complex tensions and allegiances of family life, friendships and the conflict between men and women.

The book not unlike a perfume is set in three parts. The first explores the Ramsay family and their friends who meet at the Ramsays’ summer home in the Hebrides, on the Isle of Skye. One of the eight children James wants to visit the nearby lighthouse, and his mother agrees but his father says no. This section highlights certain tension, not just between the family but also between some of the guests.

This second section gives a sense of time passing, absence and death. Ten years have passed, and Mrs Ramsay has died, as have two of her children. Mr Ramsay, left adrift without his wife to praise and comfort him. This part provides a view of how things have changed while the summer home has been unoccupied and highlights how the family’s bonds have been torn asunder by human conflict.

In this final section, some of the remaining Ramsays and other guests return to their summer home ten years after the events of Part I. Mr Ramsay planned to make the long-delayed visit to the lighthouse with his daughter Camilla and his son James. As they travelled the children in silent protest at their father for forcing them to come along.

However, James sailed the boat steady, and rather than receive the harsh words he had come to expect from his father, he heard praise, This rare moment of empathy between father and son, ultimately helped with the spirit of the family and friends be rekindled.

The novel explores the complex tensions and allegiances of family life and the conflict between men and women and is heavy in its use of stylistic prose.

“But what after all is one night? A short space, especially when the darkness dims so soon, and so soon a bird sings, a cock crows, or a faint green quickens, like a turning leaf, in the hollow of the wave. Night, however, succeeds to night. The winter holds a pack of them in store and deals them equally, evenly, with indefatigable fingers. They lengthen; they darken. Some of them hold aloft clear planets, plates of brightness. The autumn tress, ravaged as they are, take on the flash of tattered flags kindling in the gloom of cool.”

Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse

So this is another powerful emotive and complex novel that is explored in scent Mìneir via opening notes of brightness, crips green notes of sweet yet earthy Green Grass, grassy herbaceous, and slightly musk of Crispy Sage, of multifaceted fresh, clean, and minty aroma with hints of wood, resin, of camphoraceous Eucalyptus, sweet-spicy of warm Cardamom, more warming sweet spice of Guatemale and finally fresh from invigorating Mint. These notes bring a tension between cool and warm notes; exhilarating yet comforting.

The heart echoes the complex depth of the emotions in the book. Sea salt echoes the journey initially not taken, with cool air reminiscent of the fresh winds of their Scottish region, but complex heavier notes give rise to unspoken feelings sitting against a deep family bond via complex musky-woody nuances of Dark Cashmere Wood, the dry, green, resinous warm spice of Cedarwood finalising in a flourish of white flowers uplifting the centre.

The final pages explored via notes that bring a depth like the roots of a family tree, starting with the earthy smell that’s woodsy, warm, and damp of Moss, Balsamic smokey woody of Myrrh, with woody, powdery, spicy Papyris, complex musky earthy damp of Patchouli with a final flourish of Dry Woods.

Again the perfumer Emilie Bouge explored the above paragraph to create her elixir. Painting a clear, icy yet warmed by spice scent reflecting loneliness wildness and the roots of family. It’s good, bad and beautiful.

Miller Harris’s Stories Collection is made up of five scents, developed using single pages of text chosen from famous literature as the only inspiration to help convey a certain emotion for the wearer of the fragrance. To complete the portfolio, Staccato and Mìneir Eau de Parfum join Celadon and Soufflot Eau de Parfum alongside bestseller Scherzo.

These fragrances are the meeting of the senses when words sounds and scent meet in an understanding of emotional power. more than just a range of fragrances; it’s an immersive journey through scent and story.

All Miller Harris products are suitable for vegans and free from phthalates, artificial colourants, parabens and formaldehyde. The brand uses high levels of natural raw materials.

Interestingly, it’s not just perfume that has been inspired by books. There are many artworks too.

One of the pre-eminent woman artists of the late 20th and early 21st century, Portuguese-British visual artist, Paula Rego drew inspiration from a vast range of sources, including traditional folklore and fairy tales, to literary classics and nursery rhymes.

Jane Eyre_2001-2002 Paula Rego: Visions of English Literature, Lakeside Arts, University of Nottingham. Nick Dunmur.

Paula Rego: Visions of English Literature presents three of the artist’s most ambitious and profound series of works in printmaking: Nursery Rhymes, Peter Pan and Jane Eyre, made across a decade of the artist’s life. Paula Rego: Visions of English Literature a new exhibition is touring around the UK now, and showcases the artist’s remarkable printmaking practice, taking a deep look into the literary influences that have inspired Rego’s works. Launched in Lakeside Arts’ Djanogly Gallery, University of Nottingham, Hayward Gallery Touring 

Little Miss Muffet II_1989 Paula Rego: Visions of English Literature, Lakeside Arts, University of Nottingham. Nick Dunmur.

Each series is accompanied by a variety of personal items from the artist, many of which have never been publicly displayed before, with the images having been made across a decade of the artist’s life. Unseen preparatory sketches, etching plates and Rego’s very own childhood copy of Peter Pan offer audiences an intimate portrayal of the artist’s lifelong fascination with literature and insight into how the artist transformed this material into startlingly original and unexpected pictures. 

From menacing oversized creatures etched into life in children’s nursery rhymes such as Little Miss Muffet and Three Blind Mice, to the almost hallucinatory depictions of Neverland from Peter Pan and the tumultuous relationships based on power read about in Jane Eyre.

Rego’s work tells stories that combine fantasy and imagination, innocence and cruelty, in order to explore the complexities of life and the experience of women in particular, in all its strangeness and mystery. Paula Rego: Visions of English Literature aims to spark new ways of seeing the world from audiences in relation to these seemingly familiar, age-old stories.

Find out all you want to know about Staccato here Find out all you want to know about Mìneir here Find all of their perfumes home scents and ancillary products here at millerharris.com here

If you enjoyed reading The Most Powerful Perfume as Literature then why not read Fall In Love The Magical Mysterious Essence of Fashion Here

To find out more about the Paula Rego touring exhibition from the Southbank please visit the Southbankcentre.co.uk here

.Cent Magazine London, Be Inspired; Get Involved