Artists, Designers, Fashion and Perfume! |
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It is now common for fashion designers, celebrities and athletes to endorse perfumes or to develop their own fragrances. For some, our choice of scent is as important as the clothes we wear.
We've known that for decades, fashion designers and artists have collaborated with perfumers to develop some of the most iconic and well-known fragrances.
We would like to share some of our favorite collaborations.
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The deco gallery at Perfume Passage includes a showcase of Elsa Schiaparelli perfumes that highlight her journey as an iconic fashion designer and perfumer, whose bottles are sought after by many collectors.
Born in Rome in 1890, she married Count Wilheim Wend de Kerlor in 1914 and traveled to New York with him in 1916. She gave birth to her daughter Yvonne in 1920, then moved to Paris in 1922 following her divorce.
She worked at an antique shop during the day and she developed friendships with Parisian artists and designers including Paul Poiret, sparking her interest in the fashion industry.
In 1927 she founded her company, “Schiaparelli-Pour le Sport” (Schiaparelli-Sportswear), designing collections of knitwear, swimsuits and accessories.
She introduced four collections each year, collaborating with jewelers, artists and perfume bottle designers. For years her relationships with artists Salvador Dali, Jean Cocteau and Alberto Giacometti, along with fashion and portrait photographer Man Ray were legendary.
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She launched her first fragrance, called “S” in 1928. In 1934, Schiaparelli’s friend Jean-Michel Frank, created the bottle for her first collection of fragrances: Salut, Schiap and Soucis. The clean lines of the trapezoidal shape were characteristic of Frank’s aesthetic, who was one of the most important French decorators during this time. The perfume was presented in a rectangular case made of cork. |
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Schiaparelli’s reputation preceded her and she became the first fashion designer to be featured on the cover of Time magazine in 1934 (below). She designed for women with strong and independent personalities including Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, actresses Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Mae West and Lauren Bacall, to name a few |
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Schiaparelli’s collaborations with artists and manufacturers in designing her clothing, perfume bottles and accessories became her trademark. The whimsical figural telephone dial shaped compact designed by Salvador Dali in 1935 is a great example of a successful collaboration. |
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These compacts, one attributed to Schiaparelli’s 1935 collaboration with Dali, the only known compact attributed to him for Schiaparelli. The other was manufactured in the 1950s by an unknown manufacturer. |
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The compact was part of her theme presentation called “Stop, Look and Listen,” which debuted in conjunction with her new boutique at the Place Vendome in Paris. Over the years she continued her fashion collaborations with Dali and their telephone dial compact was so popular it was produced again in the 1950s by an unknown company. |
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Throughout the 1930s she collaborated with Salvador Dali on clothing designs and the Le Roy Soleil perfume bottle. Her clothing lines also reflected the work of Jean Cocteau who designed her men’s fragrance bottle in the shape of a pipe that held her Snuff perfume.
Schiaparelli had a fondness for the Surrealist movement that was founded by the poet Andre Breton in Paris in 1924. Surrealism was an artistic and literary movement whose goal was to liberate thought, language, and human experience from the boundaries of rationalism.
Her pipe perfume was the epitome of Surrealism, it was a pipe, yet it wasn’t a pipe.
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Schiaparelli Le Roy Soleil perfume, designed by Salvador Dali in 1946. |
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In 1937 the perfume Shocking was launched. The bottle was designed by Leonor Fini, and represented a dressmakers form that followed the curves of Mae West. It was decorated with porcelain flowers and a velvet measuring tape. It was an instant success.
During the war years, she launched a perfume called Sleeping. Following the war, French fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy who later developed the house of Givenchy in 1952, became the creative director of the Schiaparelli boutique.
In the 1940s a perfume factory was built in the Paris suburbs to ensure the continuing production of Schiaparelli's fragrances. New scents called Zut (1948) and Succes Fou (1952) were also produced in the new factory.
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Schiaparelli’s perfume sales continued to grow and she eventually decided to close her couture fashion in 1954. She died in her sleep in 1973 at the age of 83.
The Couture House was relaunched in 2007 by Diego Della Valle after he acquired the Schiaparelli archives and rights. They opened at Hotel de Fontpertuis in 2012, the same place Schiaparelli left 58 years earlier. In 2014, the first Haute Couture runway show since closing, was presented during Paris Haute Couture week.
In 2019, Daniel Roseberry was appointed Artistic Director for all collections, projects and for the image of the House founded by Elsa Schiaparelli in 1927.
“Working with artists like Bebe Bérard, Jean Cocteau, Salvador Dali, Vertès, Van Dongen; and with photographers like Hoeningen-Huene, Horst, Cecil Beaton, and Man Ray gave one a sense of exhilaration.”
Elsa Schiaparelli
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Andy Warhol was another well-known artist that worked with the perfume industry. Warhol made a living as an illustrator, winning awards for his advertisements for radio networks and pharmaceutical companies, yet it was his drawings for the fashion and beauty industries that brought him fame and attention.
Warhol, born Andrew Warhola Jr. in 1928, was an artist, film director and producer who led the visual art movement known as “pop art.” His work focused on the relationships between artistic expressions, advertising and the celebrity world that was popular in the 1960s.
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One of Warhol’s best-known works included the silkscreen painting of the Campbell soup can in 1962. |
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Marilyn Monroe screenprints from 1967. |
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Warhol’s love of fragrances was well known. He had a large collection of perfumes and it’s been said that he liked to often change the scent he wore. His collection of perfume bottles is in the Warhol Museum in his hometown of Pittsburgh. He also created his own “permanent smell collection” consisting of perfumes that he previously wore over the years.
Warhol began collecting perfumes and perfume bottles in the early 1960s. However, his love for perfumes began in the 1950s, while he was working as an illustrator. He won several advertising awards for a variety of products but became well-known for his beautiful illustrations of perfume bottles for Harper’s Bazaar magazine. One of his most iconic illustrations was his drawing of a Chanel No. 5 perfume bottle.
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In addition to his Harper Bazaar Illustrations, his fondness for perfumes are seen above in several of his pieces for Halston, as well as in the 1950s drawing titled “Cat with Perfume Bottle,” a 1953 ink drawing called Perfume Bottle With Face,” and a 1962 work titled “Perfume Bottles and Lipstick”shown below. |
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Also in the 1950s, Warhol was commissioned by New York’s Fifth Avenue Bonwit Teller department store to create window displays to promote popular perfume bottles such as Arpege, Miss Dior, Ma Griffe, Republique and Mistigri. |
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Bond No. 9 dedicated a perfume to Warhol in 2007 called Andy Warhol Silver Factory, a woody floral musk fragrance for women and men. |
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Andy Warhol Marilyn Rose Eau de Toilette with Promo Display Sign. |
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A series of perfumes were launched in 2001 by Cofinluxe in Paris.
The fragrances include Marilyn Bleu, Marilyn Rose and Marilyn Rouge with different colors of Marilyn's image border and spray cap. The nose behind the fragrances is Michel Almairac.
The flowers display is based on Warhol's 1964 Flowers paintings. It is believed the Flowers paintings may have been created as a kind of tribute to slain President John F. Kennedy. Warhol created the works along with his portraits of the grieving Jacqueline Kennedy only months after the assassination.
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Visual art installation from 1967, "You’re In" (pictured above left) is spray paint on glass bottles in a printed wooden crate.
Comme des Garcons issued a limited edition unisex fragrance (pictured above right), honoring Warhol in 2017 called “You’re In.” The nose behind this fragrance is Maurice Roucel.
Warhol died in 1987 at the age of 58.
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Of all the perfumes in the world, there is only one Chanel No. 5.
Coco Chanel’s original fragrance is synonymous with luxury, beauty and extravagance and has graced dressing tables around the world for the past century.
For many, the scent of Chanel No. 5 is a powerful smell-memory of the past, and a perfect way to allow us to reminisce about why we love perfumes.
As a fashion designer, Chanel, whose real name was Gabrielle, is famous for her timeless clothing designs that included suits and little black dresses, emphasizing comfortable outfits for women.
She became a style icon known not only for her clothing, but her accessories and perfumes.
Chanel opened her first shop in Paris in 1910, selling mostly hats, and eventually began making clothing. She soon extended her couture clothing line, developing jewelry and purses. She designed her infamous interlocking CC logo, which has been used since the 1920s.
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In 1921, Chanel launched her first perfume, Chanel No. 5, which was the first to feature a designer’s name. Designed and formulated by perfumer Ernest Beaux for the House of Chanel, it was an instant success. |
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Original presentation of Chanel No. 5, 1921 |
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1937 advertisement. The first time Coco Chanel, herself, promoted her perfume. |
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The evolution of the bottle design including the iconic interlocking CC used in the original bottle. |
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“A woman who doesn’t wear perfume has no future.”
Coco Chanel
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All fragrances are a mixture of ingredients of strength or concentrations, along with water and perfumer’s alcohol. Most perfumers study for many years to come up with specific formulas that can provide long lasting, stronger or lighter scents. There are generally five different types of fragrances with distinguishing characteristics. Fragrances can be subtle but can still reflect the user’s personality, and that’s why we are always in search of the perfect scent. |
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Perfume / Parfum: This is the most concentrated and strongest scent, usually composed of 20-30% pure essential oils. Perfumes are more concentrated and often more expensive, a few drops often lasts anywhere from 8 to 12 hours. Perfumes can be sprayed, splashed or dabbed on the body.
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Eau de Parfums: These are less concentrated than perfumes and usually contain, 15-20% pure perfume oils. They are often less expensive than perfumes, a few drops often last anywhere from 4 – 6 hours and can be sprayed or poured.
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Eau de Toilette: Usually has a scent concentration of 5-15% pure perfume oils and is lighter and less expensive than other fragrances. They will often last 2 to 3 hours and can be sprayed or splashed. The name literally means “toilet water,” and was often used centuries ago by French women instead of bathing!
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Eau de Cologne: These have a lower concentration than Eau de Toilettes, with about 2-4% perfume oils and can last about 1 to 2 hours. They are usually the least expensive types of fragrances. The word cologne is one of the oldest terms for perfumes, most often used to describe masculine scents.
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Eau de Fraiche: Similar to eau de cologne as the scent usually lasts about an hour or so and has a concentration of 1-3% of pure perfume oils. They do not contain a high amount of alcohol and is the most diluted of all fragrances often preferred by individuals with sensitive skin. The name literally means “fresh water.”
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Treasures of the Collection... |
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Me Voila for Whitmore, designed by Jean Lambert-Rucki circa 1927. |
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How often have you heard a perfume bottle collector say "we haven't seen others?"
When Perfume Passage Foundation came across this bottle called Me Voila by Whitmore, we hadn't seen other bottles by the artist Jean Lambert-Rucki. He was a Polish avant-garde artist, sculptor, and graphic artist, who was best known for his works in Cubism, Surrealism and Art Deco styles.
His bottle is the only one attributed to him that's in the Perfume Passage collection. The bottle was designed circa 1927, comes in a gilded black crystal bottle, decorated with a cubist landscape and a man wearing a hat on the streets of Paris near the Eiffel Tower, under a full moon. The bottle stands in its original violet colored leather case that's stamped Whitmore Paris Omaha.
Lambert-Rucki (1888-1967), went to the School of Fine Arts in Krakow, Poland and traveled to Paris as a young man, where his early works were in the Cubism style (an artistic movement, created by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, which employed geometric shapes in depictions of human and other forms), which was popular in the 1920s.
From 1925, he exhibited his works, most of which were commissioned throughout the US, Europe and Canada. Many of his pieces were displayed in churches that were being renovated after WWI. In 1925 he collaborated on an exhibit at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris. His work was influenced by the Art Deco style of the Expo.
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Throughout his career he participated in many international exhibits, working in a variety of styles and media, and was often influenced by tribal African art. He was also commissioned by French jewelry manufacturer Georges Fouquet during the 1930s to design Art Deco pieces.
We aren't aware of other perfume bottles that he designed, but the hunt is on...
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Perfume Passage Foundation is dedicated to preserving the history, beauty, and artistry of perfume bottles, compacts, ephemera and related vanity items. The Foundation seeks to educate and inspire visitors by illuminating the connection between perfume and the human experience.
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We Hope To See You Soon - Autumn 2021 |
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Located in the Chicagoland area, the Perfume Passage Foundation is 38 miles northwest of downtown Chicago and 25 miles from O'Hare International Airport.
Types of tours include:
- Private docent-guided tours
- Group tours
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Symphony of Scents and Sounds
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