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Vivienne Westwood is inspired by the storybook Alice

The heroine of Lewis Caroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ off... Go

 
The use of fragrance at the Versailles court reached intoxicating levels. The makers of gloves, fragrances and powders became organized and developed their trade.
 
Versailles became a bright beacon, dictating its fashions, customs and practices. In four years, the Sun King took only one bath ! Everybody was filthy. Men and women used excessive amounts of fragrance and cosmetics. The Parliament authorized the master glovers to take the title of perfumer and later "powderer". Montpellier and Grasse vied with each other for the culture of medicinal herbs and flowers such as carnation, violet, jasmin, rose, tuberose as well as lavender.

 



1
"La Guirlande de Julie." Jasmine by Robert Nicolas, around 1642.
Private collection. Giraudon.

2
The Coquette. Museum of Perfumery. Fragonard.

3
Arms of Gantiers-Parfumers. International Museum of Perfumery, Grasse.