If there is no perfume, our daily life will lose a lot of indescribable taste. We can't refuse perfume, because perfume has created a standard of aesthetic culture for us - perfume has become a kind of consumption culture with historical significance. When we try to describe the perfume culture with a writing as elegant as perfume, we always feel that we are breathing the fragrance of perfume, as if happy times are stirring our body and mind.
Perfume is feminine, because it is too tender, too delicate, and wraps our lives with a peculiar passion, creating many fragrant feelings and stories for us. Every feeling and story about perfume is sweet, and cultural ambience can be found in the full experience. When we recall the development process of perfume, we cannot help but be deeply impressed by the cultural attitude of human beings who constantly improve themselves and pursue their own perfection, and are deeply intoxicated by this fragrance that reflects human cultural life and cultural pursuit. It can be said without any doubt that as long as the history of mankind is, how long the history of perfume is. Because long before the advent of human beings, those flowers and herbs swayed and existed as part of the beautiful scenery of the earth. But the memory of our ancestors using perfume has become blurred here, and the history of oblivion has become more difficult to verify with the passage of time.
Recalling the Fragrance Years of Antiquity
Researchers in the history of perfume have been diligently seeking, and finally touched a solid and reliable basis in Thebes on the Nile River. Archaeologists found a series of frescoes in the temple of Queen Haz Hepsart, with mottled picture descriptions. On an expedition 3,500 years ago, the brave ancient Egyptian fleet entered the "Punt's Land" in search of a spice called "Myrrh". The earliest known perfume of mankind is "kyphi" invented by the Egyptians. At that time, there was no method to extract high-purity alcohol, so to be precise, kyphi is a kind of essential oil, and its manufacture and use are very strict. , limited to priests and mages. At any time, the story of perfume is always complemented by some beautiful legends. In this period, the most legendary perfume beauty was Cleopatra, who was expelled because of the court power struggle. An Egyptian woman, but relying on her ingenuity to become the queen of Egypt. Legend has it that Cleopatra was graceful and sweet, and often used 15 different scents of perfumes and essential oils to bathe, and even soaked her sailing boat with perfume, The luxury of life makes people sigh with emotion. The Queen of the year, the method of using incense was to first bathe in a bathtub filled with spices, and then apply animal spices such as civet incense. In modern terms, it is a mixture of floral and The sexy fragrance of animal-based spices.
In ancient Greece, ancient Egypt, and Arabia, perfume ushered in its first golden age. The ancient Greeks believed that perfume was the invention of the gods, representing the advent and blessing of the gods. In ancient times In Greece, the makers of perfumes were all women. They absorbed the methods of the Egyptians and made improvements on this basis, and used them in religious ceremonies. In Roman times, people indulged in luxury and pleasure, and even invented spices to decorate, not only houses The decoration of the house was fragrant, the pets and horses were smeared with perfume, and the flag of triumph was sprayed with spices. The most famous emperor of Rome, Nero, when he gave a banquet, ordered the attendants to sprinkle them from a high place. Put down the rose petals, and at the same time sprinkle the rose perfume along the silver tube to each table. The whole banquet is immersed in the fragrance of roses. It is hard to look back on
modern times.
Today , we see French perfumes that are famous all over the world, and it is very similar to French fashion. , wine and known as the three major French boutique industries. About 70% of modern perfumes are made in France, which is the pride of the French. We always like to imagine that the French people's pursuit of excellence in perfume is out of the pursuit of a perfect life, but read Historical materials, but found some interesting and embarrassing history.
The spice craftsmanship in ancient Europe was not developed. Except for ancient Greece, Rome and other countries, the essence of spices belonged to Arabia, and no European countries were involved. At that time, they even refused to take a bath. There was no bathing equipment at home. Disease, European cities do not have sewers, and the corner of the courtyard is a convenient place.
It is recorded in the History of the Dark Night that the inhabitants of European cities retained the custom of Roman times, pouring the chamber pot out of the window to dispose of its "contents". The open trench, more than a foot deep, gradually filled with ashes, oyster shells and animal carcasses. In 1776, Geneva had not even a single level of land to walk on, and to make matters worse, the streets and sidewalks became dumping grounds for filth and passers-by were forced to pass through. One critic wrote: "Rough, uneven or broken pavements can cause horrific accidents, especially when the pavement is so full of filth that it is almost impossible for the most careful pedestrian to see during the day, and can be imagined at night. already.” The rubbish-laden city streets of Europe are irritating and unsightly. The only exceptions are cities in the Netherlands, where the Dutch have built a reputation for clean city streets. In 1544, Henry VIII of England, in the interval of taunting his wife's house, complained about the city of Cambridge, full of dung heaps, filth and mud, and attributed the cause of the city's health problems to such poor city appearance.
Poor sewage facilities have indirectly created two cultures, one is a gentleman's culture, and the other is a perfume culture. At that time, in order to prevent the dirt that often came suddenly and fell from the sky, gentlemen had to wear top hats to go out and walk on the left side of the ladies to prevent the ladies from being attacked by foreign objects. Thinking of the glossy gentleman's top hat that has been inherited to this day, I really don't want to believe that it was invented to resist the filth that fell from the sky. Another is the heavy use of perfume. In England, it wasn't until the reign of Edward VI that Parliament began to propose drainage systems, while in France the streets still stink in the 18th century. Luckily they have world famous French fragrances. After the Crusades, warriors returned from the Mediterranean to bring their girlfriends trophies, Arab perfumes, and dirty European streets, greatly stimulating the demand for this wonderful scent. The 14th century saw the creation of the first modern perfumes - "Water from Hungary", a blend of essence and alcohol, created at the behest of Queen Elizabeth, which has been popular in Europe for four centuries as long as. In the 16th century, Catherine de Meidici, the niece of the Pope of Italy, married King Henry II of France. She brought her own perfumer and opened the world's first perfumery. Parisians were fascinated by perfumes. The best perfumes at that time were produced in Grasse, which was originally a small town dominated by the leather industry. Later, it focused on growing flowers. Whenever the flowers bloomed, perfumers from all over France would come here. Discover new scents here, and there are more than 30 perfume factories around Grasse, where almost all perfumes sold in Paris come from.
At this time, there are several characters that have to be mentioned. The first is Louis XIII. It is said that in order to cover up the scars on his head, he invented the wig. Louis XIII had a terrible body odor, and his queen finally couldn't bear it before she died, and complained to the maid, who then swore to ensure that, after the queen's death, she would use clean linen, perfume and her collection of 340 pairs of scented gloves Bury her. And then there was Louis XIV, a romantic, sophisticated, fashionable emperor, and a "perfume-loving emperor". He even called on his subjects to change to a different perfume every day. During the period of Louis XV, Madame de Pompadour and Madame du Barry were as fond of perfume as they were about clothing, and the palace followed suit, so everyone's accessories and clothing, and even the entire court, were full of fragrance. Known as the "Palace of Perfume", the whole of Paris has also become the "Perfume Capital". Marie Antoinette, Queen of Louis XVI, especially liked a rose-based perfume. At this time, the trend of perfume bathing was once again set off, returning to the luxury that was not seen after the Roman period. At that time, people sprinkled perfume on handkerchiefs and carried them around to make their whole body scented. Later, because Marie Antoinette was hanged to death during the French Revolution, it was named "The Spirit of Hanging". Another perfume fan is Napoleon. When he was exiled to the island, he ran out of perfume and created his own perfume made of mint, called eau de toilette, which became a model of perfume in the future.
The pinnacle of modern fashion
"A man without taste has no future," Chanel said. More than 70 years ago, a small impulse of the fashion legend not only made Chanel No. 5 a breakthrough in fragrance synthesis in the perfume industry, but also the "Women" performed by French star Carol Boucher. "Scent" was once popular all over the world, and even the sexy stunner Marilyn Monroe couldn't put it down. In fact, not only Chanel No. 5, Guerlain was born in "One Thousand and One Nights" in 1925. This perfume, known as "the masterpiece of the crazy era", was named after the garden built by the Indian emperor for his concubine. The touching legend and sensual atmosphere make women who use it feel like they are on the edge of a strictly forbidden place, and the mystery is broken by impulse, making this oriental fragrance climb to the top of the best-selling list, leading the coquettishness. There is also "Happiness", one of the most expensive perfumes in the world. It takes 10,600 jasmines and 48 dozen roses to make one ounce of "Happiness". It brings people in addition to joy, pleasure, and nobility and happiness. Elegant. These are the three most representative perfumes in France at present, and they also reflect the charm of perfume to some extent: to add color to romance, to create a mood for love, and to give legend to the ordinary.
We make perfume, and perfume shapes us.
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