So We're Back on the Subject of Perfume

Why? Because of an article that I read in the August 2011 issue of Allure magazine titled "French Lessons." The last two paragraphs the article kind of gave me pause. But I will come to that later.

First, a general description of the article in question. It has seven rules to "...distill their fragrance savoir faire." It's been established that I love some classic scents so I went into reading this article with an open mind. It discussed how they train their daughters to appreciate perfume at a fairly young age and went into the whole tradition regarding the selection of signature scents and the mentality behind the wearing of said scents etc...

Then came the last paragraphs. Where Laura Mercier was talking about how French women do not divulge the name of their scents or where they got them because they want to be unique and do not want other women wearing the same perfume that they wear. Also that American women will come right out and say what they are wearing and exactly where they got it.

I agree with that and was fine with it.

Then she went on to say that the reason why American women do this is "...because she doesn't want to stand out."

Really now?

This is my response.

American women will share the name of the perfume we wear not because of unwillingness to stand out but because we have a culture of sisterhood. We do not see every woman as the competition so it's not a problem for us to share this kind of information. We also feel that by sharing this, we are helping a fellow woman on her quest for a scent that gives her all those feelings that a nice perfume should. It has nothing to do with the fear of standing out. We have different ways of accomplishing that end.

I share because so many of the perfumes being marketed as high-end smell decidedly low-end. So when the much younger techs that I work with find out that the perfume that they've been enjoying all day on me is a several decades old classic, it opens their eyes.

I was really offended when I first read the article but now realize that it's really just a misunderstanding between two differing cultures. So this response is more to educate as opposed to the first draft that never got published. That was a rant that you had to good fortune to be spared