What's that smell?

Even though the spring is getting closer to us really slowly the idea of its arrival still activates people from the winter lethargy as we associate the spring with a new begining and some kind of freshness that gives us a beautiful fragrance of blooming flowers that floats subtly in the air. Not suprisingly that the 21^th March, widly known as the First Day of Spring is also a day when we can celebrate the Internatinal Fragrance Day and its all derivatives, both natural and artificial, including the perfume. It is one of the magnificent richness of the nature that manipulates your smell sense, can influence our emotions, mood but also it can bring back memories.

The magical benefits of perfume was already appreciated by the Ancients (Egyptians, Greeks, Romans) as they used the intoxicating aromas during the religious rituals. They believed that beautiful scents attract attention of the gods and influence positively their attitude toward the prays. Perfumed oils have found their application also in the medicine (aromatherapy) while the beautiful aromas, influencing positively human psyche, decided of the harmony between the soul and the body.

The seventeenth-century European aristocracy found more prosaic usage of a fragrance. Firstly, it was of course the indicator of their wealth. Secondly, perfume helped them to hush up the stink of unwashed bodies as in that time people were avoiding taking a bath because they thought that water is the carrier of diseases. That is why they perfumated excessively nearly everything, starting from their clothes and ending on their everyday items, furnitures and even animals. An interesting thing concerning this particular, aromatic practice is that due to this trend the Palace of Versailles started to be known as 'The perfumed court'.

The idea of more individualised character of fragrance, harmonising with a glamorous look, appeared in the XX century. It happened under influence of a popular trend among a french high class society, consisting in composing the individual composition of perfume that would reflect our personality. However, a turning point in the perfume history that revolutionised its notion forever, was the emergence of the most iconic perfume in the world - Channel No 5. Since then, in the fashion industry, perfume has become an inseparable element of a design, a little masterpiece that completed the collection and represented its creator. 

In time, this marketing treatement, developped some kind of culture of 'wearing perfumes' that defines us as an individual because as Emanuel Ungaro (french designer) would say: ' A perfume is an intimate object, it's the reflector of the heart'.