Customer Reviews

Perfume Legends: French Feminine Fragrances

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At first glance, Perfume Legends is a beautifully illustrated coffee table book packed with fascinating stories about the creation and evolution of some of the greatest fragrances of the century. Dig deeper and you discover it's a valuable reference tool for anybody involved in the fashion or beauty business. Perfume is an art form, it captures the spirit of the times, and it's an eye-opening exercise to trace the evolution of fragrance through the history of the 20th century. It's also intriguing to read about the scientific breakthroughs that gave rise to new perfume notes, which greatly expanded the perfumers' repertoire. Michael Edwards obviously knows his subject intimately and he manages to share his knowledge in a readable way. He has clearly spent years researching the true stories behind the myths. The clever combination of scholarship, anecdote and brilliant pictorial material (some of it never published before) makes this book a must for anyone interested in the subject. Even people who just love fragrance will get a lot out of Perfume Legends. It's the only truly comprehensive reference on the subject of French female fragrance classics that I've been able to find. I heartily recommend it. It is ironic that Michael Edwards, who lives in Australia, was born in Africa and educated in England, seems to have beaten the French at their own game. They must be furious.

This extrordinary book covers the most impacting fragrances on both the public and the industry. From conception to development to launches, it gives a thorough history of these wonderscents.Each chapter is a spesific scent, covering the designer, the fragrance creators, the bottle development and all the dirty little secrets of how they got to the top. The book thoroughly covers 45 perfumes (I think he missed a few) including greats like Chanel #5, Shalimar,Anais Anais and Angel. Mr. Edwards also gives a composition rundown, But this is a little confusing if you are not familliar with his Fragrance Manual. Required reading for any fragrance nut.

When I purchased this book I had no idea of all the historic facts in it. I have learned so much about the houses and fragrances. I reccomend this book to anyone in the fragrance industory or anyone interested in the fragrance world. So much historic information in this volumne.

This is a beautiful book and a great read on the legends and stories behind the great perfumes and perfume houses. I learned more about the perfumes, the packaging, the designers, the design culture in France, etc. etc. etc. than I ever would have expected. There are some pretty good descriptions of the scents themselves, together with triangle diagrams of head, heart and bottom notes.

I would have liked to see more "how to buy perfume" information, such as the different formulations of EDT, EDP, etc., and maybe some more comparative information on the various fragrances.

This book has been an invaluable resource for my blog, [...]