It’s July 4th in the US; the day we celebrate our declaration of independence from England in 1776. When it comes to perfume American perfumery didn’t have to declare independence; but it surely had to distinguish itself from the French, English, and Italian brands which founded modern perfumery. I thought I’d spend this Independence Day celebrating three of the foundational brands of American perfumery with one each for the colors of the US flag.
Elizabeth Arden Red Door
Born in Canada but emigrated to the US after dropping out of nursing school. When she got to New York City the young Florence Nightingale Graham created her brand name Elizabeth Arden. She would found her beauty salon called Red Door which had one you entered through. As she expanded her beauty empire through the first half of the 20th century that symbol became synonymous with a sophisticated style of beauty.
Ms. Arden made a moderate attempt at adding fragrance to the brand prior to her death in 1966 but they never caught on. It would be in 1989, under the Revlon acquisition of the name, that Elizabeth Arden would make its mark on perfume with Blue Grass and Red Door.
Perfumer Carlos Benaim created an opulent floral bouquet with a little bit of everything. What made it interesting was the use of honey to coat those florals before finishing on a chypre-ish base. This is a product of its time with a blowsy over-the-top style. In truth, it’s also American in its desire to stuff everything in.
Estee Lauder White Linen
When it comes to American Perfumery it is really all about Estee Lauder. Her introduction of Youth Dew in 1953 would begin the change of American men buying perfume for women to women buying for themselves. Ms. Lauder presided over one of the great fragrance brands. Estee Lauder has become one of the largest sellers of perfume in the world. It could arguably be said that it was the success of the Estee Lauder brand from 1969 until 1978 that set the standard for what was to come. White Linen was the perfume which finished that early run.
White Linen was brilliantly imagined as the smell of fresh-laundered sheets drying on a clothesline on a sun-filled day. Perfumer Sophia Grojsman would harness all of the fresh notes in the perfumer’s array at the time. It would begin the trend of fresh and clean perfumes popularity which still exists forty years later making it a perennial bestseller. All for the memory of a summer day on the grass watching the sheets be hung under the sun; perfectly American.
Ralph Lauren Polo Blue
Ralph Lauren has been one of the leading American fashion designers since he started selling his ties in 1967. One year later he would introduce his first menswear line with the iconic logo of a polo player at full gallop. In 1978 he would put that logo on a green bottle of men’s perfume called Polo. That has become one of the greatest selling men’s fragrances of all time. Which of course led to numerous flankers. The one released in 2002 was called Polo Blue.
Polo Blue was composed by original Polo perfumer Carlos Benaim working with perfumer Christophe Laudamiel. By the time Polo Blue was released the aquatic craze was in full swing and this was the Polo version of it.
What makes Polo Blue stand out is there is a lot of the herbal quality of the original added to the fresh aquatic accords. It made it less generic even though it seemed like a hybrid of two different men’s styles. It is a surprise to me how well it works. Then again Mr. Lauren has always been happy to give American men what they want.
Disclosure: These reviews are based on bottles I purchased.
–Mark Behnke
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