scented

liquid memories
THE
SCENT
father
OF MY
Last year, for Mother’s Day, we asked various fragrant figures to share
scent memories of their mums. Now, in time for Father’s Day 2016,
we do the same for dads. (Spoiler alert: you just might need Kleenex)
Jo Fairley, Co-Founder,
The Perfume Society
‘My father never wore actual
fragrance – his teammates on The
Saracens rugby team in the 1950s
might have ribbed him relentlessly,
if he had – but he did use Floris
Rose Geranium shaving soap (and
a badger brush). I never, ever smell
that incredibly English garden,
evocative smell without welling
up. They don’t make the shaving
soap any more but if I really want
to remember my dad, I put a slurp
of Rose Geranium Bath Essence
in my bathwater – just as Marilyn
Monroe did. (And I know he’d have
approved of her choice!)’
Peter Fairley
and the
scent of
his shaving
soap, Rose
Geranium
‘Thierry Wasser, Guerlain perfumer
The last time I saw my father I was three years old; he died when I was very
small. Nevertheless, I remember that he used to wear gloves to drive. I
inherited some possessions from him – furniture, clothes – but what do you do
with that stuff when you’re a kid? Still, when I was taking my driving lessons at
18, I said: “I’m going to be like my dad; I’m going to wear gloves for driving’.
Eventually I found his driving gloves. Well, he used to fragrance himself with
Chanel Cuir de Russie. At that time, it wasn’t in a spray; you’d splash it onto
your skin with your palms. I put those gloves on, 15 years later, and – perhaps
it was the heat, or maybe I was sweating with the anxiety of driving lessons –
the smell came out so strongly I honestly thought the ghost of my father was
playing some kind of freaky trick on me. It was a very weird moment, but I shall
never forget it. Or him.’
20 The scented Letter