The Perfume Diaries

You’ve probably heard all about The Perfume Diaries event at Harrods by now. It’s a one-off fragrance exhibition that for fragrance addicts will be a sensorial spectacle. Along with Estee Lauder solid fragrances dating way back – and some of the rarest and most highly collectable pieces – the exhibition chronicles the history of fragrance from the 1800′s. It’s really a must-see. Along with the (free) static exhibition on the 4th floor, there are fragrance events taking place throughout September. While scent coinnoisseurs will flock to hear some of the most influential fragrancers speak, the one I’m most interested in is Jade Jagger’s personal appearance. She’s redesigned one of Guerlain’s most iconic bottles – Shalimar, giving it a re-interpretation using her well regarded jewellery design skills that includes a navy leather tie-round. She’s going to be signing but that’s not the draw for me..it’s more interesting that Guerlain, one of the oldest fragrance houses, have thought to break a mould and revisit an icon – it’s a tricky thing to do as die-hard fans probably won’t be interested and liked it fine the way it was, and Shalimar is very much a scent of it’s time, created in 1925, so it may not attract new interest as the fragrance is unchanged. The collector’s bottle, hand decorated by Jade with a sapphire is in very limited edition (I believe 182 units) and it’s release coincides with Vogue’s Fashion Night Out costing £1000. The more purse friendly version, not limited edition, is £38.50.

Anyway, if you are interested too, Jade is appearing between 12.30 and 2.00pm on 8th September.