Parfums Christian Dior is one of the few perfume houses with its own in-house ‘nose’, François Demachy, whose role is Head of Olfactory Development. Demachy was raised in the heartland of perfumery, in Grasse, where ‘we learned about natural ingredients. I took an apprenticeship in a plant there where I passed my time learning different talents. We actually had a contract for the manufacturing of natural ingredients; we had a different rapport with them. It was very helpful afterwards because I approached things differently in my creations – and this was specific to growing up in Grasse.’ But women didn’t just want to look good. They wanted to smell beautiful, too. Soon after the success of his ground-breaking New Look, Dior recalled, ‘ Miss Dior was born. It was born of those Provençal evenings filled with fireflies when green jasmine serves as a counterpoint to the melody of the night and the earth.’ The world's first recorded chemist is a woman named Tapputi, a perfume maker whose existence was recorded on a 1200 BCE Cuneiform tablet in Babylonian Mesopotamia. [1] She held a powerful role in the Mesopotamian government and religion, as the overseer of the Mesopotamian Royal Palace. She developed methods for scent extraction techniques that would lay the basis for perfume making. She recorded her techniques and methods and those were passed on, with her most groundbreaking technique in using solvents. [2] Furthermore Sassanian Emperors used rose water as perfume in their celebrations.

They often used to blend extracts with the cement of which mosques were built. [9] Such rituals gave incentives to scholars to search and develop a cheaper way to produce incenses and in mass production. Perfume enjoyed huge success during the 17th century. Perfumed gloves became popular in France and in 1656, the guild of glove and perfume-makers was established. Perfumers were also known to create poisons; for instance, a French duchess was murdered when a perfume/poison was rubbed into her gloves and was slowly absorbed into her skin. These early Egyptian oil based perfumes would contain spices such as cardamom, cinnamon, myrrh and cassia bark, and have been described in writings in a number of Egyptian Temples.Dior has become known for fragrant landmarks. The wonderfully shareable, zingy-zesty Eau Sauvage (1966). The ground-breaking Poison (1985), one of the boldest fragrance innovations of the already-bold 80s. More recently, the hypnotising J’Adore, an opulent golden floral, which has evolved into many different concentrations ‘signed’ by François Demachy (see below). And lately, we’ve been able to bathe our senses in new interpretations of the classic Miss Dior, including the sparkling floral Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet (see above), which glorifies peony, mandarin, Damascus rose and white musk – ‘like a dress embroidered with a thousand flowers…’ We look forward to the fragrances which will be created in this sun-filled space. All of which will tell someone more about you than your handwriting, we suspect… Reid, Susan E. (28 December 2012). "Gender and the Destalinisation of Consumer Taste in the Soviet Union under Khrushchev". In Martens, Lydia; Casey, Emma (eds.). Gender and Consumption: Domestic Cultures and the Commercialisation of Everyday Life. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. (published 2012). ISBN 9781409490845 . Retrieved 13 July 2015. Soviet perfume production had already become a matter for central state planning in the Stalinist 1930s, although output was not high. Knowledge of perfumery came to Europe as early as the 14th century due partially to Moorish influences and knowledge. But it was the Hungarians who ultimately introduced the first modern perfume. The first modern perfume, made of scented oils blended in an alcohol solution, was made in 1370 at the command of Queen Elizabeth of Hungary and was known throughout Europe as Hungary Water. The art of perfumery prospered in Renaissance Italy, and in the 16th century, Italian refinements were taken to France by Catherine de' Medici's personal perfumer, Rene le Florentin. His laboratory was connected with her apartments by a secret passageway, so that no formulas could be stolen en route. a b "The History of Perfume". everythinkaboutperfume.com. Archived from the original on 8 February 2015 . Retrieved 3 February 2015.

Gabriele Kass-Simon, Patricia Farnes, Deborah Nash, eds. (1999). Women of science: righting the record (First Midland Book ed.). Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana Univ. Press. p. 301.The Arabic philosopher al-Kindi (c. 801–873) wrote a book on perfumes called ‘ Book of the Chemistry of Perfume and Distillations’. It contained more than a hundred recipes for fragrant oils, salves, aromatic waters and substitutes or imitations of costly drugs. The book also described one hundred and seven methods and recipes for perfume-making, and even the perfume making equipment, like the alembic, still bears its Arabic name. [10] All public places were scented during Queen Elizabeth's rule, since she could not tolerate bad smells. [ citation needed] It was said that the sharpness of her nose was equaled only by the slyness of her tongue. Roach, John (29 March 2007). "Oldest Perfumes Found on "Aphrodite's Island" ". National Geographic News . Retrieved 30 November 2007.

As design careers go, Christian Dior‘s didn’t start well. His parents – who lived in a grand villa on the Normandy coast – refused to let him attend a school of fine arts, telling him that it wouldn’t help him find a real job. He kept his parents quiet, initially, by enrolling for Paris’s Institute of Political Sciences – but little did his parents realise that this was also a door to Paris’s exotic night-life. Morgan, Tabitha (19 March 2005). "Bronze Age perfume 'discovered' ". BBC . Retrieved 19 February 2007. The Persian Muslim doctor and chemist Ibn Sina (also known as Avicenna) introduced the process of extracting oils from flowers by means of distillation, the procedure most commonly used today. He first experimented with the rose. Until his discovery, liquid perfumes were mixtures of oil and crushed herbs, or petals which made a strong blend. Rose water was more delicate, and immediately became popular. Both of the raw ingredients and distillation technology significantly influenced western perfumery and scientific developments, particularly chemistry.Theodoulou, Michael (25 February 2005). "Archaeological dig sniffs out world's oldest perfumery". The Scotsman . Retrieved 19 February 2007. The word perfume is used today to describe scented mixtures and is derived from the Latin word, " per fumus," meaning through smoke. The word perfumery refers to the art of making perfumes. Perfume was refined by the Romans, the Persians and the Arabs. Although perfume and perfumery also existed in East Asia, much of its fragrances were incense based. The basic ingredients and methods of making perfumes are described by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia. Dior drifted happily into the company of artists and writers who later went on to become among the greatest of their time: painter Christian Bérard, Jean Cocteau, poet Max Jacob and actor Marcel Herrand all became friends. And another arty friend asked Christian Dior – who really longed to be an artist himself – if he’d be interested in becoming a partner in his new gallery. With funding from Dior’s father, it went on to showcase works by Paul Klee, Otto Dix, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miro and Raoul Dufy, among many others, But sadly, the Wall Street crash of 1929 made for few buyers – and badly dented the Dior family fortunes – and this adventure ended when tuberculosis forced Christian Dior to leave Paris, in 1934.

Strathern, Paul (2000). Mendeleyev's Dream— The Quest For the Elements. New York: Berkley Books. ISBN 0-425-18467-6. As with industry and the arts, perfume underwent profound change in the 19th century. Changing tastes and the development of modern chemistry laid the foundations of modern perfumery as alchemy gave way to chemistry.Perfume use peaked in England during the reigns of Henry VIII (reigned 1509–1547) and Queen Elizabeth I (reigned 1558–1603). With a rise of Islam, Iranians improved perfume production and continued to use perfumes in daily life and in practicing religion. They used musk, roses and amber, among other materials. As traders, Islamic cultures such as the Persians had wider access to a wide array of spices, resins, herbs, precious woods, herbs and animal fragrance materials such as ambergris and musk. In addition to trading, many of the flowers and herbs used in perfumery were cultivated by the Iranians— rose and jasmine were native to the Iran region, and many other plants (i.e.: bitter orange and other citrus trees, all of which imported from China and southeast Asia) could be successfully cultivated in the Middle East, and are to this day key ingredients in perfumery.