Perfume

Perfume has been used for thousands of years. Its name comes from the Latin “per fume”, meaning “through smoke”.

Egyptians were the first to use perfume as part of their religious rituals. They burned incense and herbs and applied perfumed creams and oils to their skin. The Egyptians also invented glass, and introduced the use of perfume bottles around 1000 BC.

The use of perfume spread to Greece, Rome and the Islamic world. With the fall of the Roman Empire, perfume use declined and only became popular again in the 12th Century with the beginning of international trade.

By the 17th Century, perfume was widely used. In France, because of the popularity of perfumed gloves, the Guild of Glove and Perfume Makers was established in 1656. The court of Louis XV was named “the perfumed court”, due to the many scents that were applied daily to people’s skin, clothing, fans and even furniture.

The 18th Century brought the invention of eau de cologne that was used in many different ways. It was added to bathwater, mixed with wine, used as a mouthwash, and even injected. Containers varied as much as the different fragrances and their uses.

Big changes came in the 19th Century when chemists created many new fragrances. Many fragrance houses appeared in Europe, and bottling became very important. In 1872, the Crown Perfumery was founded and Queen Victoria allowed an image of her crown to be used for the top of a Crown Perfumery fragrance bottle.

In 1921, when fashion designer Gabrielle Chanel launched her own perfume, she called it Chanel No 5 because it was the fifth of many fragrances presented to her. With French perfumery at its peak in the 1950s, other designers started creating their own scents. Today, fragrances named after celebrities are popular. They have had a big impact on the industry, but most experts do not expect the trend to last.

Today, more than 30,000 designer perfumes are being sold.