Evoking scents and sensibilities

From the good old days of Australian Vogue… May 1989. Javier Vallhonrat took these photos; I think perhaps they were first pieces of his work that I saw and I thought these were beautiful. (I still do.) In fact, I am embarrassed to admit that I loved the second image so much I made a painting of it. It wasn’t a bad facsimile, but I shouldn’t have been copying a photograph.

Each image evokes the scent of a perfume; just the names conjure up the 80s for me!

(Left) Sweet anointed nights – the supremely feminine bouquet of Paris (1983) by Yves Saint Laurent. (Right) In the scented evening air, Giorgio (1981), a crush of many precious blooms including jasmine and orange flower.

Paris lingers in my memory chiefly because my cousin used to wear it. I occasionally met her for lunch in South Yarra, and I found the extremely sweet scent of roses far too much for my delicate stomach, competing as it did with the more prosaic aromas of smoked salmon pasta.

I’m amused to note that not only does that page have daubs of pink oil paint smeared on it, but so does the cover of the magazine.

(Left) Worn closest to the skin, a multitude of fragrance chords lightly spiced, in Parfum d’Hermès (1984). (Right) Scented assignations with Byzance (1987) by Rochas, a harmonious blend of woods and spices, fruits and flowers.

I have no idea what the former smells like, but I am delighted to inform you that I actually wore Byzance. I loved the bottle: round cobalt glass, with a round stopper with embossed gold lettering and a pink tassel. It truly conjures up memories of my early 20s. I still have the cobalt blue velvet bag it came in; stuffed in the bottom of my bathroom cabinet, I think I keep curlers in it.

Vallhonrat does not seem to have his own website, but plenty of people have written about him. He made his start in the world of fashion, but moved into art photography. I have recently started to see his work again in British Vogue, which was a pleasant surprise, but before that I was thrilled to find this out-of-print book in Amazon’s Marketplace. The photo I painted appears on the first spread; the editor obviously liked it as much as I did!