Fragrance of Our Fathers Part 1 + Parfumerie Generale “Coze” Giveaway

 

 

What is a father? Is it our biological male parent? Not always… The Father-child relationship is more than paternity. In this eight part series I have asked many friends-in fragrances to create an olfactive portrait of their father or father figure. Some chose to use poetry, some music, some prose. Yet, there was a marked difference between an earlier piece we did for Mother’s Day entitled Scented Memories of Our Mothers http://tinyurl.com/33uyfe ; the fragrance of our fathers seemed more about rituals and 'smells'.  

 

 

CafleureBon thanks Parfumerie Generale, Soivohle Perfumes, Ajne Perfumes, Neil Morris Fragrances, Strange Invisible Perfumes, First-in-Fragrance and Ambrosia Jones  of  Perfume of Nature for their generosity in giving away full size bottles of fragrances that are a perfect Father’s day gift for your dad, pere, papi, abba, apa, pai or papa. Be sure to leave a comment about your own scented memory on site to be eligible to win  this Parfumerie Generale 'Coze" 1.7 oz EDP

 

 

My father was his own and only tester when he was working on a composition, so my mother and I had to tell him our impressions about his multiple trials.

The most significant for me was the "Eau d'Hermès" the only one he wore on a regular base since I was very young.  He used to put it on his hair and the combination was really magnificent.

 

After my teen age years, it was the "Eau Sauvage" which became his recognizable signature and now, even after so many years and so many people wearing this fragrance, it still reminds me of him”. – Michel Roudnitska, Perfumer, Founder of Arts-et-Parfums

 “Growing up on a farm in rural Pennsylvania left little to the imagination, especially when it came to fragrances for men. But once a year we would receive a large box from our cousins in Germany. It was filled with chocolates, books, stationary and perfume. That splash of good notes being 4711. The very first scent I remember my grandfather wearing was the citrus splash of 4711. As I got older I would realize my mom used it to deodorize both myself and my brother’s hair when we came in from playing baseball before dinner”- Pierce Mattie, CEO Pierce Mattie Public Relations

Photo: courtesy of Mario T Gomez 

“Funny, I don’t have an olfactory memory of my father. What I remember is that he wore whatever my sister and I bought him. Always proud to say “I am wearing something my kids bought me.’  Even today, proud to wear what we chose and calling his cologne ‘it’s something my kids bought me’.” Mario T Gomez, Perfumisto

 

"Remembering my father's fragrance, I have to admit, that he was a big fan of every cheap smelling overpowering German after shave of the early 70s. I always wished he would have chosen something like Brut by Fabergé, which was my uncle's perfume and which appeared to me rather extravagant, actually because it was French, but mainly because of the "weird" pronunciation" Christiane Behmann, Archiv für Duft & feine Essenzen http://www.duftarchiv.de/

 

“My father was a photographer and as a child I associated him with the smell of the padded case that housed his cameras and the cigarette smoke that stayed in his clothes from working weddings.  When I got older I gave him a bottle of Guerlain's Vetiver and continued doing so as he seemed to like it – the scent was mixed with the aroma of hazelnut coffee which he drank all the time”. – Steven Gontarski, Store Manager of Scent Bar, (Luckyscent)

 

 

 

The one and only fragrance I can remember my father ever wore is the one and only classical OLD SPICE… to be correct it was the After Shave. My father shaved himself with a Gillette razor and I loved to watch him, completely fascinated, while he was shaving himself.  Can’t remember the name of the shaving soap he used but I still have the smell of it in my nose… a very mild milky soapy smell – which I will never forget. It not only reminds me on good but also on bad days – Vero Kern, Perfumer and Owner of vero.perfumo

"There perhaps is no greater joy in life than being a tiny baby snuggled in your father's warm strength breathing his personal scent. As a conscientious objector Draft Card Burner during the Vietnam War my father David Miller was imprisoned for 2 1/2 years.

One of the few times I saw him as a baby I was baptized in Penn State prison as Joan Baez sang unaccompanied. Father Daniel Berrigan officiated with a handkerchief doused in Holy Water smuggled into the prison in his pocket. Scent memories are forever imprinted on a person’s heart whether you consciously "remember" them or not. My father, my True American Hero wore Old Spice”. Monica Miller, Natural Perfumer, Owner of Skye botanicals, and Sr. Contributor to CaFleureBon




– Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief

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27 comments

  • My father was an Old Spice man my entire life, and I still think of him when I catch a whiff of that scent today.

  • Michelyn,
    Thank you for including my memory of my father in this article. I recently sent him a bottle of Bond No. 9 Brooklyn and Chez Bond, he shared that he loved the scents "in the star shaped bottles." He recently  informed me he received compliments when he wears one of them, "I don't remember the names but I just tell people it is something my son bought me." 
     Somethings never change, that is what I love about my dad.  May all fathers out there have a great Father's Day.

  • My father is a farmer, and it didn't seem to matter what he wore, he always had this smell of fresh air that clung to him.  I loved the way it mingled with his cologne.

  • Michelyn, I feel very honored to find myself in such a wonderful company. Thanks for this beautiful idea and all the best from 4711 and oldspice-country. xoxo chr.

  • My father did either splash on a load of Old Spice which was very popular in Germany back then. His other choice was Tabak by Meurer & Wirtz if I recall that right. However his highlite were the bottles of Pino Sylvestre he would bring back from Italy. He could literally bath in that juice.

  • What a wonderful piece! How moving to read these olfactory memories of the important father figures in contributors' lives. Thank you, Michelyn, and thanks to all who wrote their stories….

  • Samantha C says:

    What a lovely idea!  My father, like so many others, wears Old Spice or 4711.  I gave him a sample of PG's Cadjmere which he loves, as well as Penhaligon's Endymion.  I'm hoping to push him in different olfactory directions 🙂

  • My father never wore a fragrance, but he derived enormous pleasure from playing handball daily. I recall his scent as the blend of his perspiration and the gloves he wore.  Thanks Michelyn for jarring my memory!

  • chayaruchama says:

    I am SO moved…
    Thank you, ALL-
    For your generosity of spirit and sharing these precious memories .

  • My father was a product of the Depression and WWII, and his needs and wants were simple. (This did not rub off on me, I must say!). It was not within his being to spend money on luxuries. However, he did allow himself a splash of English Leather, which I dutifully gave him every Father's Day. I can't pass a bottle without smiling.

  • The first olfactory memory of my dad isnt so much about an actual scent he wore as his ritual of shaving, something to admire and chortle at, invariably. It was the final, finishing touch, after he’d scraped off the last of the foamy stubble, in a flourish, with my gaze deepening in expectance of what was to come, that I loved the most: he’d take a good splash of his woodsy aftershave and slap it all over. And then he would scream at the top of his lungs, howling with laughter, with me as his accomplice.
    All I knew then was how much I yearned to grow up, and fast

  • Madelyn E says:

    Michelyn,
     
    This is a wonderful poignant way to acknowledge the role of scent in our familial memories.
    I enjoy reading each and every one of these precious recollections.
    As you know, my father wore Aramis  exclusively  until he passed away in 1991 at the age of 71 1/2 .
    Thank you for including me in your treasure trove.

  • Another "father /grandfather" scent memory is of my English family. Yardley's English Lavender was a staple in the houshold for men as well as women. My great grandmother never left the house without wearing, gloves, a hat, and Lavender Water. My great Grandfather was the same.

  • I recently wore vintage Diorella for the first time, and I was hanging out with my mother and sister that day. I put out my arm and had them sniff and tell me what they thought. They both said that it reminded them of my father, though they couldn't say why. I sniffed it a few more times and commented that it reminded me of the smell of water balloons. My mother laughed and said that my father used to put his shaving cream in the water balloons when I was a kid, so Diorella must all remind us of his shaving cream. We went back to the bedroom, pulled out the shaving cream, put some on my arm and compared. It wasn't the same, but it was funny that all three of us associated Diorella with the smell of Barbasol.

  • My father wore two fragrances regularly.  The first was Grey Flannel. He wore this as a 'work' fragrance.  It smelled like my dad being serious.  Then he also wore Eau Sauvage.  This was his go-to scent.  It's funny but this smells to me like my dad's 'real' personality, and the Grey Flannel like his 'work persona'.

  • My Dad always wore Jazz and Joop! Homme when we were kids. I do my best to steer him away from Joop! but he loves it so much! He no longer wears Jazz as he can't get the matching deodorant.
    Now he wears whatever I give him as a gift as he trusts my judgement! 🙂

  • My Dad always smelled of cigarette mingled with soap.  Freshly laundered shirts with the scent of years of smoking permanently imprinted on everything… I'm very against smoking and avoid people that smoke.. but on my Dad it just smells like him~

  • Catherine-Chaya says:

    My dad’s a classical musician – Mom was the family fragrance-wearer. His smell is white shirts fresh from the local laundry, with hints of steam and damp paper from ironing out the sharp creases left by the shirt cardboard. Brut soap-on-a-rope at the base, with the faint clean musk of his skin peeking through. Mid-notes, from his hands, which smell permanently of wood and rosin. Finally, a bitter sweep of AquaNet pump hairspray from his comb-over days.

  • Thank you for sharing these stories; they are very touching.
    My own father is passed now, but when I want to feel close to him all I have to do is take a whiff of Ralph Lauren's POLO.

  • When I worked in a machine shop a boyfriend once told me that I smelled like his grandfather – cigarettes and steel. I can't decide if this is sexy or not.

  • There was Old Spice in my father's bathroom, but I remember other the smells better: cut grass, charcoal brickettes, leaves, Christmas trees and snow.

  • Sugarloaf says:

    Like many here, I also remember my father having Old Spice…but the fragrance I associate him with even more is, oddly enough, Chanel No5, which he still always gives my mom for Christmas every year. 

  • Thank you for sharing these stories; they are very touching.
    My own father is passed now, but when I want to feel close to him all I have to do is take a whiff of Ralph Lauren’s POLO.