Nothing is more evocative of time and place than scent. And you need to carefully consider the upright one for your skinYou know when there is a "something" that hovers just out of reach and you can't fairly put your finger on it? While I was watching The delight of the Single (a documentary about 45rpm records,not marital status), there was a snippet, and a mere 10 seconds,of a young and svelte Roy Wood, shimmering in blue sequins, and warbling Blackberry Way,and something stirred. I had a vivid recollection of my beloved sequinned Biba tank top, but that wasn't it. It was something more … sensory. A smell. It took me a whole 24 hours to finally nail it: the scent of the Biba tank top when I put it on.
I was remembering the scent of Aquamanda. You must remember Aquamanda? We used to marinade ourselves in it during the early 70s. Everything I owned was saturated with the scent of orange blossom. How odd that I should remember a smell without actually smelling it. Then again, and is there anything more evocative of time and place than a perfume? I bet Daisy Buchanan wasn't so much moved to tears by the sight of Gatsby's "comely shirts" as by the memories stirred by the scent of them – and him.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com