Scent Memory, Barbershop smells and Scent of Triumph

This week, we’re sharing reports we’ve read relating to the complex connection that links scent to memory. And we’re knee-deep in a great new perfume-themed read that’s set to hit bookshelves—pre-order now—and we’re looking at the Barber Shop trend. Seems even Martin Margiela is also smitten with the beard!

DESCRIBING FRAGRANCE
Describing how someone smells can be a difficult thing to do—sometimes it seems as if we just don’t have the words to accurately articulate the essence of a particular odor. A recent New Yorker article by Alastair Gee, begins to understand why we have such trouble with scent when describing other experiences based on vision or sound come much easier. Hint: It has everything to do with memory.
“Whereas visual information is subject to elaborate processing in many areas of the brain [Jay Gottfried’s] research suggests, odor information is parsed in a much less intricate way, notably by the limbic system, which is associated with emotion and memory formation.” Read more here.

SCENT MEMORY WITH MARGIELA
Speaking of memory, Maison Martin Margiela’s Replica series is an ode to olfactory memories. The latest scent to launch in the series is At The Barber’s. It’s timestamped “Madrid, 1992”, a description that brings to mind old-school and great-smelling soaps, shaving brushes, leather barber chairs and steaming face cloths. The scent itself, created by Louise Turner, contains lavender, basil, tonka bean and white musk.
Maison Martin Margiela Replica At The Barber’s, $115 (100 ml), www.maisonmargiela-parfums.com

SCENT OF TRIUMPH
Jan Moran is a beauty and fragrance expert and author of Fabulous Fragrances I and II. Her first foray into fiction, Scent of Triumph is a sweeping tale of perfumer Danielle Bretanncourt that weaves through Paris, London, Poland and Los Angeles and takes place during the Second World War. Gritty accounts of a war-torn world juxtaposed with sensual descriptions of fragrance make for a stimulating debut novel. Moran, undoubtedly knows the power of scent—and in this case words—to transport us to another time and place.
Scent of Triumph by Jan Moran, $18.50, www.chapters.indigo.ca (available March 31, 2015)

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ILLUSTRATION: Merlin